SOLUTION OF BLAST WAVES BY THE METHOD OF CHARACTERISTICS

Abstract

The numerical method of characteristics is applied to the plane, cylindrical, and spherical blast wave problems. The calculation begins at a constant time line within the blast wave. Along this line, all three flow variables are prescribed according to the similarity solution. Along a fixed back boundary, which lies between the shock front and the time-axis, one flow variable is prescribed. On the other boundary, the strong shock equations apply. When compared to the exact similarity solution, the results of the method of characteristics are found to be accurate to within 1%, for all variables along the shock front, after a pressure drop of 99%. Also, h(2)-type extrapolation of calculated results always improves the accuracy, whereas the h- type extrapolation may not.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 1965
Accession Number
AD0621710

Entities

People

  • Pei Chi Chou
  • Robert R. Karpp

Organizations

  • Drexel University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Blast
  • Blast Waves
  • Difference Equations
  • Differential Equations
  • Equations
  • Error Analysis
  • Fluid Flow
  • Friction
  • Heat Transfer
  • Hypervelocity Impact
  • Impact
  • Interpolation
  • Iterations
  • Shock Waves
  • Spherical Waves
  • Standards
  • Unsteady Flow

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Combustion Dynamics and Shock Wave Physics.
  • Finite Element Method (FEM) for solving Partial Differential Equations (PDEs)