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Title: Towards An Ideal Slow Cookoff Model For PBXN-109

Conference ·
OSTI ID:15013623

We present an overview of computational techniques for simulating the thermal cookoff of high explosives using a multi-physics hydrodynamics code, ALE3D. Recent improvements to the code have aided our computational capability in modeling the response of energetic materials systems exposed to extreme thermal environments, such as fires. We consider an idealized model process for a confined explosive involving the transition from slow heating to rapid deflagration in which the time scale changes from days to hundreds of microseconds. The heating stage involves thermal expansion and decomposition according to an Arrhenius kinetics model while a pressure-dependent burn model is employed during the explosive phase. We describe and demonstrate the numerical strategies employed to make the transition from slow to fast dynamics. In addition, we investigate the sensitivity of wall expansion rates to numerical strategies and parameters. Results from a one-dimensional model show increased violence when the gap between the explosive and steel vessel is removed.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-48
OSTI ID:
15013623
Report Number(s):
UCRL-CONF-201173; TRN: US200604%%45
Resource Relation:
Conference: Presented at: JANNAF 2003, Colorado Springs, CO, United States, Dec 01 - Dec 05, 2003
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English