Simulation of water gaps in detonic initiation trains

Abstract

A simulation tool was used to investigate the comparative effects of air and water in a gap between two detonic transfer elements. A specific model configuration was used to position a donor and acceptor in air and water environments, respectively, at different distances. Various transfer parameters were monitored in the simulation, such as peak pressure, specific impulse and arrival time. Although the effect in very small gaps could not be adequately resolved, it was counter-intuitively found for larger gaps that (for this specific configuration) transfer will occur at a larger distance through air in the gap than through water. A prototype hardware tool was designed based on the simulations, to execute confirmation experiments.