This book was written as a graduate student course--Shock Dynamics. Up to now, the first author has taught this course to the graduate students in the field of Fluid Mechanics, Department of Modern Mechanics, University of Science and Technology of China for seven times. In the spring semester 1989, during his visit to the United States, the first author taught this course to the graduate students of Department of Mathemat ics, University of Colorado at Denver. At the same time, he gave a series of four lectures on Shock Dynamics to the graduate students of Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, University of Colorado at Boulder. In 1991, during the first author's visit to Japan, he gave some lectures on Shock Dynamics in Tohoku University, University of Tokyo and Kyushu Uni versity. The dynamic phenomena of shock waves such as propagation, diffraction, reflection, refraction and interaction of shock waves may be studied by using experimental methods, numerical calculations and theoretical analyses. Although the detailed flow patterns of phenomena of shock motion can be obtained by using experimental methods and numerical calculations of solving Euler Equation or Navier-Stokes Equation, for example, the diffractions of shock waves by wedges form various phenomena of reflection--RR, SMR, CMR and DMR, we also need to analyse the process of the formation of shock waves in various phenomena of diffraction, reflection and interaction by using theoretical methods.
