Growth of discontinuities in fluids with internal relaxation

Abstract

The growth equation for weak discontinuities headed by wave fronts of arbitrary shape in a relaxing gas flow is derived along the orthogonal trajectories of the wave fronts. An explicit criteria for the growth and decay of weak discontinuities along their orthogonal trajectories is given. It is concluded that the internal relaxation processes in the flow as well as the wave front curvature both have a stabilizing effect on the tendency of the wave surface to grow into a shock in the sense that they cause the shock formation time to increase. © 1979 Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.