Abstract: | We present certain results of an experimental investigation of the propagation of a shock wave S through a magnetohydrodynamic channel of the Faraday type. Under conditions of short circuiting of the induced currents in the supersonic stream that follows the shock wave, we registered the occurrence of a shock front T. The x-t diagrams of the motion of the S and T shock waves in the channel and behind it are determined. For a number of fixed sections in the channel, we have measured the density and degree of ionization of the gas and determined their time dependence. The investigations were performed in argon, and the ionizing shock wave propagated with Mach numbers 12–13. The magnetic field intensity was 1.5 T.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 3, pp. 153–183, May–June, 1971. |