Next generation experiments and models for shock initiation and detonation of solid explosives

Current phenomenological hydrodynamic reactive flow models, such as Ignition and Growth and Johnson-Tang-Forest, when normalized to embedded gauge and laser velocimetry data, have been very successful in predicting shock initiation and detonation properties of solid explosives in most scenarios. However, since these models use reaction rates based on the compression and pressure of the reacting mixture, they can not easily model situations in which the local temperature, which controls the local reaction rate, changes differently from the local pressure. With the advent of larger, faster, parallel computers, microscopic modeling of the hot spot formation processes and Arrhenius chemical kinetic reaction rates that dominate shock initiation and detonation can now be attempted. Such a modeling effort can not be successful without nanosecond or better time resolved experimental data on these processes. The experimental and modeling approaches required to build the next generation of physically realistic reactive flow models are discussed.