Reflection of Shock Waves from Highly Porous Barriers with Heterogeneous Structure

This paper presents the results of an experimental and numerical investigation of the interaction between shock waves and highly porous, gas-permeable barriers having both homogeneous and heterogeneous spatial structures. The experiments are performed in a shock tube over a range of shock wave Mach numbers M = 1.2–1.8. The barriers used in the experiments consist of mesh stacks with triangular cells and layers of cellular-porous nickel. The shock wave interaction with the barriers is numerically simulated on the basis of the solution to the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations, employing a toroidal skeletal model of the porous material. The study demonstrates that minimal shock wave reflection is achieved using combined barriers. These barriers comprise a series of mesh stacks with successively decreasing cell sizes, closed by a layer of cellular-porous material with minimal pore size.