Reactive Flow Modeling of the Interaction of TATB Detonation Waves with Inert Materials

Abstract

The Ignition & Growth model for the shock initiation and detonation of solid explosives is applied to calculating the main features of detonation waves in the triaminotrinitrobenzene (TATB) based high explosives LX-17, PBX 9502 and EDC-35. Under detonation conditions, TATB based explosives exhibit reaction zone lengths of 2 to 3 mm depending on the interactions between the detonation wave and the surrounding inert materials. This paper describes comparisons of Ignition & Growth calculations with data from several two- and three-dimensional experiments in which various materials are used to confine the TATB based explosives. The calculated unconfined failure diameters of PBX 9502 are normalized to the measured values at five initial temperatures. Failure diameters for LX-17 are then estimated by changing only the fraction ignited near the shock front. Fabry-Perot data on spherically divergent LX-17 “snowball” experiments is also compared to calculations. Calculated detonation velocities, wave front curvatures, and metal acceleration velocities are compared to experimental detonation data for TATB-based high explosives in tantalum, copper, PMMA, brass, and beryllium confinement. Three-dimensional prism failure test results on PBX 9502 are also stimulated using the ALE3D code.