Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2019 / iii / Paper 314 / 2

In the shock frame, integrate mass conservation, momentum conservation, and total-energy conservation across a thin interval containing the stationary normal shock wave. No mass, momentum, or energy is stored in the vanishingly thin interval, so each flux has the same value on both sides. For a perfect gas, the specific enthalpy is $h=\gamma p/[(\gamma -1)\rho ]$. The resulting Rankine-Hugoniot conditions for a perfect gas areThe momentum flux includes both transported momentum and pressure force. The energy flux includes kinetic energy and enthalpy, the latter accounting for internal energy and the work needed to push gas through the interval. Entropy production can occur inside the normal shock wave even though total energy is conserved.

Let $m={\rho }_1{u}_1={\rho }_2{u}_2$ be the signed mass flux. Momentum conservation givesDividing the energy-flux equation by $m$ and eliminating $m^2$ yields the pressure-density Hugoniot relation for a perfect gas:With $P=p_2/p_1$ and $D={\rho }_2/{\rho }_1$, this becomesSolving for the mass density ratio givesFor a compressive normal shock wave, $P>1$ and $D>1$; as $P\to \infty$, the finite shock compression ratio is $(\gamma +1)/(\gamma -1)$.

For a perfect gas with constant specific heat capacity $c_v$, the first law of thermodynamics givesUsing the pressure-density Hugoniot relation for a perfect gas, the entropy production in a perfect-gas shock is thereforeThis is positive for $P>1$, as required by the Second law of thermodynamics for the physical compressive normal shock wave.

Put $S(P)=[s]/c_v$. Differentiating the expression in part (c) givesFor $P=1+\delta$, the denominator is $4{\gamma }^2+O(\delta )$, soIntegrating from the unshocked state, where $S(1)=0$, proves the cubic entropy production in a perfect-gas shock:The first-order and second-order terms vanish: a weak shock agrees with reversible compression through second order.

For $N$ equal weak shocks, $(1+\delta {)}^N=P_s$, henceAdding the individual increases in specific entropy gives the entropy production in successive weak shocksBy contrast, a single normal shock wave with the same total pressure ratio givesThus a single strong shock produces more entropy than the chain of sufficiently small weak shocks. At fixed $P_s$, the chain approaches zero entropy production as $\delta \to 0$, while the single-shock result stays positive. The gradual compression approaches reversible isentropic flow.