I'm glad some people are finding this useful. It is certainly difficult writing this in a way I think people can easily understand. One thing I'm noticing is that people seem to be getting hung up on pressure. Pressure certainly matters but the shock wave is different than just max pressure. I've been trying to think of a good way to explain it but I'm not having much luck coming up with a really good way to do so.
A strong shock wave may be 10 atmospheres. That's only 147 PSI but it can shatter concrete, cut through steel, and liquefy human organs. It behaves differently than pressure. It's the rate (speed) of change that matters more than the overall pressure.
Here's a line out of an explanation from Encyclopedia Britannica, "Shock waves alter the mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties of solids and, thus, can be used to study the equation of state"
Does anyone have a complete English version of Vieille's paper?
