Plane nonstationary gas flow with a strong discontinuity

Abstract

The problem of plane, nonstationary gas motion under the effect of a piston in the shape of a dihedral angle moving at constant velocity in the gas is considered. In contrast to one-dimensional motion under the effect of a flat piston, a curvilinear shockwave originates here, and the flow becomes nonisentropic and vortical. This problem is examined herein in a linear formulation when the angle of the piston breakpoint is assumed small. The linear problem reduces to an inhomogeneous Riemann—Hilbert problem whose solution is found explicitly. The problem under consideration adjoins a circle of problems associated with shockwave diffraction and reflection studied by Lighthill [1], Smyrl [2], Ter-Minassiants [3], etc.