Evolution of cylindrical waves of finite amplitude diverging in heated gas (Q1075883)

For the evolution of diverging perturbations in heated gas, a study of this equation in the region Re\(\lesssim 1\), where Re is the effective Reynolds number at the initial time, is of interest. The direct application of the method of successive approximations to this problem is restricted by the condition \(Re\ll 1\), and becomes more and more difficult as the Reynolds number grows and the form of the initial wave becomes more complex. This paper describes in explicit form the construction of an approximate solution of the Cauchy problem for the generalized Burgers equation in the case of cylindrical symmetry in the region Re\(\lesssim 1\). The initial wave selected is the arbitrary perturbation represented by a function which is absolutely integrable on the real axis. An integral estimate of the error as a function of Re is given. The question of how the structure of the solution corresponds to the Cole-Hopf transformation is discussed. All the treatment can easily be extended to the spherically symmetric case.