The introduction shows the importance of the impulse on damage, if the high explosive amount is smaller than 1000 kg. The impulse density can be really simply measured by the velocity of momentum blocks and their velocities can, without electronical or electrical devices, be simply measured by their horizontal displacements on ground, if the gauges are correctly arranged. The momentum block thickness and its arrangement are presented in this notice.

Damage is mostly caused by the impulse transferred to the target. Therefore, the impulsive load measurements are summarized, which were mostly performed with simple and inexpensive test arrangements. This was possible, especially in the near field, where blast and blast fragment loads were causing damage to the soft as well as harder target structures. For more details, the used arrangements and results can be found in the reference list.

Steel cubes and steel spheres were propelled in radial directions by a detonating cylindrical high explosive charge at scaled distances of 0.05-0.25 m kg(-1/3). The analysed velocities can be simply transferred to momenta, to energies and analysed impulse densities. A little surprising result is that the cubes with the larger area mass achieved remarkably higher velocities compared to the spheres. This is definitely a result caused by different air drag coefficients.The achieved impulse densities at these near distances are in the magnitude comparable with the values available in the literature.

The bulging behaviour of a steel barrier in front and in contact with a high explosive charge desensitises the charge sensitivity for a shaped charge jet impact. The reasons are rampwave behaviour and pre-compression of the charge, which is explained in detail with a time distance diagram.

The momentum transfer of thick flying plates of an ERA sandwich and iterative disturbances of shaped charge jets by thin flying plates are shortly described.Hits on the sandwich plates, out of the centre, in the horizontal direction are not reducing the effectiveness, as long as the high explosive charge is promptly initiated. In vertical directions the author has found out that in case of hits on top or the bottom, where only the front respectively the rear plates are interacting with the jets, the reduction effects in penetrations remain also more or less constant.Changing the azimuth angle up to 30 degrees the residual penetrations are also not increased or decreased.

Flash X-ray (FXR) is a well known diagnostic technique for many applications. But special tasks give new requirements on the arrangements. Two examples to this are presented here. One task was to measure the asymmetric fragment velocity distribution in the radial directions of "Velocity Enhanced Warheads". This was possible with one flash X-ray, where the X-ray tube was arranged along the charge axis. To find out, what the the true dagonal distances are, the impacts of the radially dispersed fragments on witness plates were used. With the help of the in this way so defined elevation angles the velocities could be well calculated by the displacement distances on the x-ray films. The special test arrangement with the analysis procedure will be presented. Another task was to measure the momentum distribution of anti-tak mines, lying on the ground or levelled to the ground or 100 mm buried with the help of a double flash X-ray equipment. The transferred momenta could be very well measured. These data are important calibration inputs for numerical models of these very fast events. Test set-ups with achieved results will be presented, too.

Shaped charges with higher jet tip velocities result in more residual penetration behind special targets, as demonstrated by bulging and ERA sandwiches, compared to charges with lower jet tip velocities.Shaped charges with larger base diameters give more residual penetration behind special targets compared to shaped charges with smaller base diameters. They still have the same penetration potential in semi-infinte rolled homogeneous armors (RHA). Precision shaped charges with the same base diameter as normal shaped charges give more residual penetration behind special targets, even the differences in depth are mostly remarkably reduced.

Equivalent to the results against explosive reactive armour sandwiches also bulging armours can be better defeated by high performance precision shaped charges compared to so-called robust shaped charges. The shaped charges with larger liner angles or thicker liners have less jet tip velocities which results in less residual penetration capabilities.

Shaped charges with different angles or/and different liner wall thicknesses have been tested against an explosive reactive armor sandwich. The reason was to find out if more robust shaped charges give more residual penetration against an ERA sandwich, compared to shaped charges with more penetration performance in RHA targets. It was thought, that the latter ones are more sensitive against disturbances. But the shaped charges with the higher perforation capability have typically higher jet tip velocities and this gives more residual penetration also against ERA targets. In other words the so-called more robust charges gave less performance against the ERA sandwiches than the shaped charges which have higher performance in RHA targets.

Two tests with the same test setup and with the same nominal type of acceptor charge will be described which give in both cases an initiation after a build-up distance of around 45 mm. But in one case a retonation started, and in the other case a second initiation centre was observed after an additional delay time of 6.4 mus. In the already perforated charge segment the detonation wave was running around an internal core and was interacting in a Dautriche event on the observed front side. Very similar results have already been observed in a very early study of jet initiation tests. Both test results are described in detail, their analyses are presented and compared to the results of the observations, some decades ago.

The equation for the dynamic plate thickness is derived as a function of standoff distance Z(0), jet tip velocity nu(j0), cutoff velocity nu(jc), plate velocities nu(PI) and NATO angle of the ERA sandwich. The dynamic thickness is presented as functions of the different parameters for the front plate - flying against the shaped charge jet - and the rear plate - flying with the shaped charge jet. But the dynamic thickness is only one of the reduction factors of ERA sandwiches.

The observation of the radial and axial breakthroughs on cylindrical acceptor charges, symmetrically loaded by a shaped charge jet in the axis at one end surface, allows to measure the build up distance from the side and by the radius of the axial breakthroughs. The selected test set up for the observations in the two planes - parallel to the acceptor charge axis and prependicular to the charge axis on the end surface and the results, achieved with this diagnostic methods, will be described.

In details a test method is described which gives the delay times and buildup distances of the initiation of squeeze cast or plastic bonded high explosive charges. A special test setup arrangement is used to observe the incoming detonation wave of a high explosive train as the donor or initiating charge, then the breakthrough of the detonation wave at the acceptor charge in the axial direction and in the 90° direction. This allows to define the shift of the detonation breakthrough in the longitudinal direction, and the corner turning distance in the transverse direction and the build-up distances in both observed directions.

Maximum penetration is the goal for good shaped charge designs. To achieve this from the jet, built by the liner collapse process, the jet should have the maximum possible tip velocity for the used finer material and should be extremely straight so that the residual jet portions can arrive at the crater bottom, to achieve a low so-called cut-off velocity. For this purpose the use of the flash X-ray techniques is well known. Great deviations can be easily seen. But the angle deviations should be resolved in minutes in the two axes. For this purpose the author developed the synchro streak technique. The jet is observed in one or two or three different distances with one or two streak cameras, applying the profile streak technique in orthogonal views, so that a two dimensional analysis can be made as a function of time with very high space resolutions.Besides the wanted very accurate measurements of the jet angle deviations, also their surface structure can be observed by strong front illuminations with powerful argon flash bombs. Such synchro streak records have shown smooth jet surfaces in the tip regions, but rougher surfaces in the middle and the rear sections of the jets.The radial crater growing process as a function of time, caused by such extremely fast impactors, can be described with analytical equations. By the optical observation of the radial growth process of the jet at different penetration velocities this analytical theory was prooven and confirmed.It is astonishing, that shaped charge research groups and developers are not really knowing and using the possible and relatively easily available optical diagnostic techniques, to find out the limits of the shaped charge jet performances of their designs with the manufacturing tolerances. This paper gives the optical diagnostic potentials and advanced techniques.

Measuring the blast contour method of the horizontal displacement of momentum gauges made of cylinders with 70 rum diameter and 50 mm, respectively 100 mm length or rectangular cross section of 25 mm width and 50 mm height with the Held momentum method gives very well corresponding results with regard to the measured impulse densities in the four selected radii of 0.25 m, 0.5 m, 0.75 m and 1.00 m. This confirms the validity of the selected test method.

In detail, a test method is described which gives the delay times and build up distances of the initiation of squeeze cast or plastic bonded high explosive charges. A special test setup arrangement is used to observe the incoming detonation wave of a high explosive train as the donor or initiating charge and then the breakthrough of the detonation wave at the acceptor charge in the axial direction and in the 90 direction. This allows to define the shift of the detonation breakthrough in the longitudinal direction, and the corner turning distance in the transverse direction and the build up distances in both observed directions.

Cover-plate materials are influencing the build-up distances and delay times of high explosive charges in contact to the barrier, loaded by shaped charge jets. Materials with strong bulging behavior give long build-up distances, as steel and ceramics, with subsonic perforation velocities in contrast to materials with low sound velocities and therefore supersonic penetration velocities, as lead.

The momentum equation used by the author to describe the transferred momentum in the near field of detonating high explosive charges can be very well applied to the test results of steel disks at very near distances to detonating high explosive cylinders of the publication of Weaver and Walters((1)).

Flash X-ray pictures of gap test arrangements show that the material of the gap, in this investigation disks of plexiglass, will disperse and destroy unconfined acceptor charges, if the shock is not strong enough to get a prompt or at least a very fast initiation. The initiation location and/or the direction of the detonation wave of the donor charge to the gap material and acceptor charge or inverse, is under the investigated test conditions from very small influence to the behaviour of the acceptor charge.

The momentum distribution is modified by rising momentum gages of rectangular cross section and of a smaller width to achieve higher angle resolution. The measurement of the impulse density distribution in the elevation direction of a cylindrical high explosive charge with a Length to diameter ratio of 1.35 is up to now not presented with higher angular resolution, The impulse densities are changing more than 10 time, from the bridge wave to the radial and to tire forward axial direction.