The stability of expanding reactive shocks in a van der Waals fluid

Abstract

Despite the extensive literature accumulated since the pioneering works of D'yakov and Kontorovich in the 1950s, the stability of steady shocks is still an open question when realistic boundary conditions are accounted. The consideration of a supporting mechanism, which is indeed a necessary condition for shock steadiness, modifies the perturbation shock dynamics in the unstable range. The Noh problem is a suitable example to form steady expanding shocks. This configuration is of great interest to the high-energy-density-physics community because of its direct application to inertial confinement fusion and astrophysics, for which the stagnation of a supersonically converging material via an accretion shock front is ubiquitous. In this work, we extend the generalized Noh problem, both base-flow solution and linear stability analysis, to conditions where endothermic or exothermic transformations undergo across the shock. Within the spontaneous acoustic emission conditions found for a van der Waals gas [J. W. Bates and D. C. Montgomery, “The D'yakov-Kontorovich instability of shock waves in real gases,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 1180 (2000)], we find that cylindrical and spherical expanding shocks become literally unstable for sufficiently high mode numbers. Counterintuitively, the effect of exothermicity or endothermicity across the shock is found to be stabilizing or destabilizing, respectively.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Apr 01, 2022
Source ID
10.1063/5.0087073

Entities

People

  • A. L. Velikovich
  • Andrés Calvo-Rivera
  • Cesar Huete

Organizations

  • Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities
  • United States Naval Research Laboratory
  • Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Calculus or Mathematical Analysis
  • Fluid Mechanics and Fluid Dynamics.
  • Quantum spin resonance or Electron Paramagnetic Resonance spectroscopy.

Technology Areas

  • Hypersonics
  • Hypersonics - Hypersonic Boundary Layers
  • Hypersonics - Hypersonic Flight
  • Space