Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 iii Paper 71 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use signed velocities in the shock frame; the Mach number depends on their squares. For a genuine nonradiative perfect gas shock wave, the Rankine-Hugoniot conditions for a perfect gas give a common mass flux , a common momentum flux , and a common specific stagnation enthalpy . Here in the given equation of state is specific internal energy, despite the source's informal “energy density” wording.
Put , and . Mass and momentum give and . Substituting these into the energy relation and clearing denominators givesThe factor is the no-jump solution. On the nontrivial shock wave branch,In particular . With , compression is therefore equivalent to . The other Mach number isPositive pressure makes its denominator positive, and has the opposite sign to . Thus a nontrivial physical shock wave has a supersonic side and a subsonic side; the entropy-admissible flow goes from the former to the latter.
The shock compression ratio also yields . Rearranging produces the first velocity identity in the question. The pressure relation gives the second identity in the equivalent formThe numerator here contains mass density, as the original PDF shows; the converted TeX incorrectly replaces that mass density by pressure.
For reflection, the once-shocked gas is the common left state in both applications. Before rebound, its velocity in the shock frame is and the gas ahead has velocity ; after rebound, it is and the gas next to the wall has velocity . In both cases the right velocity minus the left velocity equals . Applying the first identity therefore gives the same quadratic equation,with roots and . Their opposite signs distinguish the two roots, so .
Write , . The pressure identity applied to each shock wave givesSquaring the root-product relation and eliminating the velocities yieldsand hence the normal shock reflection at a rigid wall relationTaking gives ; for a monatomic gas this limiting amplification is six.