ADMISSIBLE SHOCK WAVES AND SHOCK-INDUCED PHASE TRANSITION IN A VAN DER WAALS FLUID (PART I - THE MODEL)

An exhaustive analysis of shock admissibility and shock-induced phase transition in a van der Waals fluid is presented. The crucial role played by the unperturbed state (the state before the shock) is put into evidence, leading to a full understanding of some phenomena observable in real gases that cannot be accounted for in the framework of the ideal gas model. The study is carried out by means of the theory of hyperbolic systems and numerical calculations. The paper is divided into three parts; in this part the van der Waals model is presented, along with a discussion concerning the thermodynamlc stability and phase transitions