Fiber Bragg grating sensing of detonation and shock experiments at Los Alamos National Laboratory

Abstract

An all optical-fiber-based approach to measuring high explosive detonation front position and velocity is described. By measuring total light return using an incoherent light source reflected from a fiber Bragg grating sensor in contact with the explosive, dynamic mapping of the detonation front position and velocity versus time is obtained. We demonstrate two calibration procedures and provide several examples of detonation front measurements: PBX 9502 cylindrical rate stick, radial detonation front in PBX 9501, and PBX 9501 detonation along a curved meridian line. In the cylindrical rate stick measurement, excellent agreement with complementary diagnostics (electrical pins and streak camera imaging) is achieved, demonstrating accuracy in the detonation front velocity to below the 0.3% level when compared to the results from the pin data. In a similar approach, we use embedded fiber grating sensors for dynamic pressure measurements to test the feasibility of these sensors for high pressure shock wave research in gas gun driven flyer plate impact experiments. By applying well-controlled steady shock wave pressure profiles to soft materials such as PMMA, we study the dynamic pressure response of embedded fiber Bragg gratings to extract pressure amplitude of the shock wave. Comparison of the fiber sensor results is then made with traditional methods (velocimetry and electro-magnetic particle velocity gauges) to gauge the accuracy of the approach.