Revisiting Wall Heating

The results of computing a shock reflection are found to strongly depend on the chosen coordinate system, Lagrangian or Eulerian. This is seen by comparing the amount of “wall heating” associated with the solutions to Nohʹs shock reflection problem computed in each reference frame. Here, an explanation is offered that places a greater burden on the role of phase error or effective wave speed in producing this effect. The reason for the greater difficulties in the Lagrangian frame are the non- uniformity of the mass coordinates in a converging geometry. This produces a non-steady-state discrete shock profile.