RD-V: 0510 Prandtl-Meyer Expansion Fan
An expansion wave appears in a supersonic flow as it turns around a convex corner.

The Prandtl-Meyer expansion fan is a classic example of incompressible fluid mechanics. It involves a supersonic flow propagating along with a convex corner. As the flow turns around the corner, it gradually loses pressure and accelerates. This process is considered isentropic and happens through an infinity of small steps forming a visible fan. The numerical results obtained for the thermodynamics variables in each state can be compared to analytical values obtained using compressible fluid mechanics theory.
Options and Keywords Used
- Fluid material, /MAT/LAW6 (HYDRO or HYD_VISC)
- Multi-fluid law using the FVM solver, /MAT/LAW151 (MULTIFLUID)
- Ideal gas EOS, /EOS/IDEAL-GAS or /EOS/IDEAL-GAS-VE
- Inlet boundary condition, /EBCS/INLET
- Outlet boundary condition, /EBCS/FLUXOUT
- Initial fluid velocity, /INIVEL/FVM
Input Files
Model Description
A supersonic wind tunnel (80 mm length, 20 mm height) is filled with a supersonic flow (M=3) of air.
The lower wall includes a convex corner with a downward angle of 8 degrees.

Units: mm, ms, g, N, MPa
Model Method
The fluid domain is meshed with quads elements with an average mesh size of 0.12*0.12 mm. This accounts for around 130 000 elements.
The material law used for air is a hydrodynamic fluid (/MAT/LAW6) in combination with an ideal gas equation of state (/EOS/IDEAL-GAS).
The hydrodynamic fluid (/MAT/LAW6) is used within a multi-fluid law (/MAT/MULTILFUID) which uses a Finite Volume solver. The fluid is considered non-viscous.
- /MAT/LAW6
- Initial density
- /EOS/IDEAL-GAS
- Heat capacity ratio
- 1.4
- Initial pressure
- 0.1 MPa
Since there is only one fluid (air), the multi-material law only integrates the air defined using LAW6, with a volume fraction of 1.
EULER property formulation with Iale = 2.
Boundary Conditions

The fluid is given an initial velocity along the z-axis, defined with /INIVEL/FVM as:
The value of velocity corresponds to a speed of Mach 3, with the Mach number defined as:
Where, is the sound velocity, which is computed as:
When using /MAT/MULTIFLUID, the default boundary conditions are sliding walls.
A non-reflecting boundary is defined using /EBCS/INLET/VP. Input density and pressure are defined for the air in the multi-material law.
A non-reflecting boundary is defined with /EBCS/FLUXOUT.
Engine Control
As of the Radioss 2019.0 release, the critical time step scale factor for all ALE and EULER elements default to 0.5, which is the recommended value.
/DT/ALE
0.5 0.0
Results



Values of all thermodynamics quantities (pressure, mass density, and so on) in the final state after the expansion fan can be computed, and the numerical results compared to analytical values.
Analytical Analysis

The Mach number of the flow in the final state is obtained from the Prandtl-Meyer angle of the incident flow. The Prandtl-Meyer angle of a flow is a function of its Mach number, defined as:
The Prandtl-Meyer angle of the incident flows and the angle of the corner (in deg) are bound by this relation:
Once the value of the Prandtl angle in the final state is determined, the equation for the Prandtl-Meyer angle is reversed to determine the Mach number . Pressure and mass density in the final state are determined using the isentropic flow relations:
Initial State | Final State | |
---|---|---|
Mach number | 3 | 3.4519 |
Pressure [MPa] | 0.180 | 0.0516 |
Mass density | 1.225E-06 | 7.6337E-07 |
Results Comparison with Analytical Values

To draw node paths, the elemental results visible on the animation have to be averaged at the nodes, using the averaging method simple in HyperView.

Values | Analytical | Simulation | Percent Error |
---|---|---|---|
Mach number | 3.4519 | 3.4518 | 0.004 |
Pressure [MPa] | 0.05157 | 0.05158 | 0.004 |
Mass density | 7.6337E-07 | 7.6334E-07 | 0.003 |
Conclusion
Supersonic flow is modeled using a /MAT/LAW6 hydrodynamic fluid law with an ideal gas equation of state (/EOS/IDEAL-GAS). This material is then referenced by the multi-fluid material /MAT/LAW151 (MULTIFLUID) which uses the finite volume solver. An expansion fan forms as the flow goes around a convex corner.
The analytical approach shows a good correlation between theoretical and numerical results.
The expansion process is correctly simulated. The use of the multi-fluid material allows for very accurate modeling of the dynamics of supersonic flows.