Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Off-center blast in a shocked medium

Journal Article · · Shock Waves
When multiple blasts occur at different times, the situation arises in which a blast wave is propagating into a medium that has already been shocked. Determining the evolution in shape of the second shock is not trivial, as it is propagating into air that is not only non-uniform, but also non-stationary. To accomplish this task, we employ the method of Kompaneets to determine the shape of a shock in a non-uniform media. We also draw from the work of Korycansky [1] on an off-center explosion in a medium with radially varying density. Extending this to treat non-stationary flow, and making use of approximations to the Sedov solution for the point blast problem, we are able to determine an analytic expression for the evolving shape of the second shock. Specifically, we consider the case of a shock in air at standard ambient temperature and pressure, with the second shock occurring shortly after the original blast wave reaches it, as in a sympathetic detonation.
Research Organization:
Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC04-94AL85000
OSTI ID:
1333807
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1411601
OSTI ID: 1411607
Report Number(s):
SAND--2016-8212J; SAND--2017-3197J; SAND--2017-6941J; 646842
Journal Information:
Shock Waves, Journal Name: Shock Waves Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 28; ISSN 0938-1287
Publisher:
SpringerCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (10)

Blast loads and propagation around and over a building book January 2009
Blast Waves book January 2010
An exact solution of the kompaneets equations for a strong point explosion in a medium with quadratic density decrease journal June 1998
On the interaction and coalescence of spherical blast waves journal April 2008
CTH: A three-dimensional shock wave physics code journal January 1990
An off-center point explosion in a radially stratified medium - Kompaneets approximation journal October 1992
The formation of a blast wave by a very intense explosion I. Theoretical discussion journal March 1950
Astrophysical blastwaves journal January 1988
Shock-wave propagation in the nonuniform interstellar medium journal July 1995
A new exact solution of Kompaneets equation for a shock front journal July 2012