A complete classification of sub-shocks in the shock structure of a binary mixture of Eulerian gases with different degrees of freedom

Abstract

The shock structure in a binary mixture of polyatomic Eulerian gases with different degrees of freedom of a molecule is studied based on the multi-temperature model of rational extended thermodynamics. Since the system of field equations is hyperbolic, the shock-structure solution is not always regular, and discontinuous parts (sub-shocks) can be formed. For given values of the mass ratio and the specific heat of the constituents, we identify the possible sub-shocks as the Mach number M0 of the shock wave and the equilibrium concentration c0 of the constituents change. In the plane ( c0, M0), we identify the possible regions for the sub-shock formation. The analysis is obtained to verify when the velocity of the shock wave meets a characteristic velocity in the unperturbed or perturbed equilibrium states, which gives a necessary condition for the sub-shock formation. The condition becomes necessary and sufficient when the velocity of the shock becomes greater than the maximum characteristic velocity in the unperturbed state, namely, the regions with no sub-shocks, a sub-shock for only one constituent, or sub-shocks for both constituents are comprehensively classified. The most interesting case is that the lighter molecule has more degrees of freedom than that of the heavy one. In this situation, the topology of the various regions becomes different. We also solve the system of the field equations numerically using the parameters in various regions and confirm whether the sub-shocks emerge or not. Finally, the relationship between an acceleration wave in one constituent and the sub-shock in the other constituent is explicitly derived.