The formation of a blast wave by a very intense explosion I. Theoretical discussion

TLDR

In 1941 the author investigated the mechanical effects of a hypothetical nuclear fission bomb, a concept then unnamed, and circulated the study to the Civil Defence Research Committee. The study aimed to determine whether a highly concentrated, gas‑free energy release would produce mechanical effects comparable to conventional explosives. The authors modeled an idealized instantaneous, infinitely concentrated energy release and calculated the resulting air motion and pressure. They found that the release generates a spherical shock wave whose radius grows with time according to a power‑law relation involving the released energy, atmospheric density, and air’s specific‑heat ratio.

Abstract

This paper was written early in 1941 and circulated to the Civil Defence Research Committee of the Ministry of Home Security in June of that year. The present writer had been told that it might be possible to produce a bomb in which a very large amount of energy would be released by nuclear fission—the name atomic bomb had not then been used—and the work here described represents his first attempt to form an idea of what mechanical effects might be expected if such an explosion could occur. In the then common explosive bomb mechanical effects were produced by the sudden generation of a large amount of gas at a high temperature in a confined space. The practical question which required an answer was: Would similar effects be produced if energy could be released in a highly concentrated form unaccompanied by the generation of gas? This paper has now been declassified, and though it has been superseded by more complete calculations, it seems appropriate to publish it as it was first written, without alteration, except for the omission of a few lines, the addition of this summary, and a comparison with some more recent experimental work, so that the writings of later workers in this field may be appreciated. An ideal problem is here discussed. A finite amount of energy is suddenly released in an infinitely concentrated form. The motion and pressure of the surrounding air is calculated. It is found that a spherical shock wave is propagated outwards whose radius R is related to the time t since the explosion started by the equation R = S (γ)t t E t ρ 0 -t , where ρ o is the atmospheric density, E is the energy released and S (γ) a calculated function of of γ, the ratio of the specific heats of air.