Part 2. : This investigation was undertaken with two primary objectives. The first objective was to see if chemical reaction rates can be determined to about the same accuracy behind combustion driven shock waves as that previously attained behind shock waves generated by high pressure hydrogen or helium. The second was to obtain chemical rate data for nitrogen.

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.

Physics of Shock Waves and High-Temperature Hydrodynamic Phenomena, Volume II presents interpretations of the physical basis of shockwaves and high-temperature hydrodynamic phenomena and gives practical guidance to those who work with these subjects in science and modern technology. This volume contains chapters discussing such topics as the shockwave structure in gases; physical and chemical kinetics in hydrodynamic processes; the radiative phenomena in shock waves and in strong explosions in the air; thermal waves and shockwaves in solids; and self-similar processes in gasdynamics. Physicists, engineers, researchers, and professors and students in the field of the physical sciences will find the book very educational.

Recently, there have been significant advances in the fields of high-enthalpy hypersonic flows, high-temperature gas physics, and chemistry shock propagation in various media, industrial and medical applications of shock waves, and shock-tube technology. This series contains all the papers and lectures of the 19th International Symposium on Shock Waves held in Marseille in 1993. They are published in four topical volumes, each containing papers on related topics, and preceded by an overview written by a leading international expert. The volumes may be purchased independently.