Modeling High Explosive (HE) Detonation Response and Resulting Debris/Shrapnel Generation from Submunitions Warheads

As MDA continues implementation of the Phased Adaptive Approach (PAA), high fidelity and accurate characterization of post-intercept debris environments will become more and more critical to the successful operation of the larger Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) system. The objective of this proposed effort is to leverage first principles physics based codes to more accurately model high and low-order explosive response and characterize the resulting debris for HE submunitions warheads in missile intercepts. Corvid"s approach will include a combination of high-fidelity computational modeling techniques for assessment of existing reactive modeling capabilities, development of those reactive models to address identified shortcomings, utilization of in-house high-performance supercomputing resources, and comprehensive material characterization efforts. Specifically, we will develop an improved computational and experimental methodology to accurately model HE response under arbitrary loading and environmental conditions utilizing only simple energetic characterization experiments. For validation and testing purposes, this methodology will be incorporated into the massively-parallel first-principles physics solver, Velodyne, which has been used extensively to model intercept scenarios and predict post-intercept debris. Once mature, such a capability will allow the deterministic prediction of HE submunitions response under intercept conditions, facilitating the ability to characterize the resulting debris using currently existing experimental and computational frameworks.