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 wrtitten by a leading international expert. The volumes may be purchased independently.

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.

This volume is concerned primarily with the chemical and physical effects of shock waves on typical materials. It compares naturally occurring materials with similar materials produced by shock compression in the laboratory, providing clues about the environment and events that produced the natural materials.