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Title: Simulating Thermal Explosion of Octahydrotetranitrotetrazine-based explosives: Model Comparison with Experiment

Journal Article · · Journal of Applied Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2357418· OSTI ID:902384

The authors compare two-dimensional model results with measurements for the thermal, chemical and mechanical behavior in a thermal explosion experiment. Confined high explosives are heated at a rate of 1 C per hour until an explosion is observed. The heating, ignition, and deflagration phases are modeled using an Arbitrarily Lagrangian-Eulerian code (ALE3D) that can handle a wide range of time scales that vary from a structural to a dynamic hydro time scale. During the pre-ignition phase, quasi-static mechanics and diffusive thermal transfer from a heat source to the HE are coupled with the finite chemical reactions that include both endothermic and exothermic processes. Once the HE ignites, a hydro dynamic calculation is performed as a burn front propagates through the HE. Two octahydrotetranitrotetrazine (HMX)-based explosives, LX-04 and LX-10, are considered, whose chemical-thermal-mechanical models are constructed based on measurements of thermal and mechanical properties along with small scale thermal explosion measurements. The present HMX modeling work shows very first violence calculations with thermal predictions associated with a confined thermal explosion test. The simulated dynamic response of HE confinement during the explosive phase is compared to measurements in larger scale thermal explosion tests. The explosion temperatures for both HE's are predicted to within 1 C. Calculated and measured wall strains provide an indication of vessel pressurization during the heating phase and violence during the explosive phase.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-48
OSTI ID:
902384
Report Number(s):
UCRL-JRNL-218859; JAPIAU; TRN: US200717%%286
Journal Information:
Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 100; ISSN 0021-8979
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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