Shock-wave structure based on the Navier-Stokes-Fourier equations.

We use the Navier-Stokes-Fourier constitutive equations to study plane shock waves in dilute gases. It is shown that the experimental information on the normalized density profiles can be fit by using the so-called soft sphere model, in which the viscosity and thermal conductivity are proportional to a power of the temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]