Abstract <p>Accurate prediction of aerodynamic characteristics and heat transfer in external supersonic flows requires generation of a good quality mesh with accurate resolution of the shock waves. Recently the authors suggested a new mesh adaptation algorithm based on force physical analogies. Its key difference from the existing approaches is that the initial mesh state is stressed allowing for large deformation of the initial mesh. In the present work, we carry out a detailed evaluation of our approach as applied to a planar stationary supersonic flow with multiple colliding shock waves and study the influence of the mesh adaptation criteria on the quality of mesh adaptation.</p>