Detonation Performance In A large Blast Tube

The origin and evolution of a large and powerful blast tube (a.k.a.shock tube) is described.The project initially underestimated the mass of the explosive required to reach the desired lead shock pressure and this necessitated design compromises.Now that the tube is being re-tasked some of these compromises are being alleviated by the use of a powerful commercial dynamite (Unimax).The pros and cons of this change are described.Additionally, a simple analytical performance model is described, that after minimal calibration, allows an estimate of the peak output pressure to be made for an arbitrary explosive mass.