Two-Dimensional Supersonic Flow, Mach Waves and Cones

The material in this section is based on the book by F. White “Fluid Mechanics,” Wiley (2011, 7th).

When a second dimension is considered in a flow, then wave motions immediately become apparent
if the flow is supersonic. The figure below shows a celebrated graphical construction, first presented
by Ernst Mach in 1887, that appears in every fluid mechanics textbook showing a sketch of the
pattern of pressure disturbances or sound waves sent out from a small particle moving at speed U
through a still fluid whose sound speed is denoted by symbol a.

Figure 1 Mach or pressure wave spreading from a point source;

(a) subsonic moving source, (b) sonic source, and (c) a supersonic source.

As the point source on the left-hand side of the sketch moves it sends out spherical sound waves that
emanate from every point along its path. A few of these disturbances are sketched in Fig. 1 which
shows different wave front behaviour depending on the particle’s speed. If the particle moves at a
subsonic speed, U < a, Ma = U / a, then the spherical disturbances move out in all directions and
they do not catch-up with one another. They can move well out in front of the particle because they
travel a distance aät during the time interval ät during which the particle moves a distance Uät.

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Therefore, a subsonic particle or source of pressure waves makes its presence felt everywhere in the
flow field and you can ‘hear’ or ‘feel’ the pressure rise of an oncoming wave before the it reaches
you. This is why small flying insects like mosquitoes can feel your motion before your hand reaches
their body. At a sonic speed, U = a or Ma = 1, the pressure disturbance moves at exactly the speed
of the particle and they pile-up in front of the particle in a sort of ‘front locus’ which is now called
a Mach wave after Ernst Mach. At this speed, no disturbance is able to reach beyond the particle’s
position. If you are stationed in front of the particle (or on the left-hand side of the sketch above)
you cannot ‘hear’ the oncoming motion. If the particle emitted another sound like a horn, then you
would not hear that noise either. Finally, in supersonic motion, U > a, the lack of advance warning
is pronounced. The wave fronts of the disturbance cannot catch-up with the fast-moving particle that
created them. They all trail behind the particle and are tangent to a conical locus called the Mach
cone. The geometry of the sketch permits one to determine the angle of the Mach cone as

(1)

where the cone has a vertex angle of ì (or, in some cases, symbol á is used). Outside the cone there
are no pressure waves and thus no indication of any form of disturbance.

If the particle is at rest and a gas is moving over the body at a supersonic speed, then all disturbances
generated by the particle are swept downstream (behind the body) and lie within the Mach cone
shown in Fig 1 (c). Almost all gas properties experience a rapid transition or jump in value across
the surface of a Mach cone. Similarly, in two-dimensional flow, all waves originating at a weak line
source of disturbance will all lie behind a plane wave inclined at the Mach angle to the flow as
shown below. This behaviour is sometimes used in the measurement of the Mach number of a gas
flow. A small irregularity (e.g. a bump) is placed on the surface or occurs on the surface and the
Mach wave generated at this source of disturbance is made visible by a suitable optical technique.
A measurement of the angle made by the wave at the disturbance to the oncoming flow permits an
estimate of the Mach number using Eq (1). Thus, the higher the particle’s Mach number, then the
more slender the Mach cone; e.g. at Ma = 2 the cone angle is 30o while at Ma = 5 the angle reduces
to just 11.5o.

Figure 2 Supersonic wave pattern

emanating from a projectile moving
at Ma ~ 2. The heavy forward lines
are oblique shock waves while the
lighter lines are Mach waves (from
White, pg. 661).

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Example. Consider a gas with a molar mass of 44 and a specific heat ratio of 1.3. Find the speed of sound
in this gas if the gas temperature is -30oC. If this gas is flowing at a speed of 450 m/s, then find the Mach
number and the Mach cone angle.

Solution. The speed of sound is given by the relationship

hence, the Mach number is given by Ma = U / a ~ 1.84 and the Mach angle by
.

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