The viscosity-capillarity criterion for shocks and phase transitions (Q788578)

The Korteweg theory is used to provide the universal admissibility criterion for isothermal motion of compressible thermo-elastic fluids with respect to viscosity alone and with respect to the viscosity- capillarity condition. It is shown that the usually accepted ideas on admissibility of shocks in ideal gases are consistent with the viscosity- capillarity condition and with experiments for materials exhibiting phase transitions.