Effect of Confinement on the Performance of Fuel Rich Explosive Charges

Abstract

Fuel rich explosive charges consisting of excess metal in the formulations are designed to create enhanced blast effects through the post detonation reactions in anaerobic and aerobic phases. For metallised explosives, the nature of confinement can significantly affect the casing rupture time and the expansion of detonation products. The confinement is likely to increase the residence time of heated metal particles in the detonation product zone thereby improving the ignition and combustion efficiency. In the present study, the effect of casing on the performance of a fuel rich explosive composition based on RDX, Al and HTPB was studied in field experiments. The results are correlated to the observations from numerical modeling of the detonation, case rupture and blast phenomena modeled using thermochemical equilibrium code and eulerian hydrocode SPEED. The results suggest that the confinement helps in enhancing the blast and thermal impulses which are the primary performance parameters for this class of explosives.