Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 March 2006
It is shown that, for a spherically symmetric expansion of a gas into a low pressure, the shock wave with area change region discussed earlier (Freeman & Kumar 1972) can be further divided into two parts. For the Navier–Stokes equation, these are a region in which the asymptotic zero-pressure behaviour predicted by Ladyzhenskii is achieved followed further downstream by a transition to subsonic-type flow. The distance of this final region downstream is of order (pressure)−2/3 × (Reynolds number)−1/3.