Skip to main content

Spherical Shock Waves: The Self-Similar Solution

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Book cover Introduction to Simple Shock Waves in Air

Part of the book series: Shock Wave and High Pressure Phenomena ((SHOCKWAVE))

  • 714 Accesses

Abstract

This particular chapter has an independent character and deals almost exclusively with Taylor’s analysis of very strong spherical shocks. The presentation follows Taylor’s analysis and notation in relation to the similarity solution for the point source explosion in air. Following his analysis, the partial differential equations in Eulerian form are reduced to a set of coupled ordinary differential equations which are numerically integrated. Taylor’s analytical approximations for the pressure, density and velocity are presented and these turn out to be remarkably accurate when compared to the numerical solutions. His analysis of the energy left in the atmosphere after the blast wave has propagated away has also been presented and discussed. The chapter concludes with an approximate treatment of very strong shock, which is based on the particular nature of the point source solution where most of the material is piled up at the shock front.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 99.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. R. Serber, The Los Alamos Primer: The First Lectures on How to Build an Atomic Bomb (University of California Press, Berkeley, CA, 1992)

    Google Scholar 

  2. B. Cameron Reed, The Physics of the Manhattan Project, 3rd edn. (Springer, Heidelberg, 2015)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  3. J.D. Logan, Applied Mathematics; A Contemporary Approach (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1987), Chapter 7

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  4. G.I. Taylor, The formation of a blast wave by a very intense explosion, I. Theoretical discussion. Proc. Royal Soc. A 201, 159 (1950)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. J. von Neumann, The point source solution, in Collected Works, vol. VI, (Pergamon Press, New York, 1976), p. 219

    Google Scholar 

  6. H.A. Bethe et al., LA-2000 Report (Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory of the University of California, Los Alamos, New Mexico, 1958)

    Google Scholar 

  7. L.I. Sedov, Similarity and Dimensional Methods in Mechanics (Academic Press, New York/London, 1959)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  8. L.D. Landau, E.M. Lifshitz, Fluid Mechanics (Pergamon Press, London, 1966). Chapter 9

    Google Scholar 

  9. R.E. Scraton, Basic Numerical Methods (Edward Arnold Pub. Ltd., London, 1984)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  10. H. Bethe, J. Hirschfelder, V. Waters, LA-213 Report (Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory of the University of California, Los Alamos, New Mexico, 1946)

    Google Scholar 

  11. G.I. Taylor, The formation of a blast wave by a very intense explosion, II. The atomic explosion of 1945. Proc. Royal Soc., A 201, 175 (1950)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. G.G. Chernyi, The problem of a point explosion. Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR 112, 213 (1957)

    MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  13. Y.B. Zel’dovich, Y.P. Raizer, Physics of Shock Waves and High-Temperature Hydrodynamic Phenomena (Dover Publications Inc., Mineola, New York, 2002), Section 26

    Google Scholar 

  14. C.E. Needham, Blast Waves (Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2010), Section 4.2

    Book  Google Scholar 

  15. J.L. Taylor, An exact solution of the spherical blast wave problem. Phil. Mag. 46, 317 (1955)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  16. P.L. Sachdev, Shock Waves and Explosions (Chapman & Hall, London, 2004), Chapter 3

    Book  Google Scholar 

  17. J.H.S. Lee, The Gas Dynamics of Explosions (Cambridge University Press, New York, 2016), Chapter 4

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Prunty, S. (2019). Spherical Shock Waves: The Self-Similar Solution. In: Introduction to Simple Shock Waves in Air . Shock Wave and High Pressure Phenomena. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02565-6_5

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02565-6_5

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-02564-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-02565-6

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics