Question

Specifying the temperature ratio across the normal shock wave will yield which of the following across the normal shock wave?

(a) Upstream flow velocity

(b) Upstream Mach number

(c) Downstream temperature

(d) Downstream flow velocity

The question was posed to me in an international level competition.

My query is from Flow Compressible topic in section Normal Shock Waves of Aerodynamics

Answer 1

Correct answer is (b) Upstream Mach number

The best I can explain: Specifying a dimensionless quantity across the normal shock wave will specify all the other ratios and both the upstream and downstream Mach numbers. But for finding the velocity, temperature also needs to be specified and vice versa.