On the stability of flows appearing at the disintegration of an arbitrary discontinuity (Q1226428)

This paper deals with the behavior of small perturbations is investigated in the region bounded by plane discontinuity surfaces propagating in a medium at constant velocities in opposite directions. A surface of contact discontinuity is present in the general case between the two discontinuity surfaces. Characteristics of the unperturbed motion between discontinuity surfaces are assumed constant and the perturbed flow is assumed one-dimensional. The investigation of stability of flows which occur at the disintegration of the initial discontinuity in a two-parameter medium with arbitrary equations of state reduce in many instances to such problem. The derived results are independent of the specific nature of the discontinuity surfaces (which, for example, may be detonation waves). The proposed investigation method can be applied also to cases in which more than one surface reflecting perturbations are formed on one or both sides of the initial discontinuity plane.