We examine the effectiveness of absorbing layers as nonreflecting computati
onal boundaries for the Euler equations. The absorbing-layer equations are
simply obtained by splitting the governing equations in the coordinate dire
ctions and introducing absorption coefficients in each split equation. This
methodology is similar to that used by Berenger for the numerical solution
s of Maxwell's equations. Specifically, we apply this methodology to three
physical problems-shock-vortex interactions, a plane free shear how, and an
axisymmetric jet-with emphasis on acoustic wave propagation. Our numerical
results indicate that the use of absorbing layers effectively minimizes nu
merical reflection in all three problems considered.