Peculiarities of planar shockwave interaction with air-water interface and solid target

We present the results of the research on underwater electrical explosion of planar copper wire arrays, accompanied by the generation of a planar shock, using the synchrotron-based phase-contrast radiography imaging capabilities of the ID19 beamline at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility. It is shown that the interaction of a strong shock with an air-water interface leads to additional acceleration of the wire expansion due to a rarefaction wave along with the emergence of micro-jets. In the case of a target placed above the array, we observed the formation of a cavity between the array and the target due to the interaction of two rarefaction waves. The results of two-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations of the wire explosion and the interaction of the generated shock with the water-air and water-target interfaces showed good agreement with experimental results. Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing.