Spherical blast wave in a power-law ambient density ($R\propto (E/C{)}^{1/(5-\beta )}{t}^{2/(5-\beta )}$)

For an energy-conserving strong spherical shock wave expanding into mass density $C{r}^{-\beta }$, $0\le \beta <3$, dimensional analysis gives the displayed radius law. Neglect ambient pressure, radiation losses and gravity in this blast-dominated approximation. Write $u=\dot{R}U(\xi )$, $\rho =C{R}^{-\beta }D(\xi )$ and $p=C{R}^{-\beta }{\dot{R}}^{2}P(\xi )$, with $\xi =r/R$. The radial continuity equation, momentum equation and adiabatic pressure equation reduce toThe Strong-shock Rankine-Hugoniot conditions give $U(1)=P(1)=2/(\gamma +1)$ and $D(1)=(\gamma +1)/(\gamma -1)$. The explosion energy fixes the radius coefficient through $E=4\pi C{R}^{3-\beta }{\dot{R}}^2{\int }_0^1[D{U}^2/2+P/(\gamma -1)]{\xi }^{2}d\xi$.

The similarity profiles $U=2\xi /(\gamma +1)$, $D=(\gamma +1)\xi /(\gamma -1)$ and $P=2{\xi }^3/(\gamma +1)$ solve the spherical blast equations at the displayed ambient exponent. For $\gamma =5/3$, $\beta =2$ and $R^3=3E{t}^2/(2\pi C)$. The dimensional fields are $u=r/(2t)$, $\rho =8\pi C^{2}r/(3E{t}^2)$ and $p=2\pi C^2{r}^3/(9E{t}^4)$ for $0<r<R$. Their kinetic and internal energies are equal. Substituting these profiles into all three equations and the shock conditions verifies the solution.