Exploring Potential Applications of the Sharpe Hollow Cavity Model, the Gaussian Ball Source Model, and the Heelan Cylindrical Model in Modeling Explosive Pressure Sources

Abstract

This thesis investigates the potential applications of the Sharpe Hollow Cavity Model (SHCM), the Gaussian Ball Source Model (GBSM), and the Heelan Cylindrical Model (HCM) in modelling explosive pressure sources. Each of these models account for the non-linear nature of wave propagation near an explosive source by mathematically altering the conditions around the source, and replacing it with a model that is more easily understood. Both the SHCM and the HCM replace the source with a hollow cavity, within which waves do not behave linearly, and elastic waves are assumed to emanate directly from the surface of the cavity. The GBSM does not use a cavity and replaces the explosion with a Gaussian ball; elastic waves are then assumed to emanate from a point in space. Each of these models were able to make reasonably accurate predictions about the nature of dynamite data measured in the field.