Self-Similarity in the Formation of Explosive Hot Spots

High explosive detonation starts with formation of hot spots at microstructural defects but has eluded "full physics" atomistic modeling treatment at micron length scales. To this end, we develop an image distinguishability analysis to summarize multimicron all-atom MD simulations of hot spot formation for pore sizes between 10 and 300 nm to show that all but the smallest hot spots exhibit self-similar size scaling. Through grain-scale modeling we link this behavior to the material’s rate-insensitive mechanical strength. Our results bolster confidence in insights from small-scale MD simulations and provide means to quantitatively compare complex processes at diverse length scales.