The development of jump discontinuities in radiative magnetogasdynamics

Abstract

The theory of shock wave formation from weak discontinuities is applied to radiative magnetogasdynamics, and the analysis is performed in detail to study the development of jump discontinuities in the following situations: (i) a planar motion with uniform transverse magnetic field, and (ii) a cylindrical motion with a uniform axial or a varying azimuthal magnetic field. Attention is drawn to the connection between the set of transport equations for the jump discontinuities and the corresponding Bernoulli type equation. It is found that in all the cases, both the radiation and the magnetic field resist shock formation. However, in the absence of thermal radiation, although the magnetic field causes an increase in the shock formation distance, it cannot offset the tendency of a compression wave to grow into a shock wave as it happens in the presence of thermal radiation. © 1986.