Question

A shock wave caused by driver gas is called _______

(a) Shear front

(b) Shock front

(c) Contact front

(d) Cap front

This question was posed to me during an interview.

This interesting question is from Velocity of Sound or Pressure Wave in a Fluid topic in section Compressible Flow of Fluid Mechanics

Answer 1

Right answer is (c) Contact front

The explanation: Contact front is defined as a shock wave caused by a driver gas. It is the boundary layer between the driver gases and the driven gases. The main function of the contact front is to trails the shock front.