My introduction to the fascinating phenomena associated with detonation
waves came through appointments as an external fellow at the Department
of Physics, University College of Wales, and at the Department of
Mechanical Engineering, University of Leeds. Very special thanks for his
accurate guidance through the large body of information on gaseous
detonations are due to Professor D. H. Edwards of University College of
Wales. Indeed, the onerous task of concisely enumerating the key
features of unidimensional theories of detonations was undertaken by
him, and Chapter 2 is based on his initial draft. When the text strays
to the use of we, it is a deserved acknow- ledgement of his
contribution. Again, I should like to thank Professor D. Bradley of
Leeds University for his enthusiastic encouragement of my efforts at
developing a model of the composition limits of detonability through a
relationship between run-up distance and composition of the mixture. The
text has been prepared in the context of these fellowships, and I am
grateful to the Central Electricity Generating Board for its permission
to accept these appointments.