Thermal loading of explosives--finite difference method with time step reduction.
The method of simulation of heat transfer during thermal loading of energetic materials is introduced. The combination of the simple finite difference method with a time step reduction enables the quick and precise calculation of ignition times. The results are in accordance with published model data. The method was also used to simulate heat transfer during the slow cookoff test and the result agrees very well with experimental data.
Modeling thermally driven energetic response of high explosives
We have improved our ability to model the response of energetic materials to thermal stimuli and the processes involved in the energetic response. Traditionally, the analyses of energetic materials have involved coupled thermal transport/chemical reaction codes. This provides only a reasonable estimate of the time and location of ensuing rapid reaction. To predict the violence of the reaction, the mechanical motion must be included in the wide range of time scales associated with the thermal hazard. The ALE3D code has been modified to assess the hazards associated with heating energetic materials in weapons by coupling to thermal transport model and chemistry models. We have developed an implicit time step option to efficiently and accurately compute the hours of heating to reaction of the energetic material. Since, on these longer time scales materials can be expected to have significant motion, it is even more important to provide high-order advection for all components, including the chemical species. We show two examples of coupled thermal/mechanical/chemical models of energetic materials in thermal environments.
Vertebral Fusion in Two Early Jurassic Sauropodomorph Dinosaurs from the Lufeng Formation of Yunnan, China
Here we describe two instances of pathological vertebral fusion in two genera of sauropodomorph dinosaurs from the Early Jurassic Lufeng Formation in Yunnan, China. The first is a specimen, of Lufengosaurus huenei with two fused cervical vertebrae, and the other is a specimen of the Lufeng basal sauropod, with two fused caudal vertebrae. Both pathologies are consistent with spondyloarthropathy and represent the earliest known occurrence of that disease in dinosaurs. The two specimens affirm that early dinosaurs suffered from the same bone diseases as living vertebrates. Spondyloarthropathy in these dinosaurs may have been induced by long-term mechanical stress, such as weight bearing, and/or limited motion at the joint that would otherwise have inhibited such remodeling. In both cases, surface remodeling suggests that the animals survived well beyond the initiation of spondyloarthropathy.