Skip to main content

All Questions

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
2 votes
2 answers
596 views

Burgers' equations and shock waves

Given Burgers' equation, $m_{\tau} + mm_x = 0,$ one expects to have discontinuities and thus shock waves in the case the initial conditions are smooth. For example, one may take $m_0(x) = \sin(x), x\...
user996159's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
34 views

Burger equation and shock waves

Given the burger equation, $$m_{\tau} + mm_x = 0,$$ one expects to have discontinuities and thus shock waves in the case the initial conditions are smooth. For example, one may take $$m_0(x) = \sin(x),...
user996159's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
46 views

Why do shockwaves refract when they travel into the ground?

If a shockwave from something like an explosion travels into the ground, why will it refract? The speed of sound is far different in the ground, but what would make it refract? I can’t seem to find ...
Wyatt's user avatar
  • 355
1 vote
1 answer
45 views

How are shockwaves able to refract?

How are shockwaves able to refract? As said here, When two shock waves collide, they interact with each other and produce complex patterns of compression, rarefaction, and reflection. The resulting ...
Wyatt's user avatar
  • 355
2 votes
1 answer
85 views

How do shockwaves interact?

As seen here, there are two T-38's going supersonic. What happens when those shockwaves interact? They seem to dissipate in some places on this photo when they interact. Any source online says that ...
Wyatt's user avatar
  • 355
1 vote
0 answers
81 views

Does every shockwave have an expansion wave behind it?

Do all shockwaves have an expansion fan or expansion wave behind them? Does the air always expand behind a shockwave? I assume that the strength of the expansion wave depends on the strength of the ...
Wyatt's user avatar
  • 355
2 votes
0 answers
21 views

Dynamic equations for a gas discharge lamp

This question asks why a gas discharge lamp is blinking and making a noise when it is turned on. I think that the lamp (with potential on) is a bi-stable system where the current-carrying "bright&...
Roger V.'s user avatar
  • 65k
4 votes
1 answer
972 views

Nonlinear waves equations derivation from Navier-Stokes

In my professor's lecture notes, I came across the next approach of studying non-linear waves in fluids. So we have compressible Navier-Stokes and continuity equation in 1D and we assume adiabatic ...
Ilya  Lapan's user avatar
  • 1,169
2 votes
2 answers
776 views

Density gradient in a shock wave of Supersonic Aircraft?

Shock waves are basically density gradients. Is the change in density continuous or discrete? By discrete I mean something Because it is a density gradient it must have refractive properties. Does ...
user2626326's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
278 views

Solution of Burgers' equation in preshock region

According to Hamilton's & Blackstock's Nonlinear acoustics (Section 4.5.4) the solution of Burgers' equation of the form: $$ \frac{\partial P}{\partial \sigma} - \frac{1}{\Gamma}\frac{\partial^2 ...
Victor Pira's user avatar
  • 2,834
8 votes
1 answer
4k views

Non-linear waves and shock formation

In the cases of non-linear acoustics, why is shock formation unlikely when the dispersion is strong when compared to the non-linearity of the wave?
vijay's user avatar
  • 247
6 votes
1 answer
1k views

Shock Rarefaction Interaction

I am interested to see/know if there exist analytical solutions for shock/rarefaction interaction. A rarefaction wave can catch up to a shock wave from behind. The shock will decay and the motion ...
felasfa's user avatar
  • 266