A new experimental design for laser-driven shocks on precompressed and preheated water samples

Laser driven shock measurements have been performed on precompressed and preheated water samples in order to reach states lying above the standard water Hugoniot in the pressure versus temperature diagram, which are representative of the thermodynamic parameters of water in the detonation products of high condensed explosives. In this experimental system, water is used as both target sample and window medium for VISAR diagnosis. We report the first experiments performed with the LCD's laser system at low shock pressure, on water samples preheated up to 300 deg. C and precompressed up to 300 bar. The results are used to check the predictions of the CARTE thermochemical code, and compared with the Sesame equation of state and with molecular Monte Carlo calculations