The discovery of the Mach reflection effect and its demonstration in an auditorium

Abstract. The scientific investigation of the nature of shock waves started 130 years ago with the advent of the schlieren method which was developed in the period 1859-1864 by August Toepler. At the very beginning applied to the visualization of heat and flow phenomena, he immediately turned to air shock waves generated by electric sparks, and subjectively studied the propagation, reflection and refraction of shock waves. His new delay circuit in the microsecond time regime for the first time made it possible to vary electrically the delay time between a spark generating a shock wave and a second spark acting as a flash light source in his schlieren setup. In 1870 Toepler, together with Boltzmann, applied Jamin's interferometric refractometer and extended the visualization to very weak sound waves at the threshold of hearing. Toepler's pioneering schlieren method stimulated Ernst Mach and his team to objectively investigate the nature of shock waves: they improved Toepler's time delay circuit; continued the study on the reflection of shock waves; introduced shadowgraphy as a modification of the schlieren method; photographed the propagation of shock waves generated by an electric spark and by supersonic projectiles, and improved interferometry. Based on a large number of original documents the paper illuminates the concomitant circumstances of the invention of the schlieren method and its first applications by others.

show abstract

“…torical review of this discovery was given in the first issue of this journal (Krehl and van der Geest 1991).…”

Section: Although the Schlieren Methods Is Only One Of The Many Methodmentioning

confidence: 97%

August Toepler — The first who visualized shock waves

Krehl

Engemann

1995

Shock Waves

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Postcollision trajectories of solitary waves or wave crests experienced phase shifts typical of solitons. Reflections at walls also illustrated the solitonic or shock behavior of the waves that occurred with and without the formation of a (phase‐locked, third‐wave) Mach–Rusell stem according to the angle of incidence 28–30.…”

Section: Heat and (Surfactant) Mass Transfer Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 96%

Solitons as dissipative structures

Velarde

2004

Int J of Quantum Chemistry

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

I review here recent results regarding the excitation of nonlinear interfacial oscillations, and hence waves, at the surface of a liquid or at the interface separating two liquids when a thermal gradient is imposed or there is adsorption, and subsequent absorption in the bulk, of a (light) surfactant, hence creating tangential stresses due to the surface tension gradient (Marangoni effect). I also recall their solitonic features upon collisions and boundary reflections, etc., even though the proposed evolution equations are not hyperbolic but a parabolic-hyperbolic combination like a dissipation-modified Boussinesq-Korteweg-de Vries equation. Theory, numerics, and experiments support my claim that solitons can exist and survive in a dissipative medium provided, for example, past an instability threshold, there is an appropriate input-output energy balance. This is very much like (steady) dissipative structures and, indeed, (nonlinear) waves traveling with constant velocity in the moving frame are steady dissipative structures.

show abstract

“…In the first issue of this journal, Krehl and van der Geest (1991) reported on the discovery of the Mach reflection effect and described the experimental setup used by Mach. The Mach effect was discovered in 1875 at the Physical Institute of the German University in Prague.…”

Section: Some Contributions Of Ernst Machmentioning

confidence: 98%

In the footsteps of Ernst Mach ? A historical review of shock wave research at the Ernst-Mach-Institut

Reichenbach

1992

Shock Waves

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. The aim of this paper is to recall some of the historical work on shock waves and to give a brief survey of research activities at the Ernst-Mach-Institut (EMI). Some fundamental results of Ernst Mach (1838Mach ( -1916 are demonstrated and historical remarks are given to the shock tube as an important tool in shock wave research. The activity at EMI in this field was initiated by Prof. H. Schardin (1902Schardin ( -1965 in 1955 and has since been continued. Propagation processes of shock and blast waves, blast loading phenomena, shock attenuation, shock reflection at various surfaces, development of new types of blast simulators, electromagnetically driven T-tubes, precursor and decursor phenomena are only a few examples of research topics at EMI that will be discussed.

show abstract

The discovery of the Mach reflection effect and its demonstration in an auditorium

Cited by 45 publications

References 12 publications

August Toepler — The first who visualized shock waves

August Toepler — The first who visualized shock waves

Solitons as dissipative structures

In the footsteps of Ernst Mach ? A historical review of shock wave research at the Ernst-Mach-Institut

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About