Numerical Simulation of Shock-Dispersed Fuel Charges

For many explosives, only a fraction of the chemical energy is released in the detonation. Calorimetry data for TNT from Ornellas[7] shows that when the ambient gas is inert, there is substantially less total energy released than when the ambient gas is air. This data indicates that burning of the explosion byproducts plays a key role in the overall energetics of the system. The basic concept of shock-dispersed fuel (SDF) charges is to directly exploit this idea. More precisely, in an SDF charge a small charge is used to disperse a fuel and create a turbulent environment in which the fuel can mix with ambient air and burn.