Nonequilibrium Entropy in a Shock

Abstract

In a classic paper, Morduchow and Libby use an analytic solution for the profile of a Navier–Stokes shock to show that the equilibrium thermodynamic entropy has a maximum inside the shock. There is no general nonequilibrium thermodynamic formulation of entropy; the extension of equilibrium theory to nonequililbrium processes is usually made through the assumption of local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE). However, gas kinetic theory provides a perfectly general formulation of a nonequilibrium entropy in terms of the probability distribution function (PDF) solutions of the Boltzmann equation. In this paper I will evaluate the Boltzmann entropy for the PDF that underlies the Navier–Stokes equations and also for the PDF of the Mott–Smith shock solution. I will show that both monotonically increase in the shock. I will propose a new nonequilibrium thermodynamic entropy and show that it is also monotone and closely approximates the Boltzmann entropy.

Keywords

• shocks
• nonequilibrium thermodynamics
• entropy