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Investigating ground effects on mixing and afterburning during a TNT explosion

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Abstract

In this paper, the unconfined and semi-confined condensed phase explosions of TNT will be studied using large eddy simulations based on the unsteady, compressible, reacting, multi-species Navier–Stokes equations to gain further understanding of the physical processes involved in a condensed phase explosion and the effect of confinement on the physical processes involved. The analysis of the mixing and afterburning of TNT explosions in free air (unconfined) and near the ground (semi-confined) indicates that the combustion region of detonation products and air is determined by the vorticity patterns, which are induced by the Richtmeyer–Meshkov instabilities that arise during the explosion. When the explosive is detonated in the vicinity of a surface, the surface affects the shock propagation by creating complex shock systems, thereby changing the orientation of the vorticity, giving the afterburning a mushroom shape, and increasing performance of an explosive charge by prolonging the existence of the mixing layer and thereby the afterburning.

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Acknowledgments

This work was sponsored by the Swedish Armed Forces.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Defence Security Systems and Technology, Swedish Defence Research Agency-FOI, Tumba, 147 25 , Stockholm, Sweden

    E. Fedina & C. Fureby

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  1. E. Fedina
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  2. C. Fureby
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Correspondence to E. Fedina.

Additional information

Communicated by L. Bauwens.

This paper is based on work that was presented at the 23rd International Colloquium on the Dynamics of Explosions and Reactive Systems, Irvine, CA, USA, July 24–29, 2011.

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Fedina, E., Fureby, C. Investigating ground effects on mixing and afterburning during a TNT explosion. Shock Waves 23, 251–261 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00193-012-0420-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00193-012-0420-9

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