Plane shock waves and Haff's law in a granular gas

Abstract

The Riemann problem of planar shock waves is analysed for a dilute granular gas by solving Euler- and Navier-Stokes-order equations numerically. The density and temperature profiles are found to be asymmetric, with the maxima of both density and temperature occurring within the shock layer. The density peak increases with increasing Mach number and inelasticity, and is found to propagate at a steady speed at late times. The granular temperature at the upstream end of the shock decays according to Haff's law (theta(t) similar to t(-2)), but the downstream temperature decays faster than its upstream counterpart. Haff's law seems to hold inside the shock up to a certain time for weak shocks, but deviations occur for strong shocks. The time at which the maximum temperature deviates from Haff's law follows a power-law scaling with the upstream Mach number and the restitution coefficient. The origin of the continual build-up of density with time is discussed, and it is shown that the granular energy equation must be 'regularized' to arrest the maximum density.