Molecular-dynamics calculations of shock waves in perfect three-dimensional solids at nonzero initial temperatures reveal a transition in the nature of the asymptotic shockwave structure as a function of shock strength. The key to this transition from nonsteady to steady waves where the Rankine-Hugoniot relations are obeyed is the partial relaxation of compressive shear stress behind the shock front which accompanies small, but permanent, transverse strains in atomic positions.

• Received 27 August 1979

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.43.1598