An Evaluation of Detonation Models

Abstract
Detonation models of practical use for large explosive systems have been evaluated against experimental data obtained by AWE. The models considered were Chapman-Jouguet, Whitham-Bdzil-Lambourn and Zeldovich-Neumann-Doering. The experimental data included measurements of detonation wave propagation in various geometries of explosive, pressure and initiation properties. The ZND model performs well over the widest range of problems, but not perfectly. It is not clear whether any shortcomings are from a deficiency in the theory, inadequate attention to its constituent equations of state and reaction rates, or inadequate experimental data.