Nonstationary Flows and Shock Waves

Providing insight into cosmic, terrestrial and artificially-created explosions and blast-wave phenomena, this monograph discusses the properties, as well as the analytical and physical characteristics, of planar, cylindrical and spherical blast waves.

Nonstationary flows of gases (and liquids under high pressure) are of interest in many engineering problems. These include the study of shock waves arising from a very sudden release (explosion) of chemical, nuclear, electrical, or mechanical energy in a limited space, the study of the behaviour of media through which the shock propagate, and the investigation of the nonstationary motion of a mixture of gases in energy-producing devices and engines. Nonstationary flows are also relevant to modern physics and cosmology.In this book the reader will find all the important aspects of shock-tube and shock-wave research in pure and dusty gases, as well as dissociated and ionized boundary layers, spherical and cylindrical explosion and implosion phenomena, hypervelocity launchers, and shock-wave reflections, diffractions, and refractions. It is a unique book combining analytical numerical and experimental work, covering 40 years of continuous research in the area.