Flash radiography of unsteady regular and Mach reflection in a liquid

The oblique collision of two shock waves produced by the detonation of a plane hollow cone of explosive filled with carbon tetrachloride is investigated radiographically. The two headwaves interact in an angle which is composed of the half aperture angle of the cone and the slope angle of the headwave in the point of intersection. The Mach disk is already well developed in the early stage when incident pressure and collision angle are large. The Mach disk propagates with fairly constant speed, but decreases in width, till it turns into regular reflection. At this transition the pressure ratio of Mach wave to incident wave is largest and for 60 deg cones more than tenfold. The explosive loaded liquid is thrown out of the cone as a two-jet phenomenon. In the case of Mach reflection of the two colliding headwaves the speed of the inner jet becomes largest. The outer jet reaches in a 60 deg cone a Mach number of two.