R. Meyer J. Köhler A. Homburg Explosives

357 Underwater Detonations
Trixogen
A pourable mixture of RDX with TNT.
Ullage
Empty volume provided for thermal expansion of propellant in liquid
propellant tank.
Unbarricaded
The absence of a natural or artifical barricade around explosive storage
areas or facilities.
Unconfined Detonation Velocity
Detonationsgeschwindigkeit ohne Einschluss; velocite de detonation
sans enserrernent
The detonation velocity of an explosive material without confinement;
for example, a charge fired in the open.
Underwater Detonations*)
Unterwasserdetonationen; détonations sous l’eau
Destructive effects of underwater detonations, differ in their distant
and proximity effects. The first effect is caused by the action of the
pressure shock wave, the latter mainly by the thrust produced by the
expanding gas bubble.
Basically the process can be subdivided into three distinct stages:
1. Detonation
The detonation of an explosive charge is triggered off by the fuse. The
explosive matter undergoes an extremely rapid deterioration, and the
heat developed during this process creates a large amount of gas.
This first enters into the cavity previously occupied by the solid explosive
and is therefore under a high degree of pressure. This hot
compressed gas constitutes the whole of the performance potential.
* Extract of a lecture held by W. E. Nolle at the annual meeting of the Fraunhofer
Institut at Karlsruhe, 1978.
Explosives. Sixth Edition. Rudolf Meyer, Josef Köhler, Axel Homburg
Copyright © 2007 Wiley-VCH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
ISBN: 978-3-527-31656-4