Generation of cylindrically symmetric converging shock waves by underwater electrical explosion of wire array

Abstract

It is shown that the originally corrugated shock wave generated in the process of an underwater electrical explosion of a cylindrical wire array is self-aligned into a cylindrically symmetric converging front. It was found that by increasing the number of the wires in the array this self-alignment process occurs faster. It is also demonstrated that in the case of a large wire number (>20), one-dimensional calculations can be successfully employed for theoretical analysis.