Self-refraction of acoustic pulses with shock fronts in some nonequilibrium media

Abstract

The nonlinear self-refraction of acoustic pulsed beams, which include shock fronts, is studied. The medium of sound propagation is a gas where thermodynamically nonequilibrium processes take place, such as exothermic chemical reaction or excitation of vibrational degrees of a molecule’s freedom. Comparative analysis of the features of sound propagation over gases where pure nonlinear attenuation of the shock wave occurs, and gases with nonequilibrium and equilibrium processes, is performed.