Self-similar flows with uniform velocity gradient and their use in modelling the free expansion of polytropic gases

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Abstract
The self-similar motion of a polytropic gas with a linear velocity distribution is considered in an arbitrary ν-dimensional space. It is shown that if the initial state of the gas is isotropic the flow has a characteristic ellipsoidal form. Both expanding and compressing flows are shown to exist. The application of such flows as models for the expansion of an initially uniform mass of gas into vacuum is considered by comparison with computationally modelled expansions in one-dimensional cylindrical and spherical geometries. It is found that the accuracy of the representation increases when the heating time is long compared with the characteristic time of expansion.