Shock waves: The Maxwell-Cattaneo case

Several continuum theories for shock waves give rise to a set of differential equations in which the analysis of the underlying vector field can be done using the tools of the theory of dynamical systems. We illustrate the importance of the divergences associated with the vector field by considering the ideas by Maxwell and Cattaneo and apply them to study shock waves in dilute gases. By comparing the predictions of the Maxwell-Cattaneo equations with shock wave experiments we are lead to the following conclusions: (a) For low compressions (low Mach numbers: M) the results from the Maxwell-Cattaneo equations provide profiles that are in fair agreement with the experiments, (b) as the Mach number is increased we find a range of Mach numbers (1.27 ≈ M(1) < M < M(2) ≈ 1.90) such that numerical shock wave solutions to the Maxwell-Cattaneo equations cannot be found, and