Publications Details
White paper: Experimental and computational studies of very high velocity impacts
The following research is proposed: (1) Perform four to six new time-resolved lethality experiments on cadmium at projectile velocities 7 km/s, greater than that of our previous work at 5.2 km/s. The increased velocity will substantially increase the mass percentage of vaporization. Through simulation of these experiments, computer codes can be validated for hypervelocity impact when vaporization occurs. (2) Perform an additional four to six 1-D lethality experiments on zinc. This material undergoes substantial vaporization under the experimental conditions, and would expand our knowledge about the sensitivity of KEW lethality to shock-induced vaporization. (3) Perform two to four ballistic impact experiments with the ballistics gun at Sandia to provide a full validation of computational capabilities used in simulating the 1-D experiments. These experiments would probe phenomenology that is similar to the 1-D experiments, but with multi-dimensional debris propagation. This will extend the confidence in computer modeling to conditions analagous to KEW lethality applications.