Class Activity 11

Wave Motion

1 Part I
How the activity works
Go to the 1-dimensional fluid dynamics simulation here. This solves the linearized fluid
dynamics equations (i.e., for small perturbations) that we derived in class.

Your task
1. Run the simulation. Using the timer output at the bottom of the screen, estimate the
period of the wave.

2. The intensity of the colors in the simulation correspond to the gas density, with brighter
colors corresponding to higher densities. After watching the wave go back and forth a
few times, estimate/guess the location(s) where the fluid velocity will be maximized,
and draw the location(s) inside a box to show where (relative to the simulation region)
it/they occur(s).

3. Change show velocity at the top of the code to 1, change show density to 0, and
rerun. Were you correct? The red colors will show where the magnitude of the fluid
velocity is maximized. (If you want to see both the density and the velocity simulta-
neously, you can also set both to 1).

4. If you increase gamma by a factor of 4 (i.e., to 28/5), by what factor should the period
change? Refer to the slides if you don’t remember how γ affects the sound speed.
Check your answer by running the simulation.

2 Part II
How the activity works
Go to the 2-dimensional fluid dynamics simulation here.

Your task
1. Run the simulation. It should look reassuringly similar. (This implies that the 1D so-
lutions that we derived in class will also work correctly in 2D and 3D if the appropriate
symmetries are in place).

2. Change the variable cooler ics to 1 and rerun the simulation. What is the resulting
period? If there is no identifiable period, why not?

1
3. Change cooler ics back to 0, change central explosion ics to 1, and rerun the
simulation. After the explosion propagates outward, why does the density increase in
the center again after a few tens of seconds? (This is known as the reverse shock).