We compare two-dimensional model results with measurements for the thermal, chemical, and mechanical behavior in a thermal explosion experiment. Confined high explosives (HEs) are heated at a rate of 1°C∕h until an explosion is observed. The heating, ignition, and deflagration phases are modeled using an Arbitrarily Lagrangian-Eulerian code (ALE3D) that can handle a wide range of time scales that vary from a structural to a dynamic hydrotime scale. During the preignition phase, quasistatic mechanics and diffusive thermal transfer from a heat source to the HE are coupled with the finite chemical reactions that include both endothermic and exothermic processes. Once the HE ignites, a hydrodynamic calculation is performed as a burn front propagates through the HE. Two cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine-based explosives, C-4 and PBXN-109, are considered, whose chemical-thermal-mechanical models are constructed based on measurements of thermal and mechanical properties along with small scale thermal explosion measurements. The simulated dynamic response of HE confinement during the explosive phase is compared to measurements in larger scale thermal explosion tests. The explosion temperatures for both HEs are predicted to within 5°C. Calculated and measured wall strains provide an indication of vessel pressurization during the heating phase and violence during the explosive phase. During the heating phase, simulated wall strains provide only an approximate representation of measured values indicating a better numerical treatment is needed to provide accurate results. The results also show that more numerical accuracy is needed for vessels with lesser confinement strength. For PBXN-109, the measured wall strains during the explosion are well represented by the ALE3D calculations.
We measure the deflagration behavior of energetic materials at extreme conditions (up to 520K and 1 GPa) in the LLNL High Pressure Strand Burner, thereby obtaining reaction rate data for prediction of violence of thermal explosions. The apparatus provides both temporal pressure history and flame time-of-arrival information during deflagration, allowing direct calculation of deflagration rate as a function of pressure. Samples may be heated before testing. Here we report the deflagration behavior of several HMX-based explosives at pressures of 10-600 MPa and temperatures of 300-460 K. We find that formulation details are very important to overall deflagration behavior. Formulations with high binder content (>15 wt%) deflagrate smoothly over the entire pressure range regardless of particle size, with a larger particle size distribution leading to a slower reaction. The deflagration follows a power law function with the pressure exponent being unity. Formulations with lower binder content (< 10% or less by weight) show physical deconsolidation at pressures over 100-200 MPA, with transition to a rapid erratic deflagration 10-100 times faster. High temperatures have a relatively minor effect on the deflagration rate until the HMX β→δ phase transition occurs, after which the deflagration rate increases by more than a factor of 10.
We present an overview of models and computational strategies for simulating the thermal response of high explosives using a multi-physics hydrodynamics code, ALE3D. Recent improvements to the code have aided our computational capability in modeling the behavior of energetic materials systems exposed to strong thermal environments such as fires. We apply these models and computational techniques to a thermal explosion experiment involving the slow heating of a confined explosive. The model includes the transition from slow heating to rapid deflagration in which the time scale decreases from days to hundreds of microseconds. Thermal, mechanical, and chemical effects are modeled during all phases of this process. The heating stage involves thermal expansion and decomposition according to an Arrhenius kinetics model while a pressure-dependent burn model is employed during the explosive phase. We describe and demonstrate the numerical strategies employed to make the transition from slow to fast dynamics. In addition, we investigate the sensitivity of wall expansion rates to numerical strategies and parameters. Results from a one-dimensional model show that violence is influenced by the presence of a gap between the explosive and container. In addition, a comparison is made between 2D model and measured results for the explosion temperature and tube wall expansion profiles.
The reactions of combustion products (CO, H2O) from the insensitive high explosive LX‐17 (92.5 wt% 1,3,5‐triamino‐2,4,6‐trinitrobenzene (TATB), 7.5 wt% Kel‐F 800 binder) with molten metal (75 a%Nd, 25 a% Fe) were studied, to determine their contribution to the energy release rate of deflagrating LX‐17, Kinetic data taken with gas mixtures of CO and H2O, and larger‐scale tests with LX‐17, showed that the reactions were slow and incomplete and that there was no significant contribution to the energy release rate. From the tests with JX‐17, the effective flame temperature and burn velocity were dependent on confinement of gas products. LX‐17 preheated to 500 K ‐ 510 K showed effective flame temperatures of 1100 K ‐ 1400 K and burn rates of 0.08–0.11 mm/s, depending on the extent of gas confinement by the molten metal.
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