A physical model for laser metal vapour interactions and laser supported detonation waves

A physical model for laser metal-vapour interactions has been developed in this paper. The model developed by authors has been used to study numerically the Laser Supported Detonation Waves (LSDWs) in vapour in front of metal targets, and some good results about LSDWs, such as ignition mechanism, threshold, propagation law and so on, have been obtained numerically with the model. In the model developed, a assumption for non-equilibrium between electrons and ions has been taken, and the target vapour has been discribed with two-temperature hydrodynamic equations of electrons and ions in the Euler space. The ionization-equilibrium assumption has been taken, and the Saha equations have been solved. The laser energy is absorbed due to inverse bremsstrahlung. Energy exchange between electrons and ions is by Coulomb scattering, and energy exchange between electrons and neutral particles is by way of electron-neutral elastic scattering. Electron and ion (including neutral particle) thermal conductions are taken respectively. The LSDWs threshold obtained is in agreement with experement reasonably, and a power law between LSDWs threshold and laser pulse duration, Ith ∞τp-1/2, has been obtained. Some useful results about the LSDWs shield effects have also been obtained. In the developping phase of LSDWs, the optical thickness of front of LSDWs may reach 5 ∼ 10 in order of magnitude. It is shown that the LSDWs are able to play a very strong shield role