Stable detonation, defined

The critical diameter is defined as the diameter of a cylindrical charge, below which stable detonation cannot propagate, no matter how high the velocity of the... 

It should be noted that in the context of these experiments, a stable detonation is defined as one in which the detonation wave completes its run through the two-phase mixture without an obvious failure and asymptotically approaches a stationary state. Significant fluctuation about the mean velocity is to be expected (as it would be for a poorly mixed gas-phase detonation). A detonation... 

The sensitivity of an explosive is a measure of the ease or minimum amount of energy required to initiate fast decomposition in the material [1-5], It is not a quantity which can be defined precisely, and as indicated in the introduction to Volume 1, it is often expressed as a probability that an explosion will occur following the application of a given stimulus at a specified level. Very often the nature of the decomposition regime initiated is not determined with any precision, although in assessing the potential consequences it is clearly important to know whether the regime is stable and whether detonation is achieved. 

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