1963/05/01 by W. W. Wood, William W. Wood, Wildon Fickett
Engineering · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Energetic Materials and Combustion #Combustion and Detonation Processes #Earthquake Detection and Analysis
paper · doi:10.1063/1.1706795
Generalizing a particular case studied by Jones, Stanyukovich, and Manson have given general equations connecting (1) the Chapman-Jouguet detonation pressure; (2) the derivative α = p(∂v/∂E)p of the equation of state E(p, v) of the product gases; (3) the derivatives of the detonation velocity D with respect to the thermodynamic variables defining the initial state of the explosive, such as the initial density ρ0; (4) the variables D and ρ0 themselves. After presenting a careful derivation of this result, it is pointed out that in conjunction with experimental observations of (a) the unsupported detonation-wave pressure p and velocity D and (b) the derivatives of D with respect to two independent initial variables (e.g., ρ0 and E0), it permits an experimental test of the basic assumptions of detonation theory, namely the assumption of laminar flow and the Chapman-Jouguet hypothesis. Several experimental possibilities are suggested for condensed explosives, where direct experimental observations (such as White's interferometric detection of apparent turbulent flow in gaseous detonations) are difficult. An erroneous criticism, by Pujol and Manson, of Jones' relation as applied to the density dependence of the detonation velocity in low-density solid explosives is also corrected.