The Mach angle is an important concept in fluid dynamics and aerodynamics that describes the angle at which a shock wave or an object moving through a fluid medium (such as air) produces a cone of compressed air. When an object travels through a fluid at a speed greater than the local speed of sound, it generates shock waves that propagate outward from the object. The Mach angle is the angle between the direction of the object’s motion and the edges of the cone of these shock waves.Â
- μ is the Mach angleÂ
- M∞ is the freestream Mach numberÂ