Structure of the fronts of strong collisional shock waves in an ideal two-temperature electron-ion plasma with ions of arbitrary charge

Abstract

Solutions in the form of plane running waves are investigated numerically in the framework of a two-temperature hydrodynamic model of a fully ionized ideal plasma with ions of arbitrary charge number Z0. Most simulations were carried out for simple boundary conditions corresponding to a cold immobile plasma at the front of a running wave. All the solutions obtained have a discontinuity in the form of an isoelectronic-thermal jump, whose parameters relax to their steady-state values in the course of calculation. The problem of finding numerical solutions in which all the quantities at infinity take on finite (equilibrium) values actually reduces to the problem of the front structure of a strong shock wave. For a plasma with singly changed ions (Z0 = 1), numerical solutions were found to coincide with the previously known solution. For a plasma with arbitrarily charged ions (Z0 > 1), numerical solutions were obtained for the first time on the basis of justified formulas for the electron thermal conductivity.