Interaction between a shock wave and a cloud: shock front pattern and the evolution of its topological structure

We argue that the nonlinear interaction of a strong shock front with a dens e gas cloud is characterized by the formation of a regular gasdynamical pat tern which includes a reflected shock, a tangential discontinuity, and two Mach fronts. The pattern has the same gasdynamical nature as the Courant-Fr iedrichs pattern of the shock-shock interaction and contains the same dynam ical elements. In shock-cloud interaction pattern, these elements are arran ged in a different configuration, and the number of the elements is differe nt. The pattern is nonstationary and evolves with the transformation of its topological structure. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B. V. All rights reserved .