Shock Velocity in Air and Other Substances

Cook (Ref 2) determined (in collaboration with Mr O.K. Shupe), in the course of study of the shape and pressure distribution in the detonation head, that the shock velocity in steel is about 10% higher than the detonation velocity of granular RDX 

Jaffe et al (Ref 3), in the course of determination of the shock pressure required to initiate detonation of an acceptor in the shock sensitivity test, found that the velocity of the front as sensed by the pressure probe method, falls behind the true velocity of the shock front as the shock is attenuated. It has also been found that the maximum transmitted shock velocity generated by the two Tetryl pellets and measured in Lucite is 4.6mm/frsec. Shock velocities determined by optical method, shown in Table 3, p 25, run between 2.701 

Refs 1) S.A. Savitt R.H. Stresau, Recent Air Shock Velocity Measurements Near Small Charges of Highly Confined Explosives , USNOL Rept 2442(1952) 

WAVE IN. A shock wave is a violent disturbance moving with a loud bang along a medium (such as air, water, or earth), at a speed greater than that of sound ( supersonic speed ). Velocity of sound, c, in air is 331.9 m/sec (1088ft/sec) and the ratio of shock velocity to sonic velocity is known as Mach Number, M 

Shock waves can be produced in a number of ways, such as movement of projectiles or other objects thru air at supersonic speeds, or pushing out of the air by the products of a detonation, which expand at many times the speed of sound. The latter type of shock wave is much stronger and is known as a blast wave (See under BLAST EFFECTS IN AIR, EARTH AND WATER in Vol 2 of Encycl, pp B180 to B184) 

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Detonation, shock velocity in air and other substances 4 DS29... 

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