Hydrodynamics Computation of Jet Formation and Penetration for Micro-shaped Charges

Understanding the hydrodynamic mechanisms in millimeter size shaped charges and smaller, is important for defence- related applications but also for material processing, remote sensing and potential biological applications. Our current focus is to perform a high-fidelity computational study to investigate micro-shaped charge jet formation and penetration depth. We seek to develop an understanding of the limits of our current ability to predict the formation and penetration characteristics of micro-shaped charges by simulation. The LLNL's advanced multiphysics hydrodynamics code, ALE3D, is used as the computational framework. Results obtained for a series of multi-material computations using very small charges and cones will be discussed. The typical thickness of the metal liner is 0.0254 cm (0.01 in) at a stand-off distance of approximately 2.6 Liner Diameters. A complimentary experiment was performed with a very small shaped charge based on a detonator, to generate a representative realization for a simple baseline computational validation/comparison. Various Equation of State (EOS) models have been invoked including JWL, Mie-Gruneisen and γ-law gas with a programmed burn capability. It was found from the experimental data that the penetration depth corresponds to 3.3 Liner Diameter.