Similitude in exploding wires

Conditions for similarity have been derived for phenomena involving an exploding wire, propagation of the resulting shock through a fluid, and inelastic deformation or fracture of a structure. This analysis considers the capacitance, voltage and material properties of the exploding wire, as well as the geometry and material properties of the fluid and structure. Model experiments involving large inelastic deformation of aluminum diaphragms agree well with the theoretical predictions. Comparison of deformations due to chemical explosives and exploding wires has been made in an effort to establish an ‘equivalence’ between chemical and electrical explosions. The purpose of this is to provide a basis for using small-scale experiments with exploding wires to predict the performance of larger systems using chemical explosives. The exploding wire appears to provide a precise loading for small-scale structural-model experiments and explosion-forming experiments.