A simple approach for determining detonation velocity of high explosive at any loading density.

A simple empirical relationship is introduced between detonation velocity at any loading density and chemical composition of high explosive as well as its gas phase heat of formation, which is calculated by group additivity rules. The present work may be applied to any explosive that contains the elements of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen with no difficulties. The new correlation can easily be applied for determining detonation velocity of explosives with loading densities less than 1g/cm3 as well as greater than 1g/cm3. Calculated detonation velocities by this procedure for both pure and explosive formulations show good agreement with respect to measured detonation velocity over a wide range of loading density.