Enhancement of shock waves

The flow field developed behind a shock wave propagating inside a constant cross-section conduit is solved numerically for two different cases. First, when the density of the ambient gas into which the shock propagates has a logarithmic change with distance. In the second, and the more practical case, the ambient gas is composed of pairs of air–helium layers having a continually decreasing width. It is shown that in both cases meaningful pressure amplification can be reached behind the transmitted shock wave. It is especially so in the second case. By proper choice of the number of air–helium layers and their width reduction ratio, pressure amplification as high as 7.5 can be obtained.