Shock-Wave Focusing Studies

摘要

Shock-wave propagation and focusing theories were investigated to determine the feasibility of utilizing shock waves for military applications. The propagation of hypothetical weak shock waves with small planar or concave frontal areas was analyzed on the basis of Whitham's shock-wave theory. The results indicate that shock waves with these characteristics cannot be propagated intact over militarily significant distances. The general applicability of Whitham's theory to this problem is questionable, however, in view of experimental data in the literature which indicate that very weak shock waves can be effectively focused. Therefore, these discrepancies should be experimentally resolved to explicitly define the feasibility of military applications of shock waves. (Author)