Simulations of shock waves in solids

Molecular dynamic shock wave simulations have been carried out for face centered cubic (f.c.c.) and body centered cubic (b.c.c.) solids using Lennard-Jones and Morse potentials for the interatomic interactions. The Hugoniot conservation relations were accurately obeyed in all of these calculations. The shock wave profiles may vary with the interatomic potential and the crystal structure, effects most clearly shown by the temperature profile near the shock front. The Lennard-Jones solids are intensitive to a change in structure but the Morse solids appear sensitive to crystal structure, at least in comparing b.c.c. with f.c.c. It was shown that the average shock wave temperature can be calculated from a combination of the Hugoniot conservation relations and the Mie-Grüneisen equation of state. The temperature calculated this way is in good agreement with the average shock wave temperature obtained in the computer simulations.