B2.25
Part II, 2003
Starting from the equations for the one-dimensional unsteady flow of a perfect gas of uniform entropy, derive the Riemann invariants
on characteristics
A piston moves smoothly down a long tube, with position . Gas occupies the tube ahead of the piston, . Initially the gas and the piston are at rest, and the speed of sound in the gas is . For , show that the characteristics are straight lines, provided that a shock-wave has not formed. Hence find a parametric representation of the solution for the velocity of the gas.