Diffraction estimate of the critical energy for initiation of gaseous detonation

A criterion for the excitation of detonation is proposed: the critical initiation energy equals the work performed by the expanding detonation products along a path length equal to the longitudinal dimension of a cell. The initial radius of the layer is chosen to be equal to the radius of the detonation wave diffracted at 90° edge at the time the axial rarefaction wave converges on the axis of the gaseous charge. Formulas are obtained for estimating the critical energy for initiation of plane, cylindrical, and spherical detonation waves. The calculated values are in good agreement with experiment.