Formation and propagation of a shock wave in a gas with temperature gradients

Abstract

A theoretical analysis was carried out to study the formation and propagation of a weak shock wave in a gas with longitudinal temperature gradients. An equation describing the formation and propagation of a weak shock wave through a non-uniform medium in the absence of energy dissipation was derived. An approximate analytical solution to the one-dimensional wave propagation equation is established. With this, the thermal gradient effects on the shock-wave Mach number and speed were investigated and the results were compared to earlier experiments. Numerical solutions for the same problem using Euler’s equations have also been obtained and compared to the analytical results. The analysis shows that the time of shock-wave formation from the initial disturbance, for mild temperature gradients, is independent of the gradient. The shock wave forms at a longer axial distance from the initial disturbance when the temperature gradient is positive whereas the opposite is true for a negative temperature gradient.