A computer code to determine the performance of underwater explosives

Using personal computers of today it is possible to study phenomena which 30 years ago, with great efforts, could be handled only by super computers of that time. This is the case simulating an underwater detonation and following the process up to the time when the gas bubble starts to collapse. If such a simulation could be performed the performance of not yet synthesised explosives as well as new composition of existing explosives can be studied. Such a computer code was presented 30 years ago but owing to imperfect energy conservation the code could not be used to calculate the performance of underwater explosives. In this report a new code is presented with energy conservation where some phenomena, earlier dismissed, have been implemented. The code has been tested for trinitrotuene (TNT) simulating detonations at the depth of 20 m and 2000 m. The performance, shock energy and bubble energy, from simulation and from experimental data are in good agreement. The code makes it possible to study the performance of not yet synthesised explosives such as tetraazatetrahedrane (tetrahedral N4), new compositions of existing explosives as well as to improve the theoretical base of the evaluation technique of performance from experimental data. Here the idea is to use the code to calculate the performance of the underwater explosive using the measurements to calibrate the code, instead of calculating the performance directly from the measured data.