PROJECT TITLE :

Underwater Electrical Explosion of Wires and Wire Arrays and Generation of Converging Shock Waves

ABSTRACT:

A transient review of the results obtained in recent research of underwater electrical explosions of wires and wire arrays using microsecond-, submicrosecond-, and nanosecond-timescale high-current generators is presented. During a microsecond-timescale wire explosion, good agreement was attained between the results of experiments and therefore the results of magnetohydrodynamic calculations let alone equations of state (EOS) and modern conductivity models. Conversely, in an exceedingly nanosecond-timescale wire explosion, the wire resistance and therefore the EOS were modified in order to fit experimental data. In experiments with cylindrical and spherical wire arrays, generation of a converging shock wave (SW) was demonstrated allowing formation of an extreme state of water in the vicinity of either the axis or the origin of the SW's implosion. Additionally, it's shown that SW convergence in superspherical geometry permits one to attain larger values of pressure, density, and temperature of water in the vicinity of the axis of convergence than within the case of a spherical implosion. The results of experiments and numerical analysis showed that a cylindrical SW keeps its symmetry along the main path of its convergence. Additionally, it is shown that underwater electrical explosion of an X-pinch wire configuration and a cone wire array allows one to generate fast jets of metal and water, respectively, without using chemical explosions.