Modeling reaction histories to study chemical pathways in condensed phase detonation

Abstract

The estimation of pressure and temperature histories, which are required to understand chemical pathways in condensed phase explosives during detonation, is discussed. We argue that estimates made from continuum models, calibrated by macroscopic experiments, are essential to inform modern, atomistic-based reactive chemistry simulations at detonation pressures and temperatures. We present easy to implement methods for general equation of state and arbitrarily complex chemical reaction schemes that can be used to compute reactive flow histories for the constant volume, the energy process, and the expansion process on the Rayleigh line of a steady Chapman-Jouguet detonation. A brief review of state-of-the-art of two-component reactive flow models is given that highlights the Ignition and Growth model of Lee and Tarver [Phys. Fluids 23, 2362 (1980)] and the Wide-Ranging Equation of State model of Wescott, Stewart, and Davis [J. Appl. Phys. 98, 053514 (2005)]. We discuss evidence from experiments and reactive molecular dynamic simulations that motivate models that have several components, instead of the two that have traditionally been used to describe the results of macroscopic detonation experiments. We present simplified examples of a formulation for a hypothetical explosive that uses simple (ideal) equation of state forms and detailed comparisons. Then, we estimate pathways computed from two-component models of real explosive materials that have been calibrated with macroscopic experiments.