Temperature shock waves in a moving medium with allowance for the relaxation of the heat flux

The solution of the gasdynamic equation with allowance for the heat transfer in the relaxation of the heat flux is analyzed. The relations expressing the laws of conservation on the front of strong discontinuity of the quantities sought, including the discontinuity of the temperature and the heat-flux density, are discussed. The possibility of existence of two shock waves with fixed initial data is shown using the self-similar solution of the problem on gas motion ahead of the piston. The occurrence of two strong discontinuities is due to the presence of different velocities of propagation of gasdynamic and thermal disturbances — the velocity of sound and the finite rate of heat transfer at a nonzero time of relaxation of the heat flux. __________ Translated from Inzhenerno-Fizicheskii Zhurnal, Vol. 79, No. 4, pp. 57–68, July–August, 2006.