The SURF model and the curvature effect for PBX 9502

SURF is a high explosive burn model based on the ignition & growth concept of hot-spot reaction. For the TATB based explosive PBX 9502, the model has been calibrated to shock-to-detonation transition experiments. To apply the SURF model for propagating detonation waves, the rate has to be extended to a higher pressure regime than is sampled by shock initiation experiments. The experimentally measured curvature effect - detonation speed as a function of front curvature or D n (κ) - provides the appropriate data for calibrating the propagation regime. The calibration to the curvature effect is based on the ODEs for the reaction zone profile of a detonation wave in conjunction with a shooting algorithm to determine the rate model parameters, for a given κ, needed to obtain a specified detonation speed. A complication for calibrating PBX 9502 rate models arises from the kink in the experimentally measured D n (κ) curve. This results from the fast and slow reactions that TATB exhibits. To account for this, we use an extension of the SURF model that utilises a sequence of two reactions. The first, with a fast rate, is due to molecular decomposition and is described by the original SURF formulation. The second, with a slow rate, is due to carbon clustering and is used to contribute additional energy from the formation of carbon bonds. The wave profile equations are generalised to the SURF-plus model. Model parameters are then determined for the propagation regime to fit the curvature effect data. The extended model is applicable to both the shock initiation regime and the propagating detonation wave regime.