DEDUCTION OF THE EXPANSION KINETICS OF AN EXPLOSIVE FROM THE SHAPE OFTHE STEADY-STATE DETONATION-WAVE FRONT

A method for extracting kinetic information about the expansion of an explosive at the detonation front from the shape of the curved front o f the steady-state detonation wave is analyzed. It is shown that disre gard for the curvature of the streamlines makes the initial expansion rate of the explosive depend not only on the shock compression amplitu de, but also on the geometrical characteristics of the explosive charg e. It is therefore necessary, in acordance with a numerical analysis, to introduce a scale factor in the form of the ratio of the charge dia meter to the critical detonation diameter in order to obtain a realist ic expansion rate of the explosive.