Blast Waves

Charles E. Needham

• 04 mei 2012
• 9783642263019

Samenvatting:

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. 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.

The primary purpose of this text is to document many of the lessons that have been learned during the author’s more than forty years in the field of blast and shock. The writing therefore takes on an historical perspective, in some sense, because it follows the author’s experience. The book deals with blast waves propagating in fluids or materials that can be treated as fluids.

It begins by distinguishing between blast waves and the more general category of shock waves. It then examines several ways of generating blast waves, considering the propagation of blast waves in one, two and three dimensions as well as through the real atmosphere. One section treats the propagation of shocks in layered gases in a more detailed manner.

The book also details the interaction of shock waves with structures in particular reflections, progressing from simple to complex geometries, including planar structures, two-dimensional structures such as ramps or wedges, reflections from heights of burst, and three-dimensional structures.

Intended for those with a basic knowledge of algebra and a solid grasp of the concepts of conservation of mass and energy, the text includes an introduction to blast wave terminology and conservation laws as well as a discussion of units and the importance of consistency.

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.