Surface material attenuation of rarefaction shock waves to enhance shaped-charges

Abstract

Provided herein are shaped-charges for focusing a filler, such as a fluid mass, and related methods of using the shaped-charges for disruption of an explosive target. The shaped-charge comprises an attenuating body positioned and configured to attenuate rarefaction waves to increase filler, including a fluid mass, explosively driven out of the container toward a target while also maintaining and enhancing fluid jet integrity. To further control impact and impulse forces on a target, additional layers may be used, including a foam layer and a jet-clipping layer positioned between the shaped-charge and the target surface. Also provided are propellant driven liquid disrupters having special attenuating bodies to improve liquid jet column characteristics.

1 . A shaped-charge for focusing a filler comprising:
 a container having an interior volume formed from a container surface to contain a shell and the filler, the container surface having a container distal surface, a container proximal surface, and a container sidewall connecting the container distal surface and the container proximal surface;   a shell having a surface with a geometric shape configured to support a shape-conforming explosive or contain an explosive volume, wherein the geometric shape has a central longitudinal axis or a bisecting symmetry plane and the shell surface has:
 a shell distal end; 
 a shell proximal end that faces the container distal end; 
 a shell sidewall that connects the shell distal end to the shell proximal end for the shell that contains the explosive volume; 
   an attenuating body connected to or forming at least a portion of the container surface, the attenuating body having an attenuating body thickness of between 0.03″ and 2″;
 wherein the shell longitudinal axis or bisecting symmetry plane is longitudinally aligned or centrally positioned relative to the 
 attenuating body and the corresponding container surface; 
   an initiator contact point connected to the shape conforming explosive or the explosive volume configured to initiate detonation of the shape conforming explosive or the explosive volume;   
       wherein the attenuating body has an attenuating body parameter configured to provide reflected shock wave attenuation after detonation of the shape-conforming explosive or the explosive volume and explosively drive filler from the interior volume of the container toward a target as a filler jet. 
     
     
         2 . The shaped-charge of  claim 1 , wherein the filler comprises a fluid mass and/or a granular solid. 
     
     
         3 . The shaped-charge of  claim 1 , wherein the filler comprises water, metal shot, steel shot, copper shot, lead shot, ceramic particles, garnet, salt, hydrocarbon, glass, sand or a HEET fluid. 
     
     
         4 . The shaped-charge of  claim 1 , wherein the container is formed of the attenuating body. 
     
     
         5 . The shaped-charge of  claim 1 , wherein the attenuating body parameter is selected from the group consisting of attenuating body thickness, material composition, bulk density, heterogeneity, geometry, one of the shock Hugoniot parameters such as bulk speed of sound or ‘s’ number, location on the container surface, and any combination thereof. 
     
     
         6 . The shaped-charge of  claim 1 , wherein the attenuating body is formed of a material selected from the group consisting of: plastic; foam; wood; clay; wax; rubber (natural or synthetic); aerogel; and any combination thereof. 
     
     
         7 . The shaped-charge of  claim 1 , wherein the attenuating body is connected to:
 at least a portion of the container sidewall;   at least a portion of the container distal end;   at least a portion of the container proximal end; or   the container sidewall, the container distal end, and the container proximal end, to cover the container surface.   
     
     
         8 . The shaped-charge of  claim 1 , comprising a plurality of shells. 
     
     
         9 . The shaped-charge of  claim 1 , wherein the shell is formed of a plastic material and the geometric shape comprises:
 a truncated cone having an open distal end and a closed proximal end,   the closed proximal end having a smoothly-curved concave shape;   
       wherein the geometric shape is axially-symmetric about a central longitudinal axis. 
     
     
         10 . The shaped-charge of  claim 1 , wherein the attenuating body comprises an AB layer that at least partially covers the container distal surface, including an inner-facing and/or an outer-facing surface of the container distal surface. 
     
     
         11 . The shaped-charge of  claim 1 , wherein the attenuating body is an AB layer positioned in the container volume and occupies a fraction of the container volume, wherein the AB layer is sealingly connected to the container. 
     
     
         12 . The shaped-charge of  claim 1 , further comprising a second attenuating body corresponding to an AB layer having an AB layer thickness connected to an outer surface or an inner surface of the attenuating body, including container sidewall, wherein the sum of the AB layer thickness and the attenuating body thickness is between 0.25″ and 1.5″. 
     
     
         13 . The shaped-charge of  claim 1 , wherein the attenuating comprises an AB layer formed from: natural rubber; silicone, Teflon™, neoprene, sorbothane, nitrile PVC, vinyl or polyurethane. 
     
     
         14 . The shaped-charge of  claim 1 , wherein the attenuating body comprises a multilayer. 
     
     
         15 . The shaped-charge of  claim 1 , wherein the attenuating body is configured to:
 slip over an outer surface of the container;   adhere to an outer surface of the container with an adhesive layer positioned between the liner and the outer surface of the attenuating body; and/or   wrap around an outer surface of the container.   
     
     
         16 . The shaped-charge of  claim 1 , wherein the attenuating body thickness spatially-varies. 
     
     
         17 . The shaped-charge of  claim 1 , wherein the attenuating body:
 at least partially covers the container sidewall;   at least partially covers the container proximal end;   at least partially covers the container distal end and has a spatially-varying thickness;   at least partially covers the container distal end and has a spatially-constant thickness;   at least partially covers the container sidewall and the container distal end;   covers the entire container surface;   covers the entire shell surface; or   any combination thereof.   
     
     
         18 . The shaped-charge of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a foam having a density less than 0.5 g/cm 3  positioned to fill a gap between the shaped-charge and a target, wherein the foam reduces water gasification and reduces a liquid jet forward velocity gradient; and/or   a jet clipper layer adjacent or in contact with a target surface, wherein the jet clipper layer has a density of between 0.5 g/cm 3  to 2 g/cm 3 .   
     
     
         19 . A method of explosively driving a filler to disrupt a target, the method comprising the steps of:
 providing the shaped-charge of  claim 1  with the filler positioned in the interior volume, wherein the shell and explosive is immersed in the filler;   aligning the shaped-charge with a target;   initiating detonation of the shape-conforming explosive or the explosives volume to initiate a detonation wave that travels substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis or bisecting plane, wherein the geometric shape and position of the shell and the attenuating body are configured to generate a tamp and timing of rarefaction waves to increase a pressure duration and amplitude to drive the filler as the filler jet toward the explosive target and increase a bulk mass of the filler jet;   
       thereby disrupting the target. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising the step of adjusting a jet characteristic of the filler jet by adjusting an attenuating body characteristic without changing a shaped-charge geometry or filler container geometry. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20 , further comprising the step of positioning the attenuating body on the shaped-charge at an incident site, wherein the positioning comprises slipping and/or adhering the attenuating body that is a liner to an outer surface of the container. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising the step of:
 applying a jet-clipper layer having a density of between 0.5 g/cm 3  to 2.0 g/cm 3  on or adjacent to a barrier surface of the explosive target; and/or applying a foam having a density less than 0.25 g/cm 3  to at least partially fill a gap between the container distal surface and the explosive target.   
     
     
         23 . A shaped-charge for focusing a filler comprising:
 a container having an interior volume formed from a container surface to contain an explosive, the filler, and an attenuating body; the container surface having a container distal surface, a container proximal surface, and a container sidewall connecting the distal surface the proximal surface;   a liner positioned in the container volume, the liner having a distal surface and a proximal surface, wherein:
 the distal surface defines an attenuating body volume configured to contain the attenuating body; 
 the proximal surface defines an explosive volume configured to contain the explosive; 
 the liner has a geometric shape that at a distal end is sealingly connected to the container sidewall and tapers to a minimum distance toward the container proximal surface: 
   the filler comprising: particles positioned in the liner between the liner distal surface and the liner proximal surface; and/or a unitary and continuous material formed from a ductile material;   
       wherein the attenuating body has an attenuating body parameter configured to provide reflected shock wave attenuation after detonation of the explosives to explosively drive the particles from the interior volume of the container. 
     
     
         24 . (canceled) 
     
     
         25 . A propellant driven fluid disrupter comprising:
 a barrel having a bore with a barrel proximal end and a barrel distal end;   a breech chamber operably connected to the barrel proximal end   a fluid at least partially filling the bore;   at least one or both of :
 an AB breech plug positioned toward the barrel proximal end, such that the fluid extends from the AB breech plug toward the barrel distal end; 
 an AB muzzle plug positioned at the barrel distal end, wherein the AB muzzle plug and the AB breech plug that are both present fluidically seal the fluid in the barrel between the AB muzzle plug and the AB breech plug; 
   a blank cartridge positioned in the breech chamber and facing the attenuating body breech plug when present;   wherein: the AB breech plug has one or more attenuating body breech plug material properties configured to reduce primary shock and the AB muzzle plug has one or more attenuating body muzzle plug material properties to reduce rarefaction waves upon detonation of explosives in the blank cartridge.   
     
     
         26 . (canceled) 
     
     
         27 . (canceled)