An unpublished manuscript of John von Neumann on shock waves in boostered detonations: historical context and mathematical analysis (Q2659149)

The paper is devoted to a presentation and analysis of an unpublished and previously unknown manuscript of John von Neumann in which he studied bombs comprising a primary explosive charge along with explosive booster material. His goal was to calculate the minimal amount of booster needed to create a sustainable detonation, presumably because booster material is often more expensive and more volatile. In the paper under review, a complete transcription of von Neumann's work is provided and the authors' own accompanying explanations and analyses, including the correction of two small errors in his calculations are given. The manuscript is also contextualized within the development of the theory of shock waves and detonations during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The authors state that though von Neumann's manuscript will not revolutionize our modern understanding of detonations, however the document is a valuable historical record of the state of hydrodynamics research during and after World War II.