Theory and simulation of shock waves: Entropyproduction and energy conversion

TL;DR

This paper combines theoretical analysis and molecular dynamics simulations to study entropy production and energy conversion in shock waves, revealing that most energy is converted reversibly with minimal dissipation.

Contribution

It introduces the Gibbs excess method for entropy production analysis and compares it with other approaches, validated by NEMD simulations of weak and strong shocks.

Findings

Entropy production scales with the square of Mach number.

Most entropy is produced within the shock wave, about 97%.

Shock speed and overpressure agree with classical Rankine-Hugoniot conditions.

Abstract

We have considered a shock wave as a surface of discontinuity and computed the entropy production using non-equilibrium thermodynamics for surfaces. The results from this method, which we call the "Gibbs excess method" (GEM), were compared with results from three alternative methods, all based on the entropy balance in the shock front region, but with different assumptions about local equilibrium. Non-equilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD) simulations were used to simulate a thermal blast in a one-component gas consisting of particles interacting with the Lennard-Jones/spline potential. This provided data for the theoretical analysis. Two cases were studied, a weak shock with Mach number $M \approx 2$ and a strong shock with $M \approx 6$ and with a Prandtl number of the gas $Pr \approx 1.4$ in both cases. The four theoretical methods gave consistent results for the time-dependent surface excess entropy production for both Mach numbers. The internal energy was found to deviate only slightly from equilibrium values in the shock front. The pressure profile was found to be consistent with the Navier-Stokes equations. The entropy production in the weak and strong shocks were approximately proportional to the square of the Mach number and decayed with time at approximately the same relative rate. In both cases, some 97 \% of the total entropy production in the gas occurred in the shock wave. The GEM showed that most of the shock's kinetic energy was converted reversibly into enthalpy and entropy, and a small amount was dissipated as produced entropy. The shock waves traveled at almost constant speed and we found that the overpressure determined from NEMD simulations agreed well with the Rankine-Hugoniot conditions for steady-state shocks.