Local stability analysis for a planar shock wave

Abstract

A procedure to study the local stability of planar shock waves is presented. The procedure is applied to a Rankine-Hugoniot shock in a divergent/convergent nozzle, to an isentropic shock in a divergent/convergent nozzle, and to Rankine-Hugoniot shocks attached to wedges and cones. It is shown that for each case, the equation governing the shock motion is equivalent to the damped harmonic oscillator equation.