| Abstract: | Processes occurring in plasma produced as a result of the interaction of powerful radiation fluxes with matter can be divided into three stages: absorption of radiation on the matter boundary, subsequent heating and compression of the central part of the target for the purpose of creating the conditions necessary for the initiation of an exothermic reaction and, finally, propagation of an exothermic reaction wave through the ambient matter. The present paper is devoted to an investigation of the last stage, a reaction wave igniting initially cold matter. The main method for the theoretical investigation of the processes described is a numerical solution of the equations of motion of a two-temperature gas with allowance for the physical processes occurring in a completely ionized medium: electron heat conduction, radiative losses, energy transfer between electrons and ions, and others. In view of the complicated nonlinear nature of the system of partial differential equations describing the process, searches for possible self-similar solutions are of interest. These solutions can be used as tests in calculating a complete system of equations; by means of them it is also possible to investigate asymptotic laws of exothermic reaction wave propagation.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 2, pp. 145–151, March–April, 1986. |
