CTH: A three-dimensional shock wave physics code☆

Abstract CTH is a software system under development at Sandia National Laboratories Albuquerque to model multidimensional, multi-material, large deformation, strong shock wave physics. One-dimensional recti-linear, cylindrical, and spherical meshes; two-dimensional rectangular, and cylindrical meshes; and three-dimensional rectangular meshes are currently available. A two-step Eulerian solution scheme is used with these meshes. The first step is a Lagrangian step in which the cells distort to follow the material motion. The second step is a remesh step where the distorted cells are mapped back to the Eulerian mesh. CTH has several models that are useful for simulating strong shock, large deformation events. Both tabular and analytic equations of state are available. CTH can model elastic-plastic behavior, high explosive detonation, fracture, and motion of fragments smaller than a computational cell. The elastic-plastic model is elastic-perfectly plastic with thermal softening. A programmed burn model is available for modelling high explosive detonation. The Jones-Wilkins-Lee equation of state is available for modelling high explosive reaction products. Fracture can be initiated based on pressure or principle stress. A special model is available for moving fragments smaller than a computational cell with statistically the correct velocity. This model is very useful for analyzing fragmentation experiments and experiments with witness plates. CTH has been carefully designed to minimize the dispersion present in Eulerian codes. It has a high-resolution interface tracker that prevents breakup and distortion of material interfaces. It uses second order convection schemes to flux all quantities between cells. This paper describes the models, and novel features of CTH. Special emphasis will be placed on the features that are novel to CTH or are not direct generalizations of two-dimensional models. Another paper by Trucano and McGlaun (1989) describes several hypervelocity impact calculations using CTH.