Underwater Explosions Part 1. Estimation of the Test Method for the Determination of Energy Content of Explosives

The underwater explosions have been used for several decades for the determination of energy content of explosives. This test method is the only one by which shock, fly rock and total energy can be measured separately. It enables to develop the energy content of explosives for different purposes; the military high explosives should contain more shock energy whereas the fly rock energy is very important feature for the blasting explosives. The purpose of this study was to establish a test place for the underwater experiments in an old water filled open pit, to estimate the repeatability of the energy measurements, to calculate the standard deviations and to compare the total energy content of commercial explosives to the theoretical values calculated by the thermo dynamical program. The test method seems to work quite well especially for the homogeneous explosives. The difference between the energy content of theoretically calculated and measured values for the homogeneous emulsion explosives was about -3% and for the dynamite about -5%. The energy difference for the unhomogeneous ANFO was detected to be -19%. The diameter of the charge was 15 cm and it was obviously too small for ANFO to detonate ideally. On the basis of the test results this test method seems to fit best for the cap sensitive, completely homogeneous, spherical charges whose masses are big enough and which are initiated from the centre of the charge. The underwater explosions as a test method is the only one which can separate shock, bubble and total energies from each other and therefore makes it possible to develop the properties of explosives for different purposes which is very important feature of this method.