Plane and Cylindrical Strong Shocks in Magnetogas Dynamics

Abstract

Chisnell-Chester-Whitham method has been used to investigate the propagation of strong diverging plane and cylindrical shock waves in an infinitely electrically conducting ideal gas in the presence of a constant axial magnetic field under two distinct situations; (a) when the ratio of densities on either side of the shock nearly equals (gamma +1)/(gamma -1), where gamma is the adiabatic index of the gas, or (b) when the applied magnetic field is large. It is found that the plane shock wave moves with a constant shock strength. An increase in the magnetic fields leads to an increase in the shock velocity.