Sub-sonic thermal explosions investigated by radiography

Laura Smilowitz, Bryan F. Henson, Blaine W. Asay, Jerry J. Romero, Gary P. Grim, Andy Saunders, Frank Merrill, Chris L. Morris, Wendy McNeil, Mark Marr-Lyon, Paul Rightly

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

Abstract

This paper reviews the past 5 years of experiments utilizing radiographic techniques to study deflagration in thermal explosions in HMX based formulations. Details of triggering and timing synchronization are given. Radiographic images collected using both protons and x-rays are discussed. Comparisons of experiments with varying size, case confinement, binder, and synchronization are presented. Techniques for quantifying the data in the images are presented and a mechanism for post-ignition burn propagation in a thermal explosion is discussed. From these experiments, we have observed a mechanism for sub-sonic deflagration with both gas phase convective and solid phase conductive burning. The convective front velocity is directly measured from the radiographic images and consumes only a small fraction of the HE. It lights the HE as it passes beginning the slower solid state conductive burn process. This mechanism is used to create a model to simulate the radiographic results and a comparison will be shown.

Original languageEnglish
Pages898-908
Number of pages11
StatePublished - 2010
Externally publishedYes
Event14th International Detonation Symposium, IDS 2010 - Coeur d'Alene, ID, United States
Duration: Apr 11 2010Apr 16 2010

Conference

Conference14th International Detonation Symposium, IDS 2010
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityCoeur d'Alene, ID
Period04/11/1004/16/10

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