Supersonic Flow and Shock Waves

The book Supersonic Flow and Shock Waves is a well established classic in the field of mathematical physics. With its introduction, shortly after the end of the second world war and the declassification of the base mathematical work that composes its corpus, the mathematics for field of compressible fluid flow was placed on sound theoretically footing. This work is so influential that it can be said that it is the essential starting point for all subsequent work on compressible fluid flow.

The book begins with the mathematical description of the partial differential equations that govern compressible fluid flow in three spacial dimensions, both the Eulerian and Lagrangian formulations are considered. From this starting point, modifications are made to simplify the subsequent mathematical modeling. These include, the ideal gas assumption, assumptions of isentropic flow, steady flow, acoustic flow, irrotational flow, potential flow, spherical and cylindrical flow. The conservation of circulation for irrotational flow is derived as well as a form of Bernoulli's law for compressible flow.

Here I present hand written notes that I have taken as I worked through this text. These were recorded to ease others (who's mathematical background may find the presentation difficult) in the derivations required to follow the flow of the text.

I hope to typeset the handwritten notes soon. Please check back often (or email if you would like a more definite deadline).

Download Problem Solutions (Part 1 of 2).
Download Problem Solutions (Part 1 of 2).


John Weatherwax
Last modified: Wed Jul 5 19:58:57 EDT 2006