On the RH relations across weak and strong shocks in van der Waals gases

The Rankine-Hugoniot (RH) jump relations for normal shock waves in van der Waals fluids have been studied in order to improve a theoretical understanding of those shock related phenomena as observed in a real atmosphere which cannot be accounted for by the ideal gas model. The RH jump relations for the pressure, density, particle velocity, temperature, speed of sound, adiabatic compressibility and change-in-entropy across the shock front have been analysed in terms of the non-idealness parameter of the gas, downstream Mach number and adiabatic index of the gas. Further, as the strength of shock waves may range from weak to strong, the convenient forms of RH jump relations for weak and strong shock waves have been discussed, simultaneously. Finally, the effects on the flow-field behind the shock front have been explored due to the non-idealness parameter of the gas, downstream Mach number and adiabatic index of the gas.