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Let's investigate how many mesh cells it takes for the flow to turn. Tturn Turn on the mesh by clicking on the Draw Grid checkbox in the Vectors menu. In the Grid Display menu that pops up, click Display. This displays the mesh in the graphics window. Close the Grid Display menu. Click Display in the Vectors menu. Zoom in further as shown below.

(Click picture for larger image)

We see that it takes 2-3 mesh cells for the flow to turn. According to inviscid theory, the shock is a discontinuity and the flow should turn instantly. In the FLUENT results, the shock is "smeared" over 2-3 cells. In the discrete equations that FLUENT solves, there are terms that act like viscosity. This introduced viscosity contributes to the smearing. A more thorough explanation would have to go into the details of the numerical solution procedure.

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