Steady inviscid flow over a cylindrical bump using the compressible Euler equations. The flow at the inlet is supersonic with Ma = 1.4 resulting in a series of reflected shock waves as the flow hits the obstacle]. The obstacle could represent anything from a protrusion on an aircraft wing to a structural feature in a pipe, like for example in scenarios involving high-speed aircraft or rocket exhausts.
When the high speed flow (Ma = 1.4) impacts the obstacle shock waves are generated and diffracted from both the obstacle and channel walls (that is abrupt and sharp changes in pressure, temperature, and density). This simulation is based on a two-dimensional reference case using the inviscid compressible Euler equations, which has been extensively studied for compressible flow in previous research [1].
This model is available as an automated tutorial by selecting Model Examples and Tutorials… > Fluid Dynamics > Supersonic Flow over an Obstacle from the File menu, and also as the MATLAB simulation m-script example ex_compressibleeuler5 in full 3D, or ex_compressibleeuler4 for the simpler 2D version. Step-by-step tutorial instructions to set up and run this model are linked below.
Reference
[1] Lynn J.F., van Leer B., Lee D. (1997) Multigrid solution of the euler equations with local preconditioning. In: Kutler P., Flores J., Chattot JJ. (eds) Fifteenth International Conference on Numerical Methods in Fluid Dynamics. Lecture Notes in Physics, vol 490. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.