Yes, shockwaves are typically modeled and analyzed as adiabatic systems.
Understanding the nature of shockwaves involves examining how flow properties change drastically across a very thin region. One fundamental assumption often made in their analysis is related to heat transfer.
The Adiabatic Assumption in Shockwave Analysis
An adiabatic process is one where no heat is transferred into or out of the system. When studying phenomena like normal shocks, this assumption is frequently applied.
As stated in the reference provided:
At such control surfaces [referring to normal shocks], momentum, mass flux and energy are constant; within combustion, detonations can be modelled as heat introduction across a shock wave. It is assumed the system is adiabatic (no heat exits or enters the system) and no work is being done.
This means that for the purpose of simplifying the complex physics occurring within a shockwave, particularly in standard analyses of normal shocks, researchers and engineers assume that:
- No heat exits or enters the system across the shock front.
This assumption allows for the application of fundamental conservation laws, such as:
- Conservation of Mass
- Conservation of Momentum
- Conservation of Energy
While real-world processes can have complexities, the adiabatic assumption is a valid and widely used approach for understanding the primary changes in flow properties (like pressure, temperature, and density) that occur across a shockwave, especially given the extremely short duration and high speed of the shock passage.
