Plasma Driven Water Shock.
Abstract
This report describes the development and testing of the Phase II Plasma Driven Water Shock (PDWS ll) simulator as a continuation of the effort to develop a high energy density alternative to conventional high explosive (HE) water shock systems used for simulation of nuclear generated underwater shocks. The PDWS technique involves the rapid discharge of electrical energy, stored capacitively at high voltage, through a water plasma formed by electrical breakdown between fixed electrodes. The small volume of the plasma combined with extremely fast energy deposition results in a more nuclear like response than that obtained by the slower, more bulky HE energy release. Comparative experimental results have shown the necessity of rapid energy injection to achieve high coupling efficiency. There are strong implications based on these results for simulation using high explosives (HE) or numerical calculations that depend upon HE results. The fact that the coupling efficiency from the plasma to the water is strongly dependent upon the energy density for the microsecond time scales used here, implies that relationships developed for shock characteristic behavior from HE tests dependent upon available chemical energy or 'yield' may be extremely suspect when applied to nuclear generated phenomena with radically different behavior than conventional explosives.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 1996
- Accession Number
- ADA305572
Entities
People
- Gary R. Hess