Interaction of a characteristic shock with a weak discontinuity in a relaxing gas

The evolution of a characteristic shock in a relaxing gas is investigated and its interaction with a weak discontinuity is studied. A particular solution to the governing system, which exhibits space–time dependence, is used to study the evolutionary behaviour of the characteristic shock; the properties of incident, reflected and transmitted waves, influenced by the relaxation mechanism, together with the geometry of the fluid flow and the background state at the rear of the shock, are studied.