A numerical investigation of high-explosive grain size effects on the performance of boosters

Abstract

Initiation of insensitive high explosives requires use of a boosting system with a more sensitive and typically more energetic explosive. However, problems arise if the booster material is too energetic. The initiability of some insensitive but not so energetic high explosives can be enhanced by lowering the density and decreasing the grain size; thus those explosives can be used as booster materials. A class of experiments, commonly called onionskins, has been used to detect the divergence pattern of the detonation wave and determine the performance of the booster. With reactive burn model in a hydrodynamic code, numerical simulations can be performed to obtain the same objectives. Examples are presented using low-density superfine and ultrafine triaminotrinitrobenzene (TATB) as booster explosives to initiate plastic-bonded TATB-base high explosive.