Shock wave? You probably already heard this term but what it means? What are the laws of physicsgoverning such a wave and its properties? In which basic fields of fluid mechanics such wares areencountered and play a key role? What are a so-called compressible flow and the usual fundamental properties of such flows? This course brings answers to the above issues. Upon adopting a few simple assumptions (which are quite relevant for most of the applications in this field),it derives the main properties of compressible flows. More precisely, it successively dealswith shock waves (birth and properties, either plane or curved ones), shock-boundary interactions, one-dimensional unsteady and two-dimensional steady compressible flows, steady compressible flows about a thin airfoil (with subsonic, supersonic and transonic regimes),… On the theoretical side, the course also examines the nature (elliptic, hyperbolic,parabolic) of the Euler equations (unsteady one-dimensional or steady two-dimensional ones) and also introduces in a more general frame work the useful method of characteristics. Such a method is illustrated in this course for some encountered compressible flows.

 

 

No prerequisite for this course.

The course final grade is obtained by combining the homework grade, the PC grade (0, 1 or 2 points) based on the student participation in class and the final written 3-hour exam grade.

Key words: compressible flow, Mach number, discontinuities, shock wave, thin airfoil