The blast waves from a series of explosions of stoichiometric, rich, and lean propane/oxygen mixtures have been analysed. The explosive mixtures were contained in hemispherical soap bubbles, 0.05 m in radius, with total masses in the order of 1 g. The blast waves were measured with a series of piezoelectric transducers, flush mounted in the horizontal surface supporting the charges, at various distances from the centres of the explosions. The measured time history of hydrostatic overpressure from each transducer was least-squares-fitted to the modified Friedlander equation to provide the best estimates of the peak hydrostatic overpressure immediately behind the primary shock and the positive phase duration. The times-of-arrival (TOA) of the primary shocks at each gauge location were used to determine the shock Mach numbers as functions of distance, and these values were used in a Rankine–Hugoniot relationship to calculate the peak hydrostatic overpressures, also as functions of distance. For all explosive mixtures, there was excellent agreement between the direct gauge measurements and the values from the TOA analyses. In order to compare the relative strengths of the blast waves from the three mixtures, the measured results were scaled to those for a 1-kg charge using the masses of propane and applying Hopkinson’s cube root scaling. This analysis showed that the blast wave from the lean mixture, for which there was an excess of oxygen, was stronger than that from a stoichiometric mixture, indicating a more efficient detonation. The blast wave from the rich mixture, for which there was a deficiency of oxygen, was weaker than that from the stoichiometric mixture, but gradually strengthened relatively, probably due to the afterburning of the undetonated propane in the presence of atmospheric oxygen. The peak overpressures as functions of distance and the overpressure time histories from the three types of explosive were compared with predictions by a Propane Blast interface and in all cases showed excellent agreement. The interface predictions were based on measurements from a nominal 20-ton propane/oxygen explosion, and the agreement with results from charges with masses of less than 1 g indicates the validity of Hopkinson’s cube root scaling applied to propane/oxygen explosions over a range of charge masses in excess of six orders of magnitude.

分析了一系列化学计量的，浓的和稀的丙烷/氧气混合物爆炸产生的爆炸波。爆炸性混合物装在半径为0.05 m的半球形肥皂泡中，总质量约为1 g。爆炸波是用一系列压电换能器测量的，这些换能器齐平安装在支撑炸药的水平表面上，与爆炸中心的距离各不相同。将每个换能器测得的静水超压的时间历程与修正的Friedlander方程进行最小二乘拟合，以提供对初级冲击和正相持续时间紧接的静水超压峰值的最佳估计。每个标尺位置的一次震动的到达时间（TOA）用于确定震动的马赫数作为距离的函数，这些值被用于兰金-休格尼奥特关系中，以计算峰值静水超压，并作为距离的函数。对于所有爆炸性混合物，直接量规测量与TOA分析的值之间有着极好的一致性。为了比较三种混合物的爆炸波的相对强度，使用丙烷质量并应用霍普金森立方根定标，将测量结果按比例缩放至1千克装药量。该分析表明，来自贫油混合物的爆炸波（其中存在过量的氧气）比来自化学计量混合物的爆炸波更强，表明爆轰更有效。来自富氧混合物的氧气不足的爆炸波比来自化学计量比的混合物的冲击波弱，但逐渐地相对增强，这可能是由于在大气氧气存在下未爆炸的丙烷的后燃所致。三种超强炸药的峰值超压随距离和超压时间的变化曲线与丙烷爆炸界面的预测值进行了比较，在所有情况下均显示出极好的一致性。界面预测基于标称的20吨丙烷/氧气爆炸的测量结果，并且与质量小于1 g的装药结果吻合，表明霍普金森立方根标度在以下范围内适用于丙烷/氧气爆炸的有效性电荷质量超过六个数量级。三种超强炸药的峰值超压随距离和超压时间的变化曲线与丙烷爆炸界面的预测值进行了比较，在所有情况下均显示出极好的一致性。界面预测基于标称的20吨丙烷/氧气爆炸的测量结果，并且与质量小于1 g的装药结果吻合，表明霍普金森立方根标度在以下范围内适用于丙烷/氧气爆炸的有效性电荷质量超过六个数量级。三种超强炸药的峰值超压随距离和超压时间的变化曲线与丙烷爆炸界面的预测值进行了比较，在所有情况下均显示出极好的一致性。界面预测基于标称的20吨丙烷/氧气爆炸的测量结果，并且与质量小于1 g的装药结果吻合，表明霍普金森立方根标度在以下范围内适用于丙烷/氧气爆炸的有效性电荷质量超过六个数量级。