In physics, a shock wave (also spelled shockwave), or shock, is a type of propagating disturbance that moves faster than the local
speed of sound
The speed of sound is the distance travelled per unit of time by a sound wave as it propagates through an elastic medium. At , the speed of sound in air is about , or one kilometre in or one mile in . It depends strongly on temperature as w ...
in the medium. Like an ordinary wave, a shock wave carries energy and can propagate through a medium but is characterized by an abrupt, nearly discontinuous, change in
pressure
Pressure (symbol: ''p'' or ''P'') is the force applied perpendicular to the surface of an object per unit area over which that force is distributed. Gauge pressure (also spelled ''gage'' pressure)The preferred spelling varies by country and e ...
,
temperature
Temperature is a physical quantity that expresses quantitatively the perceptions of hotness and coldness. Temperature is measured with a thermometer.
Thermometers are calibrated in various temperature scales that historically have relied o ...
, and
density
Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the substance's mass per unit of volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' can also be used. Mathematical ...
of the medium.
For the purpose of comparison, in
supersonic
Supersonic speed is the speed of an object that exceeds the speed of sound ( Mach 1). For objects traveling in dry air of a temperature of 20 °C (68 °F) at sea level, this speed is approximately . Speeds greater than five times ...
flows, additional increased expansion may be achieved through an
expansion fan
Expansion may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* ''L'Expansion'', a French monthly business magazine
* ''Expansion'' (album), by American jazz pianist Dave Burrell, released in 2004
* ''Expansions'' (McCoy Tyner album), 1970
* ''Expansio ...
, also known as a
Prandtl–Meyer expansion fan
A supersonic expansion fan, technically known as Prandtl–Meyer expansion fan, a two-dimensional simple wave, is a centered expansion process that occurs when a supersonic flow turns around a convex corner. The fan consists of an infinite numb ...
. The accompanying expansion wave may approach and eventually collide and recombine with the shock wave, creating a process of destructive interference. The
sonic boom
A sonic boom is a sound associated with shock waves created when an object travels through the air faster than the speed of sound. Sonic booms generate enormous amounts of sound energy, sounding similar to an explosion or a thunderclap to t ...
associated with the passage of a supersonic aircraft is a type of sound wave produced by
constructive interference
In physics, interference is a phenomenon in which two waves combine by adding their displacement together at every single point in space and time, to form a resultant wave of greater, lower, or the same amplitude. Constructive and destructive ...
.
Unlike
soliton
In mathematics and physics, a soliton or solitary wave is a self-reinforcing wave packet that maintains its shape while it propagates at a constant velocity. Solitons are caused by a cancellation of nonlinear and dispersive effects in the medium ...
s (another kind of nonlinear wave), the energy and speed of a shock wave alone dissipates relatively quickly with distance.
When a shock wave passes through matter,
energy
In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of heat a ...
is preserved but
entropy
Entropy is a scientific concept, as well as a measurable physical property, that is most commonly associated with a state of disorder, randomness, or uncertainty. The term and the concept are used in diverse fields, from classical thermodynam ...
increases. This change in the matter's properties manifests itself as a decrease in the energy which can be extracted as work, and as a
drag force on supersonic objects; shock waves are strongly
irreversible processes
In science, a process that is not reversible is called irreversible. This concept arises frequently in thermodynamics. All complex natural processes are irreversible, although a phase transition at the coexistence temperature (e.g. melting of i ...
.
Terminology
Shock waves can be:
; Normal: At 90° (perpendicular) to the shock medium's flow direction.
;
Oblique
Oblique may refer to:
* an alternative name for the character usually called a slash (punctuation) ( / )
*Oblique angle, in geometry
*Oblique triangle, in geometry
* Oblique lattice, in geometry
* Oblique leaf base, a characteristic shape of the b ...
: At an angle to the direction of flow.
;
Bow: Occurs upstream of the front (
bow) of a blunt object when the upstream flow velocity exceeds Mach 1.
Some other terms:
* Shock front: The boundary over which the physical conditions undergo an abrupt change because of a shock wave.
* Contact front: In a shock wave caused by a driver gas (for example the "impact" of a high explosive on the surrounding air), the boundary between the driver (explosive products) and the driven (air) gases. The contact front trails the shock front.
In supersonic flows
The abruptness of change in the features of the medium, that characterize shock waves, can be viewed as a
phase transition
In chemistry, thermodynamics, and other related fields, a phase transition (or phase change) is the physical process of transition between one state of a medium and another. Commonly the term is used to refer to changes among the basic states of ...
: the pressure-time diagram of a supersonic object propagating shows how the transition induced by a shock wave is analogous to a ''dynamic phase transition''.
When an object (or disturbance) moves faster than the information can propagate into the surrounding fluid, then the fluid near the disturbance cannot react or "get out of the way" before the disturbance arrives. In a shock wave the properties of the fluid (
density
Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the substance's mass per unit of volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' can also be used. Mathematical ...
,
pressure
Pressure (symbol: ''p'' or ''P'') is the force applied perpendicular to the surface of an object per unit area over which that force is distributed. Gauge pressure (also spelled ''gage'' pressure)The preferred spelling varies by country and e ...
,
temperature
Temperature is a physical quantity that expresses quantitatively the perceptions of hotness and coldness. Temperature is measured with a thermometer.
Thermometers are calibrated in various temperature scales that historically have relied o ...
,
flow velocity
In continuum mechanics the flow velocity in fluid dynamics, also macroscopic velocity in statistical mechanics, or drift velocity in electromagnetism, is a vector field used to mathematically describe the motion of a continuum. The length of the f ...
,
Mach number
Mach number (M or Ma) (; ) is a dimensionless quantity in fluid dynamics representing the ratio of flow velocity past a boundary to the local speed of sound.
It is named after the Moravian physicist and philosopher Ernst Mach.
: \mathrm = \frac ...
) change almost instantaneously. Measurements of the thickness of shock waves in air have resulted in values around 200 nm (about 10
−5 in), which is on the same order of magnitude as the mean free path of gas molecules. In reference to the continuum, this implies the shock wave can be treated as either a line or a plane if the flow field is two-dimensional or three-dimensional, respectively.
Shock waves are formed when a pressure front moves at supersonic speeds and pushes on the surrounding air. At the region where this occurs, sound waves travelling against the flow reach a point where they cannot travel any further upstream and the pressure progressively builds in that region; a high pressure shock wave rapidly forms.
Shock waves are not conventional sound waves; a shock wave takes the form of a very sharp change in the gas properties. Shock waves in air are heard as a loud "crack" or "snap" noise. Over longer distances, a shock wave can change from a nonlinear wave into a linear wave, degenerating into a conventional sound wave as it heats the air and loses energy. The sound wave is heard as the familiar "thud" or "thump" of a
sonic boom
A sonic boom is a sound associated with shock waves created when an object travels through the air faster than the speed of sound. Sonic booms generate enormous amounts of sound energy, sounding similar to an explosion or a thunderclap to t ...
, commonly created by the supersonic flight of aircraft.
The shock wave is one of several different ways in which a gas in a supersonic flow can be compressed. Some other methods are
isentropic
In thermodynamics, an isentropic process is an idealized thermodynamic process that is both adiabatic and reversible. The work transfers of the system are frictionless, and there is no net transfer of heat or matter. Such an idealized process ...
compressions, including
Prandtl
Ludwig Prandtl (4 February 1875 – 15 August 1953) was a German fluid dynamicist, physicist and aerospace scientist. He was a pioneer in the development of rigorous systematic mathematical analyses which he used for underlying the science of ...
–Meyer compressions. The method of compression of a gas results in different temperatures and densities for a given pressure ratio which can be analytically calculated for a non-reacting gas. A shock wave compression results in a loss of total pressure, meaning that it is a less efficient method of compressing gases for some purposes, for instance in the intake of a
scramjet
A scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet) is a variant of a ramjet airbreathing jet engine in which combustion takes place in supersonic airflow. As in ramjets, a scramjet relies on high vehicle speed to compress the incoming air forcefully ...
. The appearance of pressure-drag on supersonic aircraft is mostly due to the effect of shock compression on the flow.
Normal shocks
In elementary
fluid mechanics
Fluid mechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the mechanics of fluids ( liquids, gases, and plasmas) and the forces on them.
It has applications in a wide range of disciplines, including mechanical, aerospace, civil, chemical and ...
utilizing
ideal gas
An ideal gas is a theoretical gas composed of many randomly moving point particles that are not subject to interparticle interactions. The ideal gas concept is useful because it obeys the ideal gas law, a simplified equation of state, and is a ...
es, a shock wave is treated as a discontinuity where entropy increases abruptly as the shock passes. Since no fluid flow is discontinuous, a
control volume
In continuum mechanics and thermodynamics, a control volume (CV) is a mathematical abstraction employed in the process of creating mathematical models of physical processes. In an inertial frame of reference, it is a fictitious region of a given v ...
is established around the shock wave, with the control surfaces that bound this volume parallel to the shock wave (with one surface on the pre-shock side of the fluid medium and one on the post-shock side). The two surfaces are separated by a very small depth such that the shock itself is entirely contained between them. At such control surfaces, momentum, mass flux and energy are constant; within combustion,
detonation
Detonation () is a type of combustion involving a supersonic exothermic front accelerating through a medium that eventually drives a shock front propagating directly in front of it. Detonations propagate supersonically through shock waves with ...
s can be modelled as heat introduction across a shock wave. It is assumed the system is adiabatic (no heat exits or enters the system) and no work is being done. The
Rankine–Hugoniot conditions
The Rankine–Hugoniot conditions, also referred to as Rankine–Hugoniot jump conditions or Rankine–Hugoniot relations, describe the relationship between the states on both sides of a shock wave or a combustion wave (deflagration or detonation) ...
arise from these considerations.
Taking into account the established assumptions, in a system where the downstream properties are becoming subsonic: the upstream and downstream flow properties of the fluid are considered isentropic. Since the total amount of energy within the system is constant, the stagnation enthalpy remains constant over both regions. Though, entropy is increasing; this must be accounted for by a drop in stagnation pressure of the downstream fluid.
Other shocks
Oblique shocks
When analyzing shock waves in a flow field, which are still attached to the body, the shock wave which is deviating at some arbitrary angle from the flow direction is termed oblique shock. These shocks require a component vector analysis of the flow; doing so allows for the treatment of the flow in an orthogonal direction to the oblique shock as a normal shock.
Bow shocks
When an oblique shock is likely to form at an angle which cannot remain on the surface, a nonlinear phenomenon arises where the shock wave will form a continuous pattern around the body. These are termed bow shocks. In these cases, the 1d flow model is not valid and further analysis is needed to predict the pressure forces which are exerted on the surface.
Shock waves due to nonlinear steepening
Shock waves can form due to steepening of ordinary waves. The best-known example of this phenomenon is
ocean wave
In fluid dynamics, a wind wave, water wave, or wind-generated water wave, is a surface wave that occurs on the free surface of bodies of water as a result from the wind blowing over the water surface. The contact distance in the direction of t ...
s that form
breakers on the shore. In shallow water, the speed of surface waves is dependent on the depth of the water. An incoming ocean wave has a slightly higher wave speed near the crest of each wave than near the troughs between waves, because the wave height is not infinitesimal compared to the depth of the water. The crests overtake the troughs until the leading edge of the wave forms a vertical face and spills over to form a turbulent shock (a breaker) that dissipates the wave's energy as sound and heat.
Similar phenomena affect strong
sound wave
In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid.
In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...
s in gas or plasma, due to the dependence of the sound speed on temperature and pressure. Strong waves heat the medium near each pressure front, due to adiabatic compression of the air itself, so that high pressure fronts outrun the corresponding pressure troughs. There is a theory that the sound pressure levels in brass instruments such as the trombone become high enough for steepening to occur, forming an essential part of the bright timbre of the instruments. While shock formation by this process does not normally happen to unenclosed sound waves in Earth's atmosphere, it is thought to be one mechanism by which the
solar chromosphere and
corona
Corona (from the Latin for 'crown') most commonly refers to:
* Stellar corona, the outer atmosphere of the Sun or another star
* Corona (beer), a Mexican beer
* Corona, informal term for the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which causes the COVID-19 di ...
are heated, via waves that propagate up from the solar interior.
Analogies
A shock wave may be described as the furthest point upstream of a moving object which "knows" about the approach of the object. In this description, the shock wave position is defined as the boundary between the zone having no information about the shock-driving event and the zone aware of the shock-driving event, analogous with the
light cone
In special and general relativity, a light cone (or "null cone") is the path that a flash of light, emanating from a single event (localized to a single point in space and a single moment in time) and traveling in all directions, would take thro ...
described in the theory of
special relativity
In physics, the special theory of relativity, or special relativity for short, is a scientific theory regarding the relationship between space and time. In Albert Einstein's original treatment, the theory is based on two postulates:
# The laws o ...
.
To produce a shock wave, an object in a given medium (such as air or water) must travel faster than the local speed of sound. In the case of an aircraft travelling at high subsonic speed, regions of air around the aircraft may be travelling at exactly the speed of sound, so that the sound waves leaving the aircraft pile up on one another, similar to a traffic jam on a motorway. When a shock wave forms, the local air pressure increases and then spreads out sideways. Because of this amplification effect, a shock wave can be very intense, more like an explosion when heard at a distance (not coincidentally, since explosions create shock waves).
Analogous phenomena are known outside fluid mechanics. For example, charged particles accelerated beyond the
speed of light
The speed of light in vacuum, commonly denoted , is a universal physical constant that is important in many areas of physics. The speed of light is exactly equal to ). According to the special theory of relativity, is the upper limit ...
in a
refractive medium (where the speed of light is less than that in a
vacuum
A vacuum is a space devoid of matter. The word is derived from the Latin adjective ''vacuus'' for "vacant" or "void". An approximation to such vacuum is a region with a gaseous pressure much less than atmospheric pressure. Physicists often dis ...
, such as water) create visible shock effects, a phenomenon known as
Cherenkov radiation.
Phenomenon types
Below are a number of examples of shock waves, broadly grouped with similar shock phenomena:
Moving shock
* Usually consists of a shock wave propagating into a stationary medium
* In this case, the gas ahead of the shock is stationary (in the laboratory frame) and the gas behind the shock can be supersonic in the laboratory frame. The shock propagates with a wavefront which is normal (at right angles) to the direction of flow. The speed of the shock is a function of the original pressure ratio between the two bodies of gas.
*
Moving shock In fluid dynamics, a moving shock is a shock wave that is travelling through a fluid (often gaseous) medium with a velocity relative to the velocity of the fluid already making up the medium.Shapiro, Ascher H., ''Dynamics and Thermodynamics of Compr ...
s are usually generated by the interaction of two bodies of gas at different pressure, with a shock wave propagating into the lower pressure gas and an expansion wave propagating into the higher pressure gas.
* Examples: Balloon bursting,
Shock tube
: ''For the pyrotechnic initiator, see Shock tube detonator''
The shock tube is an instrument used to replicate and direct blast waves at a sensor or a model in order to simulate actual explosions and their effects, usually on a smaller scale. ...
,
shock wave from explosion.
Detonation wave
* A
detonation
Detonation () is a type of combustion involving a supersonic exothermic front accelerating through a medium that eventually drives a shock front propagating directly in front of it. Detonations propagate supersonically through shock waves with ...
wave is essentially a shock supported by a trailing
exothermic reaction
In thermochemistry, an exothermic reaction is a "reaction for which the overall standard enthalpy change Δ''H''⚬ is negative." Exothermic reactions usually release heat. The term is often confused with exergonic reaction, which IUPAC defines ...
. It involves a wave travelling through a highly combustible or chemically unstable medium, such as an oxygen-methane mixture or a
high explosive
An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An exp ...
. The chemical reaction of the medium occurs following the shock wave, and the chemical energy of the reaction drives the wave forward.
* A detonation wave follows slightly different rules from an ordinary shock since it is driven by the chemical reaction occurring behind the shock wavefront. In the simplest theory for detonations, an unsupported, self-propagating detonation wave proceeds at the
Chapman-Jouguet flow velocity. A detonation will also cause a shock to propagate into the surrounding air due to the overpressure induced by the explosion.
* When a shock wave is created by
high explosive
An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An exp ...
s such as
TNT
Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...
(which has a
detonation velocity
Explosive velocity, also known as detonation velocity or velocity of detonation (VoD), is the velocity at which the shock wave front travels through a detonated explosive. Explosive velocities are always faster than the local speed of sound in t ...
of 6,900 m/s), it will always travel at high, supersonic velocity from its point of origin.
Bow shock (detached shock)
* These shocks are curved and form a small distance in front of the body. Directly in front of the body, they stand at 90 degrees to the oncoming flow and then curve around the body. Detached shocks allow the same type of analytic calculations as for the attached shock, for the flow near the shock. They are a topic of continuing interest, because the rules governing the shock's distance ahead of the blunt body are complicated and are a function of the body's shape. Additionally, the shock standoff distance varies drastically with the temperature for a non-ideal gas, causing large differences in the heat transfer to the thermal protection system of the vehicle. See the extended discussion on this topic at
Atmospheric reentry
Atmospheric entry is the movement of an object from outer space into and through the gases of an atmosphere of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. There are two main types of atmospheric entry: ''uncontrolled entry'', such as the entr ...
. These follow the "strong-shock" solutions of the analytic equations, meaning that for some oblique shocks very close to the deflection angle limit, the downstream Mach number is subsonic. See also
bow shock
In astrophysics, a bow shock occurs when the magnetosphere of an astrophysical object interacts with the nearby flowing ambient plasma such as the solar wind. For Earth and other magnetized planets, it is the boundary at which the speed of th ...
or
oblique shock
An oblique shock wave is a shock wave that, unlike a normal shock, is inclined with respect to the incident upstream flow direction. It will occur when a supersonic flow encounters a corner that effectively turns the flow into itself and compr ...
* Such a shock occurs when the maximum deflection angle is exceeded. A detached shock is commonly seen on blunt bodies, but may also be seen on sharp bodies at low Mach numbers.
* Examples: Space return vehicles (Apollo, Space shuttle), bullets, the boundary (
Bow shock
In astrophysics, a bow shock occurs when the magnetosphere of an astrophysical object interacts with the nearby flowing ambient plasma such as the solar wind. For Earth and other magnetized planets, it is the boundary at which the speed of th ...
) of a
magnetosphere
In astronomy and planetary science, a magnetosphere is a region of space surrounding an astronomical object in which charged particles are affected by that object's magnetic field. It is created by a celestial body with an active interior dynam ...
. The name "bow shock" comes from the example of a
bow wave
A bow wave is the wave that forms at the bow of a ship when it moves through the water. As the bow wave spreads out, it defines the outer limits of a ship's wake. A large bow wave slows the ship down, is a risk to smaller boats, and in a harbor ...
, the detached shock formed at the bow (front) of a ship or boat moving through water, whose slow surface wave speed is easily exceeded (see
ocean surface wave
In fluid dynamics, a wind wave, water wave, or wind-generated water wave, is a surface wave that occurs on the free surface of bodies of water as a result from the wind blowing over the water surface. The contact distance in the direction o ...
).
Attached shock
* These shocks appear as ''attached'' to the tip of sharp bodies moving at supersonic speeds.
* Examples: Supersonic wedges and cones with small apex angles.
* The attached shock wave is a classic structure in aerodynamics because, for a perfect gas and inviscid flow field, an analytic solution is available, such that the pressure ratio, temperature ratio, angle of the wedge and the downstream Mach number can all be calculated knowing the upstream Mach number and the shock angle. Smaller shock angles are associated with higher upstream Mach numbers, and the special case where the shock wave is at 90° to the oncoming flow (Normal shock), is associated with a Mach number of one. These follow the "weak-shock" solutions of the analytic equations.
In rapid granular flows
Shock waves can also occur in rapid flows of dense granular materials down inclined channels or slopes. Strong shocks in rapid dense granular flows can be studied theoretically and analyzed to compare with experimental data. Consider a configuration in which the rapidly moving material down the chute impinges on an obstruction wall erected perpendicular at the end of a long and steep channel. Impact leads to a sudden change in the flow regime from a fast moving
supercritical thin layer to a stagnant thick heap. This flow configuration is particularly interesting because it is analogous to some hydraulic and aerodynamic situations associated with flow regime changes from supercritical to subcritical flows.
In astrophysics
Astrophysical environments feature many different types of shock waves. Some common examples are
supernova
A supernova is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. It has the plural form supernovae or supernovas, and is abbreviated SN or SNe. This transient astronomical event occurs during the last evolutionary stages of a massive star or when ...
e shock waves or
blast wave
In fluid dynamics, a blast wave is the increased pressure and flow resulting from the deposition of a large amount of energy in a small, very localised volume. The flow field can be approximated as a lead shock wave, followed by a self-similar sub ...
s travelling through the interstellar medium, the
bow shock
In astrophysics, a bow shock occurs when the magnetosphere of an astrophysical object interacts with the nearby flowing ambient plasma such as the solar wind. For Earth and other magnetized planets, it is the boundary at which the speed of th ...
caused by the Earth's magnetic field colliding with the
solar wind
The solar wind is a stream of charged particles released from the upper atmosphere of the Sun, called the corona. This plasma mostly consists of electrons, protons and alpha particles with kinetic energy between . The composition of the sola ...
and shock waves caused by
galaxies colliding with each other. Another interesting type of shock in astrophysics is the quasi-steady reverse shock or termination shock that terminates the ultra relativistic wind from young
pulsars.
Meteor entering events
![Chelyabinsk meteor event consequences in Drama Theatre](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Chelyabinsk_meteor_event_consequences_in_Drama_Theatre.jpg)
Shock waves are generated by meteoroids when they enter the Earth’s atmosphere. The
Tunguska event
The Tunguska event (occasionally also called the Tunguska incident) was an approximately 12- megaton explosion that occurred near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in Yeniseysk Governorate (now Krasnoyarsk Krai), Russia, on the morning of June 3 ...
and the
2013 Russian meteor event are the best documented evidence of the shock wave produced by a
massive meteoroid.
When the 2013 meteor entered into the Earth's atmosphere with an energy release equivalent to 100 or more kilotons of TNT, dozens of times more powerful than the
atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, the meteor's shock wave produced damages as in a
supersonic
Supersonic speed is the speed of an object that exceeds the speed of sound ( Mach 1). For objects traveling in dry air of a temperature of 20 °C (68 °F) at sea level, this speed is approximately . Speeds greater than five times ...
jet's flyby (directly underneath the meteor's path) and as a
detonation wave
Detonation () is a type of combustion involving a supersonic exothermic front accelerating through a medium that eventually drives a shock front propagating directly in front of it. Detonations propagate supersonically through shock waves with s ...
, with the circular shock wave centred at the meteor explosion, causing multiple instances of broken glass in the city of
Chelyabinsk
Chelyabinsk ( rus, Челя́бинск, p=tɕɪˈlʲæbʲɪnsk, a=Ru-Chelyabinsk.ogg; ba, Силәбе, ''Siläbe'') is the administrative center and largest city of Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. It is the seventh-largest city in Russia, with a ...
and neighbouring areas (pictured).
Technological applications
In the examples below, the shock wave is controlled, produced by (ex. airfoil) or in the interior of a technological device, like a
turbine
A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced by a turbine can be used for generating ...
.
Recompression shock
* These shocks appear when the flow over a transonic body is decelerated to subsonic speeds.
* Examples: Transonic wings, turbines
* Where the flow over the suction side of a transonic wing is accelerated to a supersonic speed, the resulting re-compression can be by either Prandtl–Meyer compression or by the formation of a normal shock. This shock is of particular interest to makers of transonic devices because it can cause separation of the boundary layer at the point where it touches the transonic profile. This can then lead to full separation and stall on the profile, higher drag, or shock-buffet, a condition where the separation and the shock interact in a resonance condition, causing resonating loads on the underlying structure.
Pipe flow
* This shock appears when supersonic flow in a pipe is decelerated.
* Examples:
** In supersonic propulsion:
ramjet
A ramjet, or athodyd (aero thermodynamic duct), is a form of airbreathing jet engine that uses the forward motion of the engine to produce thrust. Since it produces no thrust when stationary (no ram air) ramjet-powered vehicles require an ass ...
,
scramjet
A scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet) is a variant of a ramjet airbreathing jet engine in which combustion takes place in supersonic airflow. As in ramjets, a scramjet relies on high vehicle speed to compress the incoming air forcefully ...
,
unstart
In supersonic aerodynamics, an unstart refers to a generally violent breakdown of the supersonic airflow. The phenomenon occurs when mass flow rate changes significantly within a duct. Avoiding unstarts is a key objective in the design of the eng ...
.
** In flow control: needle valve, choked venturi.
* In this case the gas ahead of the shock is supersonic (in the laboratory frame), and the gas behind the shock system is either supersonic (''oblique shock''s) or subsonic (a ''normal shock'') (Although for some oblique shocks very close to the deflection angle limit, the downstream Mach number is subsonic.) The shock is the result of the deceleration of the gas by a converging duct, or by the growth of the boundary layer on the wall of a parallel duct.
Combustion engines
The
wave disk engine A wave disk engine or wave disk generator is a type of pistonless rotary engine being developed at Michigan State University and Warsaw Institute of Technology. The engine has a spinning disk with curved blades. Once fuel and air enter the engine, ...
(also named "Radial Internal Combustion Wave Rotor") is a kind of
pistonless rotary engine
A pistonless rotary engine is an internal combustion engine that does not use pistons in the way a reciprocating engine does. Designs vary widely but typically involve one or more rotors, sometimes called rotary pistons. Although many differen ...
that utilizes ''shock waves'' to transfer energy between a high-energy fluid to a low-energy fluid, thereby increasing both temperature and pressure of the low-energy fluid.
Memristors
In
memristor
A memristor (; a portmanteau of ''memory resistor'') is a non-linear two-terminal electrical component relating electric charge and magnetic flux linkage. It was described and named in 1971 by Leon Chua, completing a theoretical quartet of fu ...
s, under externally-applied electric field, shock waves can be launched across the transition-metal oxides, creating fast and non-volatile resistivity changes.
Shock capturing and detection
![F4 p3 rgb planedrop](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/F4_p3_rgb_planedrop.jpg)
Advanced techniques are needed to capture shock waves and to detect shock waves in both numerical computations and experimental observations.
Computational fluid dynamics
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a branch of fluid mechanics that uses numerical analysis and data structures to analyze and solve problems that involve fluid flows. Computers are used to perform the calculations required to simulate th ...
is commonly used to obtain the flow field with shock waves. Though shock waves are sharp discontinuities, in numerical solutions of fluid flow with discontinuities (shock wave, contact discontinuity or slip line), the shock wave can be smoothed out by low-order numerical method (due to numerical dissipation) or there are spurious oscillations near shock surface by high-order numerical method (due to Gibbs phenomena).
There exist some other discontinuities in fluid flow than the shock wave. The slip surface (3D) or slip line (2D) is a plane across which the tangent velocity is discontinuous, while pressure and normal velocity are continuous. Across the contact discontinuity, the pressure and velocity are continuous and the density is discontinuous. A strong expansion wave or shear layer may also contain high gradient regions which appear to be a discontinuity. Some common features of these flow structures and shock waves and the insufficient aspects of numerical and experimental tools lead to two important problems in practices:
(1) some shock waves can not be detected or their positions are detected wrong, (2) some flow structures which are not shock waves are wrongly detected to be shock waves.
In fact, correct capturing and detection of shock waves are important since shock waves have the following influences:
(1) causing loss of total pressure, which may be a concern related to scramjet engine performance,
(2) providing lift for wave-rider configuration, as the oblique shock wave at lower surface of the vehicle can produce high pressure to generate lift,
(3) leading to wave drag of high-speed vehicle which is harmful to vehicle performance,
(4) inducing severe pressure load and heat flux, e.g. the Type IV shock–shock interference could yield a 17 times heating increase at vehicle surface, (5) interacting with other structures, such as boundary layers, to produce new flow structures such as flow separation, transition, etc.
See also
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Blast wave
In fluid dynamics, a blast wave is the increased pressure and flow resulting from the deposition of a large amount of energy in a small, very localised volume. The flow field can be approximated as a lead shock wave, followed by a self-similar sub ...
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Shock waves in astrophysics
Shock waves are common in astrophysical environments.
Because of the low ambient density, most astronomical shocks are collisionless. This means that the shocks are not formed by two-body Coulomb collisions, since the mean free path for these ...
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Atmospheric focusing
Atmospheric focusing is a type of wave interaction causing shock waves to affect areas at a greater distance than otherwise expected. Variations in the atmosphere create distortions in the wavefront by refracting a segment, allowing it to converge ...
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Atmospheric reentry
Atmospheric entry is the movement of an object from outer space into and through the gases of an atmosphere of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. There are two main types of atmospheric entry: ''uncontrolled entry'', such as the entr ...
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Cherenkov radiation
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Explosion
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Hydraulic jump
A hydraulic jump is a phenomenon in the science of hydraulics which is frequently observed in open channel flow such as rivers and spillways. When liquid at high velocity discharges into a zone of lower velocity, a rather abrupt rise occurs in ...
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Joule–Thomson effect
In thermodynamics, the Joule–Thomson effect (also known as the Joule–Kelvin effect or Kelvin–Joule effect) describes the temperature change of a ''real'' gas or liquid (as differentiated from an ideal gas) when it is forced through a valv ...
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Mach wave
In fluid dynamics, a Mach wave is a pressure wave traveling with the speed of sound caused by a slight change of pressure added to a compressible flow. These weak waves can combine in supersonic flow to become a shock wave if sufficient Mach waves ...
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Magnetopause
The magnetopause is the abrupt boundary between a magnetosphere and the surrounding plasma. For planetary science, the magnetopause is the boundary between the planet's magnetic field and the solar wind. The location of the magnetopause is d ...
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Moreton wave
A Moreton wave, Solar Tsunami, or Moreton-Ramsey wave is the chromospheric signature of a large-scale solar corona shock wave. Described as a kind of solar "tsunami", they are generated by solar flares. They are named for American astronomer Ga ...
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Normal shock tables
In aerodynamics, the normal shock tables are a series of tabulated data listing the various properties before and after the occurrence of a Normal shock, normal shock wave. With a given upstream Mach number, the post-shock Mach number can be calcu ...
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Oblique shock
An oblique shock wave is a shock wave that, unlike a normal shock, is inclined with respect to the incident upstream flow direction. It will occur when a supersonic flow encounters a corner that effectively turns the flow into itself and compr ...
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Prandtl–Meyer expansion fan
A supersonic expansion fan, technically known as Prandtl–Meyer expansion fan, a two-dimensional simple wave, is a centered expansion process that occurs when a supersonic flow turns around a convex corner. The fan consists of an infinite numb ...
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Shocks and Discontinuities (MHD)
In magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), shocks and discontinuities are transition layers where properties of a plasma change from one equilibrium state to another. The relation between the plasma properties on both sides of a shock or a discontinuity can b ...
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Shock (mechanics)
A mechanical or physical shock is a sudden acceleration caused, for example, by impact, drop, kick, earthquake, or explosion. Shock is a transient physical excitation.
Shock describes matter subject to extreme rates of force with respect to ti ...
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Sonic boom
A sonic boom is a sound associated with shock waves created when an object travels through the air faster than the speed of sound. Sonic booms generate enormous amounts of sound energy, sounding similar to an explosion or a thunderclap to t ...
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Supercritical airfoil
A supercritical airfoil (supercritical aerofoil in British English) is an airfoil designed primarily to delay the onset of wave drag in the transonic speed range.
Supercritical airfoils are characterized by their flattened upper surface, highly ...
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Undercompressive shock wave
An undercompressive shock wave is a shock wave that does not fulfill the Peter Lax conditions.
Details
Ordinary shock wave
In physics, a shock wave (also spelled shockwave), or shock, is a type of propagating disturbance that moves faste ...
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Unstart
In supersonic aerodynamics, an unstart refers to a generally violent breakdown of the supersonic airflow. The phenomenon occurs when mass flow rate changes significantly within a duct. Avoiding unstarts is a key objective in the design of the eng ...
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Shock diamond
Shock diamonds (also known as Mach diamonds or thrust diamonds) are a formation of standing wave patterns that appear in the supersonic exhaust plume of an aerospace propulsion system, such as a supersonic jet engine, rocket, ramjet, or scramjet ...
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Kelvin wake pattern
Wake or The Wake may refer to:
Culture
*Wake (ceremony), a ritual which takes place during some funeral ceremonies
*Wakes week, an English holiday tradition
* Parish Wake, another name of the Welsh ', the fairs held on the local parish's patron s ...
References
Nikonov, V. A Semi-Lagrangian Godunov-Type Method without Numerical Viscosity for Shocks. Fluids 2022, 7, 16. https://doi.org/10.3390/fluids7010016
Further reading
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External links
* NASA Glenn Research Center information on:
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* Selkirk college: Aviation intranet: High speed (supersonic) flight
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Fundamentals of compressible flow, 2007NASA 2015 Schlieren image shock wave T-38C
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