KINETIC-THEORETICAL STUDIES OF SHOCK WAVE STRUCTURE

The one-dimensional, steady, neutral shock wave structure was theoretically investigated by expanding the distribution function of the Boltzmann equation in terms of the Hermite polynomials, where the downstream equilibrium distribution function is taken to be the weighting function. The resulting nonlinear coupled differential equations were numerically integrated and various thermodynamic variables were calculated; reasonable results were obtained for low (where Navier-Stokes approximations are thought to be correct) and high (where Mott-Smith treatment was seen to be appropriate) Mach numbers. The thermodynamic background of the present treatment is thoroughly discussed and criticism of various other theoretical methods is made.