Peculiarities of planar shockwave interaction with air–water interface and solid target

Abstract

We present the results of the research on underwater electrical explosion of planar copper wire arrays, accompanied by the generation of a planar shock, using the synchrotron-based phase-contrast radiography imaging capabilities of the ID19 beamline at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility. It is shown that the interaction of a strong shock with an air–water interface leads to additional acceleration of the wire expansion due to a rarefaction wave along with the emergence of micro-jets. In the case of a target placed above the array, we observed the formation of a cavity between the array and the target due to the interaction of two rarefaction waves. The results of two-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations of the wire explosion and the interaction of the generated shock with the water–air and water-target interfaces showed good agreement with experimental results.