An analysis of the exact equations of the inviscid flow of a perfect gas over cusped concave bodies is described. The field is examined in the limit of infinite free-stream Mach number M∞. The slope of the shock wave in a small region adjacent to the leading edge is strongly dependent on M∞, while much further downstream the shock-wave slope is controlled primarily by the body slope. Consequently the region near the leading edge introduces into the field downstream a thin layer of gas, adjacent to the body, where the entropy is much lower than that of the gas above it. This layer is so dense that the gas velocity along it is not appreciably slowed by the pressure gradient along the body. However, it is so thin that there is little pressure change across it.

The well-known self-similar solutions to the hypersonic small-disturbance equations have previously only been used to study the flow on blunted slender convex surfaces. They are known to behave singularly at the body. It is shown that there is a region on concave power-law shapes where the self-similar solutions are the correct first approximation to the exact inviscid equations in the limit M∞ → ∞; and that, further, they predict the correct first-order surface pressure.

Numerical results for surface pressure from the similar solutions are presented, and comparisons are made with certain approximate theories available for more general shapes. Pressure measurements taken on a cubic surface in the Imperial College gun tunnel are presented and compared with the theoretical distributions.