Validity of the Classical Detonation Wave Structure for Condensed Explosives

A series of numerical computations has been carried out to obtain an accurate solution to the flow resulting from a detonating charge in contact with metal plates of various thicknesses in order to (i) determine the validity of the classical model for the detonation structure of condensed phase explosives, (ii) determine any effect of the complex wave interactions of the reflected waves within the reaction zone on the measured free-surface velocities of the shocked metal, and (iii) remove the anomaly of the previously observed “decay” zone. The present investigation leads to a new interpretation of free-surface velocity measurements for thin plates, which supports the classical theory of the detonation wave structure for condensed media and results in experimental values of the Chapman-Jouguet parameters which are in consistent agreement with both the “theoretically” predicted Chapman-Jouguet values and the directly measured (by the electromagnetic method) Chapman-Jouguet values.