Аннотация:The dynamics of shock waves arising due to the development of a system of microchannels of sliding surface discharge was investigated experimentally. The evolution of the flow field forming within 100 microseconds after the discharge initiation was studied in quiescent air and in airflow at velocities up to 1600 m/s by the shadow technique, single frame, streak, multiframe (high-speed camera) modes. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) method has been applied to shock-wave quasi two-dimensional flow arising after discharge initiation in motionless air. Computational Fluid Dynamics two-dimensional (CFD 2D) simulation was based on a solution of Navier–Stokes equations. CFD simulation being matched with flow images showed that the energy input into the near-wall gas layer is comparable with the flow enthalpy at the tested experimental conditions.