Dynamic Analysis of Explosive-Metal Interaction in Three Dimensions

This paper demonstrates the capability to perform three-dimensional computations for explosive-metal interaction problems with complex sliding surfaces. An analysis is performed for an explosive device which accelerates a metal liner known as a self-forging fragment. Results are presented to show the effects of off-center detonation, asymmetric liner thickness, and asymmetric explosive density for an otherwise axisymmetric device. These three-dimensional conditions have little effect on the linear velocities, but they do introduce significant angular velocities to the self-forging fragment. Unlike projectile-target impact computations, which require only a single sliding surface between the projectile and the target, the explosive devices have multiple, intersecting, three-dimensional sliding surfaces between the expanding explosive gases and the various metal portions of the devices. Included are descriptions of the specialized “search routines” and the “double-pass” approach used for the explosive-metal interfaces.