The refraction phenomena in the shock wave dispersion on plasma inhomogenieties

Abstract

Recently we introduced a new mechanism of the shock wave SW) dispersion on a boundary between two mediums with different temperatures [1]. The need of bringing up this mechanism was to explain the odd shapes of the deflection signals from the shock wave as it entered the hot discharge regions with strong temperature gradients. Now we consider same effect but under specific conditions on the interface with weak gradients at the interface, but stronger in the bulk. These conditions appear more realistic for most applications, and what is also important, the SW dispersion in this case becomes stronger. We derive all relations using the approach similar to [1]. Then the model applied to calculate the shock wave dispersion on a plasma sphere numerically and compared with the existing experiments. The strength of the effect is demonstrated by comparing results of calculation for different conditions on the interface. Comparative calculations show significant difference in the shock front shapes and they are in complete agreement with the experiments. The advantage of the proposed model is that it offers rather simple method of calculations which can cut the computational cost substantially by eliminating the need to employ laborious and sophisticated numerical procedures. More results are underway which can contribute to understanding of basic phenomena in weakly ionized gases, combustion, and fluid dynamics on the interfaces.