Abstract
This paper reviews and discusses various assumptions which are employed in the analysis of shock compression data. Some of the assumptions are essential and strongly affect the determination of shock pressures and shock temperatures, but are often ignored; one is the jump condition and the situation of the steady flow, and another is the behavior of the Gruneisen constant which depends on the state of materials under shock loading. Furthermore, shock waves induce the heterogeneous state of materials shock-compressed, localizing thermal energy; it becomes difficult to compare with a single equation of state of solids.
