Interaction of metastable shock waves with perturbations

Abstract

Abstract The shock wave metastable behavior in equilibrium media is detected in numerical experiments. This phenomenon is directly related to the ambiguous representation of a shock wave discontinuity when the shock belongs to the S-shaped fragment of the pressure-velocity Hugoniot. After interaction with weak perturbations the metastable shock wave recovers its original form and parameters (like stable shock). If the amplitude of the perturbations exceeds some critical value, the shock wave instability is developed. The instability is accompanied by formation of the transverse secondary waves switching local post-shock parameters between two Hugoniot segments separated from each other by the absolute instability region. The problem of the metastable shock wave interaction with local entropy perturbation passing through the shock front is studied in the framework of three-dimensional problem formulation. The shock wave transition to the limiting self-oscillating mode is described. Some features of this mode are completely determined by the shape of the Hugoniot and isentropes and does not depend on the shock wave structure. Namely, the shape of the shock front corrugations and flow structure evolution are analyzed. These features may be served as marker of the corresponding thermodynamic anomalies.