Detonation Wave Fronts in Ideal and Nonideal Detonation

Extensive wave shape data are presented for various (effectively) unconfined explosives over wide ranges of diameter d, length L, density ρ1, and physical conditions. Observed wave fronts were invariably spherical segments with radii of curvature R increasing at first directly with L(R=L), but eventually becoming steady at a constant value Rm/d between 0.5 and 4 depending on the charge diameter primarily through the ratio a0/d (a0=reaction zone length). At the critical diameter of propagation (large a0/d) Rm/d approached 0.5, and at large diameter (small a0/d) it approached or leveled off at the upper limit of about four. The upper limit (Rm/d∼4) is apparently a restriction imposed by the fundamental nature of detonation of solid explosives with free boundaries.