Chockvåg

Chockvåg is the term used in Norwegian and Swedish (and borrowed into other languages) to refer to a shock wave. It is a propagating disturbance characterized by abrupt changes in pressure, temperature, density, and particle velocity, generated by rapid energy release or compression.

Physically, a chockvåg forms when the flow becomes nonlinear, causing a steepening of waves until a nearly discontinuous front develops. The propagation speed exceeds the local speed of sound; its behavior is described by conservation laws across a shock, captured by the Rankine–Hugoniot relations.

Key properties include overpressure, impulse, and duration; the front is thin relative to wavelengths of interest; strength depends on energy release, geometry, and medium properties; attenuation and diffraction shape its evolution.

Common types and examples include blast waves from explosions, sonic booms from supersonic aircraft, pressure waves from implosions, seismic shock waves in geology, and, in medicine, lithotripsy uses focused shock waves. These disturbances influence structures, materials, and biological tissues in ways that require careful analysis and mitigation.

Measurement and study rely on high-speed imaging, Schlieren or shadowgraph visualization, and pressure sensors; numerical simulations solve compressible flow equations to predict propagation, interaction with structures, and attenuation.

Etymology and usage: the term chockvåg derives from chock (shock) and våg (wave) in Scandinavian languages; it is used primarily in physics, engineering, meteorology, and seismology to describe abrupt pressure disturbances.