A numerical study of shock waves generated through laser ablation of explosives
Abstract
Shock waves resulting from irradiation of energetic materials with a pulsed ultraviolet laser source have been shown to be an effective indicator for explosives detection. Here, the features of shock wave propagation are explored theoretically. The initial stage of the shock motion is simulated as a one-dimensional process. As the nonlinear wave expands to form a blast wave, a system of conservation equations, simplified to the Euler equations, is employed to model wave propagation. The Euler equations are solved numerically by the 5th order weighted essentially non-oscillatory finite difference scheme with the time integration carried out using the 3rd order total variation diminishing Runge Kutta method. The numerical results for the shock wave evolution are compared with those obtained from experiments with a meltcast 2,6-dinitrotoluene sample. The calculations lay a theoretical foundation for a recently investigated technique for photoacoustically sensing explosives using a vibrometer.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Nov 16, 2016
- Source ID
- 10.1063/1.4967825
Entities
People
- Charles M. Wynn
- Gerald Diebold
- John H. Doherty
- Robert W. Haupt
- Wenyu Bai
Organizations
- Brown University
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Department of Energy