16.07.2026 - 11:30:34

International Shock Wave Symposium

In a proceedings paper accepted for the International Shock Wave Symposium, Henrik Thomas investigates shock-wave focusing and ignition in hydrogen-air mixtures within three-wall corner geometries. Numerical simulations, validated against experiments conducted at Warsaw University of Technology, reveal how shock focusing generates highly localized pressure and temperature peaks that are not captured by conventional pressure sensors. These extreme conditions explain the high probability of ignition and provide new insights into the underlying flow dynamics. The study further demonstrates that corner focusing significantly reduces the incident Mach-number threshold required for ignition compared to a simple planar shock reflection.