The Friedlander Equations

Abstract

The Friedlander equation, used to describe the pressure-time history of a blast wave, was first introduced in a paper by Friedlander (1946) that describes the analytical solutions of sound pulses diffracted by a semi-infinite plate. Friedlander was renowned for his erudicity and conciseness of presentation, and offers no explanation about the origin of the equation, or its possible association with blast waves. The paper describes work that he did during the war when he was working under the academic direction of Sir Geoffrey (G. I.) Taylor. In the late 1930s and early 1940s Taylor was attempting to find an analytical solution to the point source problem, viz, to describe the pressure wave produced by the instantaneous release of energy at a point in a uniform atmosphere, thus simulating a possible nuclear explosion.