Compressible flow

Compressible flow (gas dynamics) is the branch of fluid mechanics that deals with flows having significant changes in fluid density. Gases, but not liquids, display such behaviour. To distinguish between compressible and incompressible flow in air, the Mach number (the ratio of the speed of the flow to the speed of sound) must be greater than about 0.3 (since the density change is greater than 5% in that case) before significant compressibility occurs. The study of compressible flow is relevant to high-speed aircraft, jet engines, rocket motors, hyperloops, high-speed entry into a planetary atmosphere, gas pipelines, commercial applications such as abrasive blasting, and many other fields.