Fourier-like Thermal Relaxation of Nanoscale Explosive Hot Spots

Abstract

We develop here an approach to directly determine the thermal transport properties of explosive hot spots with realistic initial structures through a combination of molecular dynamics (MD) and diffusive heat equation (HEq) modeling. Effective thermal conductivity values are determined by fitting HEq models to MD predictions of long timescale hot spot relaxation. The approach is applied to model hot spots in the molecular crystalline explosive TATB for a range of shock strengths and two limiting cases for impact orientation. Conductivity is found to be a strong function of density, which parametrically captures dependence on temperature, pressure, and material state. The approach provides a convenient foundation for determining the effective thermal conductivity for hot spot problems in other explosives and directly yields information on reasonable approximations that might be taken in higher-level models for those materials.