Spall studies in uranium

We have studied spall by observing the effect of spallation on the free-surface velocity of a plate-impact target. We believe that the spall signal is a sensitive measure of the damage done to the target. We have formulated a simple theoretical model and incorporated it in a hydrodynamic computer code, to simulate the first few stress reverberations in the target as it spalls. The simple model successfully describes the principal features of our measurements in uranium and in a few other metals.