Paper 4, Section II, A

Waves
Part II, 2009

A perfect gas occupies a tube that lies parallel to the xx-axis. The gas is initially at rest, with density ρ1\rho_{1}, pressure p1p_{1} and specific heat ratio γ\gamma, and occupies the region x>0x>0. For times t>0t>0 a piston, initially at x=0x=0, is pushed into the gas at a constant speed VV. A shock wave propagates at constant speed UU into the undisturbed gas ahead of the piston. Show that the pressure in the gas next to the piston, p2p_{2}, is given by the expression

V2=(p2p1)2ρ1(γ+12p2+γ12p1).V^{2}=\frac{\left(p_{2}-p_{1}\right)^{2}}{\rho_{1}\left(\frac{\gamma+1}{2} p_{2}+\frac{\gamma-1}{2} p_{1}\right)} .

[You may assume that the internal energy per unit mass of perfect gas is given by

E=1γ1pρE=\frac{1}{\gamma-1} \frac{p}{\rho}