Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 October 2008
The object of this paper is to discuss the one-dimensional unsteady adiabatic motion of a gas which is initially at rest with a prescribed density distribution such that the specific entropy is uniform. The contour integral methods which Copson developed recently for even analytic functions are extended to apply to general analytic initial conditions. The solution is valid in the range 1 < Υ > 3, where y is the adiabatic index of the gas. Of particular interest, in view of the hydraulic analogy, is the case Υ = 2 for which real variable methods cannot readily be adapted. The motion of the front of a water column Sowing into a dry, horizontal stream bed is discussed. A curious type of solution, corresponding to a particular choice of initial distribution, which was established by Pack for a, countable sequence of values of Υ, is verified to hold over the whole range and is interpreted in terms of the dam-break problem.