The simplest form of a blast wave has been described and termed the Friedlander waveform. It occurs when a high explosive detonates in a free field, that is, with no surfaces nearby with which it can interact.
Blast waves have properties predicted by the physics of waves. For example, they can diffract through a narrow opening, and refract as they pass through materials. Like light or sound waves, when a blast wave reaches a boundary between two materials, part of it is transmitted, part of it is absorbed, and part of it is reflected. The impedances of the two materials determine how much of each occurs.
The equation for a Friedlander waveform describes the pressure of the blast wave as a function of time:
where P is the peak pressure and t* is the time at which the pressure first crosses the horizontal axis (before the negative phase).
Blast waves will wrap around objects and buildings. Therefore, persons or objects behind a large building are not necessarily protected from a blast that starts on the opposite side of the building. Scientists use sophisticated mathematical models to predict how objects will respond to a blast in order to design effective barriers and safer buildings.