The isentropic relation in plasmas

Abstract

The isentropic relation from gas dynamics relates pressure, density and temperature. The use of this relation may ease the hydrodynamic modelling effort. Characteristic for the isentropic relation is the constant isentropic exponent. The isentropic exponent is also in the case of plasmas a constant as long as the ionization degree is between 5 and 80%. This constant is lower due to the extra degree of freedom which comes with ionization in plasmas. The occurrence of ionization means that plasmas are never isentropic. The isentropic relation itself is therefore adapted here to include plasmas within its concept. From the plasma isentropic relation a further extension is to include viscosity and heating. It is found that all extra non-isentropic inclusions further lower the (quasi-) isentropic exponent in the adapted isentropic relation.