Shock initiation of high explosives

We have substantially advanced the experimental and theoretical study of shock initiation in the past five years. The current generation of our stress and particle-velocity gauges allows quantitative input to a predictive initiation model. Fast infrared radiometry has provided insight into the ignition and growth aspect of initiation and provided semiquantitative data on particle-size effects for inclusion into the model. This approach, combining experimental and theoretical studies, has already paid off in the design and modeling of our initation systems, which are important to a weapon's safety and vulnerability as well as to its performance