Determination of a Measure of Sensitivity to Shock Detonate an Explosive as a Function of its Shock Parameters

Abstract The sensitivity of an explosive to detonate due to a shock stimulus is examined using the shock Hugoniots of the condensed material and the detonation products. Explicit equations were developed for the initiation and detonation pressures as a function of the shock parameters, the density, the detonation velocity and the Chapman‐Jouguet pressure which in itself is a function of the heat of detonation. We came upon defining a pressure difference, , between the initiation and detonation pressures which appears to provide a measure of the sensitivity of the explosive to detonate due to a shock loading. For a number of explosives for which reliable shock parameters were available, our results compared very well with widely used and tested small and large scale gap test results. We demonstrated that no one parameter such as the heat of detonation, the Chapman‐Jouguet pressure or even the detonation velocity could be used as a measure of sensitivity to shock detonation but it is the net effect captured by all the parameters that provides the sensitivity of the explosive.