Burn front and reflected shock wave visualization in an inertially confined detonation of high explosive

Abstract

Proton radiography was used to investigate the spatiotemporal evolution of the burn front and associated reflected shocks on a PBX-9502 charge confined between an outer cylindrical steel liner and an inner elliptical tin liner. The charge was initiated with a PBX-9501 booster and a line wave generator at 30° from the major axis of the ellipse. This configuration provides a large region where the high explosive (HE) is not within the line of sight of the detonation line and thus offers a suitable experimental platform to test various burn models and EOS formulations. In addition, the offaxis initiation allows for the burn fronts to travel around the charge through different confining paths. Simulations with the hydrocode PAGOSA were performed to assess the accuracy of several HE burn methodologies. © 2012 American Institute of Physics.