Testing explosive materials for sensitivity to mechanical exposure by the destructive shell method

An approximate theoretical analysis of a new method for testing explosive materials for sensitivity to mechanical stress, which is known as the crumbling shell method, has been carried out. In this non-impact method, the rupture of the shell releases the solid explosive material contained in it from the compressive load and allows it to free lateral expansion. In the process of high-speed flow, the substance explodes if the compressive stress is created large enough. The picture of the explosion as a whole seems to be similar to the phenomenon of initiation of an explosion when a charge of a solid explosive material is destroyed by an impact on a pile driver. Therefore, for the mathematical description of the test procedure under consideration, a previously developed model of the radial flow of a viscoplastic explosive material, its dissipative heating and thermal ignition in hot spots of the fluid is partially used. The data obtained on the change in various parameters during the initiation of an explosion make it possible to visualize its course not only within the framework of the method under consideration, but also to generalize them to explosion-like processes in a variety of materials that are suddenly released from a high load.