Unsteady Motion of Continuous Media covers the technical applications in the study of rapidly occurring processes in unsteady motion of continuous media. This 15-chapter text focuses on the detonation and explosion processes. The introductory chapters review the mathematical and thermodynamic methods of gas dynamics, as well as the fundamental equations of non-stationary gas dynamics. The succeeding chapters deal with the concept of self-similar motion, solutions of equations, one-dimensional isentropic motions, and the elementary theory of shock waves. Considerable chapters are devoted to the mechanisms and principles of detonation wave, its propagation and unsteady motion in condensed media. These topics are followed by discussions of the propulsion of bodies by a gas stream; the motion of gas in a gravitational field; and the limiting motion of rarefield and very dense media. The concluding chapter presents some problems in the relativistic mechanics of solid medium. This book will prove useful to physicists, applied mathematicians, and chemical engineers.

This unique and encyclopedic reference work describes the evolution of the physics of modern shock wave and detonation from the earlier and classical percussion. The history of this complex process is first reviewed in a general survey. Subsequently, the subject is treated in more detail and the book is richly illustrated in the form of a picture gallery. This book is ideal for everyone professionally interested in shock wave phenomena.

Scaling laws reveal the fundamental property of phenomena, namely self-similarity - repeating in time and/or space - which substantially simplifies the mathematical modelling of the phenomena themselves. This book begins from a non-traditional exposition of dimensional analysis, physical similarity theory, and general theory of scaling phenomena, using classical examples to demonstrate that the onset of scaling is not until the influence of initial and/or boundary conditions has disappeared but when the system is still far from equilibrium. Numerous examples from a diverse range of fields, including theoretical biology, fracture mechanics, atmospheric and oceanic phenomena, and flame propagation, are presented for which the ideas of scaling, intermediate asymptotics, self-similarity, and renormalisation were of decisive value in modelling.