Underwater pressure waves generated by electrical exploding wire ignited energetic materials: Parametric study and formulation optimization

The combination of electrical wire explosion and low sensitivity energetic materials (EMs) is an efficient and practical method to generate controllable strong pressure waves (PWs), which is receiving extensive attentions in dynamic fracturing related applications. In this paper, the performance of a mud-like EM formulated with aluminum thermite and nitromethane is analyzed experimentally and statistically. Aluminum microparticles (Al MPs) of five different size distributions are tested and the −300 mesh Al MPs is identified as the preferred additive. In order to establish the mathematical relationship between the EM formulation and the PW parameters, the measured pressure profile is reconstructed based on the ignition mechanism to enable parameter extraction, and a statistical model is then developed with back-propagation neural network and data augmentation. Based on the model, the influence of EM components on the pressure pulse parameters is summarized and optimal formulations are proposed.