The refraction of a plane shock wave at air-water interface

The normal refraction at an air water interface of a plane shock wave incident through the air is considered. The perfect gas and Tait equations of state are used, respectively, to represent the thermodynamic properties of the air and water. For refracted pressures up to 1200 atmospheres, the calculations reveal that the in-water shock front and particle velocities and the changes in density differ by less than 10% from the in-water shock front and particle velocities and the changes in density predicted by acoustic theory. The calculations also show that, for a given incident shock, the ratio of the refracted pressure to the pressure reflected from a rigid wall remains above 96% for reflected pressures up to 1200 atmospheres.