Effect of cross-sectional anisotropy on shock train dynamics in supersonic internal flows

This study investigates the effect of duct aspect ratio (AR), defined as the ratio of major to minor axis in an elliptical duct, on shock train dynamics for a freestream Mach number of 2.1. The AR is varied from 1.0 to 3.0 while maintaining a constant cross-sectional area and identical upstream conditions, thereby ensuring the same inlet mass flow and nearly constant boundary-layer-induced blockage across all ARs. This isolates shape-induced confinement effects. Simulations are performed using an embedded-boundary method with adaptive mesh refinement, which enabled the finest resolution of 48 μm, resolving the shocks in the shock train. The results show that the duct aspect ratio, AR, significantly modifies the shock train morphology. With increasing AR, the number of discrete shock cells decreases, and the leading shock front elongates along the major axis while contracting along the minor axis. The normal shock stem prominent in the circular duct (AR = 1.0) nearly disappears at AR = 3.0. Despite these morphological changes, the wall-pressure trace and stagnation-pressure loss remain largely insensitive to the AR. These results indicate that while the duct cross section governs the detailed shock train structure, the overall efficiency of flow deceleration and pressure recovery is dictated primarily by the effective blockage imposed by the turbulent boundary layer rather than the aspect ratio itself for a given mass flow rate and pressure ratio across the pseudo-shock.