NUMERICAL STUDY OF AN EXPLOSION IN A NONHOMOGENEOUS MEDIUM WITH AND WITHOUT MAGNETIC-FIELDS

A version of the two step Lax-Wendroff difference method with second order accuracy is used to seek solutions of the unsteady magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equationsfor the study of an explosion in a non-homogeneous medium with and without magnetic fields. The explosion is initiated by introducing a finite amount of energy in a small volume of gas which leads to an instantaneous increase of gas temperature. Two types of magnetic field configurations (i.e. open and closed) are considered to illustrate the dependence and differences of magnetic and a non-magnetic flow motion. Numerical results show the strong dependence of induced MHD flow field on the magnetic field configuration and strength. The development and decay of the fast and slow MHD shock waves, as well as the ordinary gasdynamic shock waves, are also represented well by the present computer simulations. In conclusion, we have demonstrated that the numerical scheme we have used is a reliable one for studying 2-dimensional MHD problems in non-homogeneous medium. © 1979.