SIMILARITY SOLUTIONS AND NONLINEAR WAVE PROPAGATION IN A MULTI-TEMPERATURE GAS MIXTURE

A set of field equations for a multi-temperature gas mixture in spherical symmetry is considered within the framework of Rational Extended Thermodynamics. The invariance with respect to stretching group of transformations is investigated and the associated canonical variables are introduced. This makes it possible to write the system in autonomous form. Special similarity solutions are determined and the propagation of weak discontinuities in a non-constant state of the original system is studied. Finally, the evolution of the discontinuity is illustrated for a mixture of Helium and Argon.