Selecting a model to describe the attenuation of shock waves in metals

Abstract

The process of attenuation of shock waves in metals in the course of their interaction with an overtaking expansion wave has attracted the attention of a great many researchers. A careful comparison of the experimental data with the results of calculations shows that a number of models commonly used to describe shock-wave processes in metals do not in fact correctly represent the nature of the attenuation of shock waves in interaction with an overtaking expansion wave. The processes involved can have extremely diverse physical natures such as relaxation of the tangential stresses, the result of interaction with an external magnetic field, processes associated with radiation, etc. From this point of view, the authors analyze some of the models most commonly used to describe the experimental data on the propagation of shock waves in metals. Only in three of the models considered does Maxwell attenuation occur. Those three are precisely the models that best describe the experimental data. Even in more complex cases of interaction of shock waves with expansion waves, models that disregard relaxation processes in real media will distort the stress-strain state of shock-loaded samples. From this point of view, the investigation can be used as a test formore » the analysis of new models for applicability to the description of shockwave processes in metals.« less