Explosive Containment AWE

As many of the hydrodynamics experiments carried out are explosively driven, it is important to have blast protection and containment to avoid damage to the facilities and diagnostics. 

This is often a challenging task, as the detector may only be a few 10s of cm away from the high explosive. It is therefore necessary to have an understanding of structural and fragment modelling. A capability is therefore being developed to predict such behaviour (Figure 1). 

This work is supported by number of experimental facilities and diagnostics such as open ranges, a Browning powder gun to study fragment penetration (Figure 2), strain and pressure gauges. 

The vessel currently used to contain some Core Punch experiments is shown (Figure 3). A new vessel is being designed, to contain significant levels of high explosives.



Figure 1.


Figure 2.

Figure 3.