Design of an Inert Material Type Plane Wave Generator

Abstract

AbstractA simple model calculation, a hydrodynamic code simulation and experimental verifications are presented in this paper for the design of a plane wave generator (PWG), composed of plexiglass as the inert material and Composition‐B (Comp‐B) as the high explosive with a density of about 1.72 g/cm3. Along with the design concept of the PWG, a simple model, based on the steady state detonation and decaying shock wave theory is proposed to calculate the time difference. Calculation results of this model are in good agreement with those of the experiment.The experimental verifications are done with the aid of a Hamamatsu streak camera, taking the so‐called “time difference” as a measure of the quality of a plexiglass PWG. The smaller the time difference, the better the PWG which will generate a wave approaching a plane wave.A hydrodynamic computer code (2DL) is used to study the inert material type PWG. The results agree with experiment and with the simple model.From our study we have the following conclusions: The time difference is less than 0.04 microseconds; For the generation of a plane wave, a PWG of height 30 mm requires a base angle of 25°, and a PWG of height 20 mm requires a base angle of 30°; It is expected that the model will be applicable to other heights and base angles.