A theory of electromagnetically driven shock waves

Abstract

During the last few years, many experimental devices have been built in which strong shock waves are generated in gases by electromagnetic forces on currentcarrying gas particles. The general theory of these devices is discussed, taking external circuit inductance into account. It is shown that a shock wave of constant speed is finally attained. This shock wave is travelling at 90% of its final speed when the circuit inductance has increased to 3·0 times its initial value.