A Computational Framework for the Design and Optimization of Explosives

Abstract

An optimization framework was developed as a step toward automating the design of explosive devices. The Sandia National Laboratory codes Dakota and CTH were coupled to optimize the kinetic energy output of a one dimensional exploding cylinder. Three configurations of TNT explosives were considered, an aluminum case with a variable outer radius and wall thickness, a composite aluminum-iron sandwich case with a fixed radius and variable wall thicknesses, and a model with varying wall material and thickness. Dakota successfully optimized each design using a suite of optimization algorithms. A energy-based nondimensionalization scheme was also developed to explore the CTH and Gurney equation models in more detail.