Numerical calculation of the current specific action integral at the electrical explosion of wires

The electrical explosion of aluminum wires is numerically simulated in the magnetohydrodynamic approximation for the current density ranging from 10 7 to 10 10 A/cm 2 and times to explosion varying from 10 −10 to 10 −6 s. It is shown that, at current densities of 10 8 −10 9 A/cm 2 , low-temperature explosion conditions change to high-temperature ones, when inertial forces preventing the wire dispersion play a decisive role. This transition is accompanied by a sharp change in the thermodynamic parameters (the temperature and the energy deposited into the wire by the instant of explosion increase by several times), and the action integral for this transition increases smoothly approximately threefold as the explosion characteristics (current density and time to explosion) change by two orders of magnitude. The instant of transition from the low-temperature explosion to the high-temperature one depends on the radial dimensions of an exploding wire and does not depend on the properties of the environment.