Characteristics of Blast Waves Generated by Milligram Charges

Large-scale explosions have been investigated intensively by many researchers for several decades. It was found that many blast wave parameters can be scaled for charge masses varying from a few grams up to several tons. In this study it could be shown that the same scaling law can be applied even if the charge mass is only of the order of a few milligrams. Furthermore, based on pressure measurements and flow visualization, the TNT equivalence factor of the used explosive (silver azide) was found to be approximately 0.45. From the visualization results, the propagation of the primary and secondary shock wave could be mapped in corresponding x-t diagrams.