The problem of power‐law recompression of a fully developed centered one‐dimensional expansion is examined for the case of&ggr; = 3. Two closed‐form integrals based on the similarity theory are derived. A physical picture based on finite‐amplitude traveling waves is developed. Explicit formulas for the flow distributions in the recompression layer are obtained for the power exponent values of 4/3, 3/2, 2, 3, and 4. Applications to problems in one‐dimensional unsteady release and two‐dimensional steady escape of detonation products are noted.