Underwater Focusing Shocks From Copper Foil Explosions: High-Speed Image And Electrical Data

These data were acquired during experiments in which a high-voltage, high-current pulsed power generator was used to generate microsecond explosions of thin copper foils immersed in water. The data consist of measurements by various diagnostics of quantities related to the electrical discharge across the exploding foils and the subsequent underwater focusing shocks. A Rogowski coil and a high-voltage probe measured the current and total voltage across the foils during the discharge, respectively. A high-speed camera recording at 5 Mfps and 400x250 pixels resolution captured 256 frames of shadowgraph images of the focusing shock. The 10 microfarad pulsed power generator was initially charged between 22.5-23 kV so that each foil design had 23.5 kJ/g of initial available electrical energy. Time is in seconds, resistive voltage in volts, current in amperes, power in watts, and energy in joules. The camera frames are 200 ns apart, with a sensor exposure of 110 ns, only 20 ns of which are illuminated by a synchronized pulsed-laser light source. Spatial scaling of shadowgraph images: For the wire array, 178 pixels correspond to 20 mm. For the circular foil, 120 pixels correspond to 13 mm. For the circular foil inside the plastic shell, the pentagonal foil, and the hexagonal foil, 53 pixels correspond to 5.84 mm. For the foils inside and outside the hexagonal shells, 58 pixels correspond to 5.84 mm.
Publisher name: Zenodo
Last updated: 2026-02-20T14:27:36Z