2015/10/29 by Matthieu Barbier, Dario Villamaina, Emmanuel Trizac
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Boundary value problem #Classical mechanics #Conservation law #Decoupling (probability) #Dissipative system #Granular flow and fluidized beds #High-pressure geophysics and materials #Instability #Mechanics #Particle Dynamics in Fluid Flows #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Shock (circulatory) #Shock wave #Statistical physics #cond-mat.soft #cond-mat.stat-mech
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.115.214301
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 214301 (2015) · 5 pages, to appear in Physical Review Letters
arxiv created 2015/10/29 · openalex publication_date 2015/11/17 · arxiv updated 2016/03/24 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The blast caused by an intense explosion has been extensively studied in conservative fluids, where the Taylor-von Neumann-Sedov hydrodynamic solution is a prototypical example of self-similarity driven by conservation laws. In dissipative media, however, energy conservation is violated, yet a distinctive self-similar solution appears. It hinges on the decoupling of random and coherent motion permitted by a broad class of dissipative mechanisms. This enforces a peculiar layered structure in the shock, for which we derive the full hydrodynamic solution, validated by a microscopic approach based on molecular dynamics simulations. We predict and evidence a succession of temporal regimes, as well as a long-time corrugation instability, also self-similar, which disrupts the blast boundary. These generic results may apply from astrophysical systems to granular gases, and invite further cross-fertilization between microscopic and hydrodynamic approaches of shock waves.