Chapman-Jouguet plane

Chapman-Jouguet plane

[¦chap·mən zhü¦gwā ‚plān]

(mechanics)

A hypothetical, infinite plane, behind the initial shock front, in which it is variously assumed that reaction (and energy release) has effectively been completed, that reaction product gases have reached thermodynamic equilibrium, and that reaction gases, streaming backward out of the detonation, have reached such a condition that a forward-moving sound wave located at this precise plane would remain a fixed distance behind the initial shock.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.