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.

Explosions, and the non-steady shock propagation associated with them, continue to interest researchers working in different fields of physics and engineering (such as astrophysics and fusion). Based on the author's course in shock dynamics, this book describes the various analytical methods developed to determine non-steady shock propagation. These methods offer a simple alternative to the direct numerical integration of the Euler equations and offer a better insight into the physics of the problem. Professor Lee presents the subject systematically and in a style that is accessible to graduate students and researchers working in shock dynamics, combustion, high-speed aerodynamics, propulsion and related topics.

As an editor of the international scienti?c journal Shock Waves, I was asked whether I might document some of my experience and knowledge in the ?eld of blast waves. I began an outline for a book on the basis of a short course that I had been teaching for several years. I added to the outline, ?lling in details and including recent devel- ments, especially in the subjects of height of burst curves and nonideal explosives. At a recent meeting of the International Symposium on the Interaction of Shock Waves, I was asked to write the book I had said I was working on. As a senior advisor to a group working on computational ?uid dynamics, I found that I was repeating many useful rules and conservation laws as new people came into the group. The transfer of knowledge was hit and miss as questions arose during the normal work day. Although I had developed a short course on blast waves, it was not practical to teach the full course every time a new member was added to the group. This was suf?cient incentive for me to undertake the writing of this book. I cut my work schedule to part time for two years while writing the book. This allowed me to remain heavily involved in ongoing and leading edge work in hydrodynamics while documenting this somewhat historical perspective on blast waves.

b="" The book provides a concise description of the physical processes and mathematical models for explosions and formation of blast waves from explosions. The contents focus on quantitatively determining the energy released in the different types of explosions and the destructive blast waves that are generated. The contribution of flames, detonations and other physical processes to the explosion phenomenon is dealt with in detail. Gaseous and condensed phase explosions are discussed and the yield of explosions with their TNT equivalence is determined. Time scales involved in the explosion process and the scaling procedure are ascertained. Explosions over the ground, in water, and the interaction of explosions with objects are examined. In order to keep the text easily readable, the detailed derivation of the mathematical equations is given in the seven appendices at the end of the book. Case studies of various explosions are investigated and simple problems and their solutions are provided for the different topics to assist the reader in internalizing the explosion process. The book is a useful reference for professionals and academics in aeronautics, mechanical, civil and chemical engineering and for personnel working in explosive manufacture and high-energy materials, armaments, space, defense, and industrial and fire safety.

Hydronamics of Explosion presents the research results for the problems of underwater explosions and contains a detailed analysis of the structure and the parameters of the wave fields generated by explosions of cord and spiral charges, a description of the formation mechanisms for a wide range of cumulative flows at underwater explosions near the free surface, and the relevant mathematical models. Shock-wave transformation in bubbly liquids, shock-wave amplification due to collision and focusing, and the formation of bubble detonation waves in reactive bubbly liquids are studied in detail. Particular emphasis is placed on the investigation of wave processes in cavitating liquids, which incorporates the concepts of the strength of real liquids containing natural microinhomogeneities, the relaxation of tensile stress, and the cavitation fracture of a liquid as the inversion of its two-phase state under impulsive (explosive) loading. The problems are classed among essentially nonlinear processes that occur under shock loading of liquids and may be of interest to researchers in physical acoustics, mechanics of multiphase media, shock-wave processes in condensed media, explosive hydroacoustics, and cumulation.