Blast wave propagation in an inhomogeneous atmosphere

The Brinkley–Kirkwood theory (1947) is modified to determine the law of propagation of a blast wave in an arbitrary inhomogeneous medium for spherically and cylindrically symmetric cases. The shock path is obtained in terms of a simple quadrature. The numerical results for the shock path and the entire flow region behind the shock, propagating in an exponential atmosphere, show excellent agreement with the exact numerical solution.