Application of the wavenumber jump condition to the normal and oblique interaction of a plane acoustic wave and a plane shock

Abstract

A kinematic approach is considered whereby the wavenumber jump conditions in conjunction with the appropriate dispersion relations is applied to the investigation of the normal and oblique interaction of a plane acoustic wave with a plane shock wave. For the normal interaction of an acoustic wave with a stationary plane shock a logarithmic shift in the wave spectra is obtained. For the normal interaction with a moving shock front it is shown that for shock Mach numbers above a critical value, the frequency of the transmitted wave becomes negative. This results in the fact that the crests of the transmitted signal arrive at a fixed observer in a reverse order to their generation. Finally, the oblique interaction of an acoustic wave with a stationary shock is considered. The “Snell's Law” for the transmitted wave is derived and two special angles of incidence are identified. The first is a no-refraction angle: i.e., the transmitted wave angle is the same as the incident wave angle. The second is a critical angle such that for incident angles greater than this critical angle there is no transmitted wave. A necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a transmitted wave is derived in terms of the speed of sound and Mach number of the fluid and the frequency and tangential wavenumber component of the incident wave. The dynamics aspects of the interaction concerning the determination of the frequency independent transmission coefficients and shock displacements are determined for the simple case of the normal interaction with a moving shock as an illustration.