CLASSICAL-THEORY OF DETONATION

In a first part is presented the model of the Ideal Detonation. Emphas is is placed on the physical assumptions made in the setting and resol ution of the continuum mechanics equations to be used. The basic eleme nts of computations of ideal detonation parameters will be described. The experiments performed to check the predictions, and their results, will be reported. Some discussion of explosives in which chemical equ ilibrium is not reached, due to slow diffusive mixing of the reactants or to conditions where some of the reactions are very slow, will also be given. These explosives are often called non-ideal explosives. Obv iously, when the reaction zone is not very thin relative to system dim ensions, or when it is not very short relative to system times, the Id eal Detonation model, restricted to plane, steady flow, is inadequate. The third part of the paper is concerned with curved detonation front s, and with time dependent processes. The steady detonation of small-d iameter cylindrical cartridges will be discussed as one example, and t he initiation of detonation in the shock-to-detonation transition as a nother. Detonation theory is not a closed subject, and much effort is currently being spent to extend classical theory. Some of the newer id eas will be introduced in a concluding part.