ABSTRACT
A detonation is a combustion wave that travels at supersonic speeds producing high temperatures and pressures for short periods of time. Detonation is an important combustion topic because given suf–cient volume and time, a propagating ¢ame (de¢agration) can change into a detonation. Detonations often create dangerous situations, such as an explosion due to leakage of natural gas in a building, a coal mine explosion due to the presence of methane, or a hydrogen-oxygen explosion in an overheated nuclear reactor. The study of detonations can lead to ways to prevent such accidents.
