Historical Development of the Knowledge of Shock and Blast Waves

Abstract

This chapter describes the historical development of the theory of blast and shock waves from the 17th to the 19th century.Usually, the propagation of blast and shock waves are mathematically described by partial differential equations for conservation of mass, momentum and energy. Additionally, an equation of state for the material (e.g. air) is required. Of course, the material properties must also be known. Because there is a discontinuity at the shock front and the partial differential equations can not be used at the shock front, jump conditions (equations for conservation of mass, momentum and energy) must be set up. With this at hand, a way to find a solution for the equations must be described.The realization of all this took several centuries. It’s development is chronologically described. The theory of blast and shock waves is not trivial. Many problems had to be solved. For example, even the determination of the density of air was a problem to be solved in the 17th century.KeywordsShock WaveEnergy ConservationShock FrontBlast WaveJump ConditionThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.