KINEMATICS OF A SHOCK WAVE OF ARBITRARY STRENGTH IN A NON-IDEAL GAS

Abstract

Singular surface theory is used to study the evolutionary behaviour of an unsteady three-dimensional motion of a shock wave of arbitrary strength propagating through a non-ideal gas. The dynamical coupling between the shock front and the induced discontinuities behind it is investigated by considering an infinite system of transport equations governing the strength of a shock wave and the induced discontinuities behind it. This infinite system, when subjected to a truncation approximation, efficiently describes the shock motion. Disturbances propagating on the shock and the onset of shock-shocks are briefly discussed. For a two-dimensional shock motion, our transport equations bear a structural resemblance to those of geometrical shock dynamics. Attention is drawn to the connection between the transport equation obtained by rising the truncation rule and the one obtained by using the characteristic rule. The effects of van der Waals' excluded volume and wavefront geometry on the evolutionary behaviour of shocks are discussed.