PLASMA DRIVEN WATER SHOCK

DEVELOPMENT OF A HIGH FIDELITY, HIGH ENERGY DENSITY WATER SHOCK SIMULATOR APPEARS FEASIBLE. MISSION RESEARCH CORPORATION (MRC), WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF THE NEW MEXICO ENGINEERING RESEARCH INSTITUTE (NMERI), PROPOSES TO DEVELOP AN ELECTRICAL WATER SHOCK SIMULATOR WHERE AN ELECTRICAL DISCHARGE ACROSS A WELL DEFINED ELECTRODE GAP WILL PRODUCE A HOT PLASMA EXPANSION WHICH RESULTS IN A FAST RISE PRESSURE PULSE. THIS PHASE I EFFORT WILL FOCUS EXCLUSIVELY ON THE PERFORMANCE OF A PROOF-OF-PRINCIPLE EXPERIMENT AND SUPPORTING ANALYSIS. IT WILL CONSIST OF AN ANALYTICAL STUDY OF THE CRITICAL PARAMETERS TO BE DEMONSTRATED IN THE EXPERIMENT. THESE PARAMETERS INCLUDE ELECTRICAL PULSE LENGTH, ELECTRICAL PULSE ENERGY, AND THE PRESSURE PULSE PROFILE AND ENERGY. ADDITIONALLY, A BASELINE DESIGN OF A LARGE SCALE WATER SHOCK SIMULATOR PROTOTYPE WILL BE PRODUCED. THUS, AT THE END OF PHASE I, THE TECHNIQUE FEASIBILITY WILL HAVE BEEN ANALYZED, DEMONSTRATED, AND SCALED TO HIGHER ENERGY AND PEAK PRESSURE. A PROTOTYPE SIMULATOR CAN THEN BE DEVELOPED AND TESTED IN PHASE II.