Qualitative study of one-dimensional steady-state flow in a conducting gas

L. A. Bulis - P. L. Gusika - G. V. Zhizhin

Abstract
Using a spatial (three-dimensional) phase diagram, a study was made of the differential equations for steady-state, one-dimensional, MHD flow of a nonviscous, non-heat-conducting gas having finite electrical conductivity. A detailed qualitative picture of possible flow modes was constructed; some properties not previously mentioned were discovered, particularly the delineation of regions of stable and unstable equilibrium states. It was shown that the critical flow velocity in a stable equilibrium state agreed with the effective magnetoacoustic velocity and could take on values in the range from ordinary hydrodynamic sound velocity in a nonconducting gas to magnetoacoustic velocity in an infinitely conducting plasma.