Strong shock propagation through decreasing density

Abstract

The acceleration of a shock wave in an ideal gas of decreasing density has previously been studied. The problem is reconsidered here with empirical inclusion of real-gas effects for strong shocks in hydrogen. Experimental results suggest that previous shock acceleration models are valid only for a limited range of the Knudsen number in finite geometries and that for large final-state Knudsen numbers a free-expansion model best describes the experimental results.