Strong plasma shock structures based on the Navier–Stokes equations

Abstract

The structure of a plasma collisional shock wave is examined on the basis of the Navier–Stokes equations and simultaneously on the basis of the Fokker–Planck equation. The resultant structures are compared to check the validity of the Navier–Stokes equations applied to the structures of strong shock waves. The Navier–Stokes equations give quite correct structures for weak shock waves. For the strong shock waves, the detailed structures obtained from the Navier–Stokes equations differ from the results of the Fokker–Planck equation, but the shock thicknesses of the two shock waves are in relatively close agreement.