We have developed a compact and cost-effective shock tube to simulate the static and dynamic pressures of blast waves. The shock tube is open at both ends and is driven by high explosives distributed over a finite length of the tube near one end. The overall charge length is determined by the simulation time of interest, and the charge-density distribution is tailored to produce the pressure-waveform shape desired. For the shock tube to simulate a typical blast wave, the charge density must be highest at the charge front (closest to the test section) and gradually reduced towards the back. The resulting shock tube is an order of magnitude shorter than a conventional dynamic airblast simulator (DABS) in which concentrated explosives are used to drive the shock.

Tailored charges designed using this method were built and tested in a simulation development programme sponsored by the U.S. Defense Nuclear Agency (DNA). The pressures measured for several charge distributions agreed very well with SRI's PUFF hydrocode computations and demonstrated the feasibility of the compact simulator under realistic test conditions.