Material design guidelines for explosive confinements to control impact shock-induced detonations based on shock transmission/reflection analysis

Material design guidelines for explosive confinement have been studied from the viewpoint of impact shock-induced detonation when a projectile impacts onto the confined explosive. The study has been based on a one-dimensional analysis of the level of the impact shock pressure and transmission/reflection of the impact shock wave at an interface between confinement wall and explosive. The impact pressure delivered to the explosive beneath the impacted confinement wall was expected to be maximized when the front cover material had an intermediate elastic impedance value. The reinforcement of shock pressure in the explosive near the back or lateral confinement wall, due to the superposition of incident shock wave on the reflected one from the wall, increased with elastic impedance of the confinement material. The chance of sympathetic detonation was expected to be reduced by the use of a high impedance material as a confinement. Material design guidelines for the explosive container, such as munitions casings and reactive cassettes, can be practically guided by referring to the elastic impedance of a candidate material.