Cylindrically converging blast waves in air

Abstract

Cylindrically converging shock waves are produced by utilizing the detonation of cylindrical explosive shells. The production and the propagation of shock waves are observed by framing and streak camera photographs, and the trajectory of shock propagations is determined by using an electrical ionization probing system. The effect of the quantity of explosives on the stability, or the axial symmetry, of shock fronts and on the strength of shocks produced is investigated. It has been shown that, for practical purposes, the approximation of shock trajectories by Guderley’s formulas would be sufficiently acceptable in an unexpectedly wide region near the implosion center, and that the axial symmetry of the shock front is improved by increasing the quantity of explosives, and thus, strong shocks are produced by merely increasing the quantity of explosives. The reflected diverging shock seems to be very stable. Piezoelectric elements have also been used to detect reflected diverging waves.