Transient observation and numerical simulation study on the flow field of flyer driven by the electric explosion of metal foil

Shock initiation and ignition techniques driven by electrically exploded metallic bridge foils with insulating flyers have been widely implemented in initiation and ignition system of weapon. To address the deficiency in existing research regarding the description of the flow field evolution during the motion of flyer and promote the development of this technology towards efficient energy utilization and miniaturization, a double-pulse laser schlieren transient observation system was constructed. This system enables the acquisition of density distributions of the flow field and the motion distance of the flyer at different time. Additionally, a two-dimensional axisymmetric fluid dynamics calculation model and calculation method for the motion process of flyer driven by the electric explosion of metal foil were established, and corresponding numerical simulation calculations were performed in consideration of the evolution laws of the flow field inside and outside the acceleration chamber under the effects of the motion of flyer, the compression of shock wave, and the expansion of high-temperature and high-pressure plasma. The phase transition of bridge foil from solid phase to plasma phase was described by phase transition fraction, the state of plasma with high temperature and pressure was described by the state equation of plasma which consider the changes in particle number and coulomb interaction between particles, and the motion of flyer was described by dynamic grid model. The calculated flow field density distribution closely matches the experimental results, and the maximum errors in flyer motion distance and velocity are 6.1% and 8.1%, respectively, validating the accuracy of the calculation model and calculation method. The research results indicate that when the capacitance is 0.33 μF and the initiation voltage is 2800 V, within the research range, the maximum pressure in the flow field remains approximately at 1×10⁷ Pa; the temperature in the flow field gradually decreases from 9950 K at 516 ns to 3100 K at 2310 ns; and the plasma phase distribution in the flow field gradually evolves from a flat shape to a long strip shape, with the maximum diffusion distance of plasma in the direction perpendicular to the motion of the flyer being 0.8 mm. At 1360 ns, upon flyer breakthrough the shock wave front, a distinct bulge-shaped profile emerges in the leading edge of both pressure and temperature distributions within the flow field.