Effect of Circuit Parameters and Environment on Shock Waves Generated by Underwater Electrical Wire Explosion

The electrical explosion of wire (EEW), which can generate a convenient, stable, and controllable shock wave (SW), is gradually acted as a physical and environmentally friendly enhanced oil recovery technology in petroleum industry. In order to establish the relationship between the SWs and EEW, the process and mechanism of underwater EEW were investigated and discussed as a function of recipe current, voltage, and pressure in the test conditions. This work describes the effect of wire diameter, capacitance, energy deposition, water conductivity, and temperature on the pressure of SWs. It was found that the amplitude of SWs has a close relationship to the energy deposition in vaporization process. Under the same stored energy of different capacitors, the energy deposition in vaporization stage is more efficient with high charging voltage and low capacitance in a stable explosion, because of the high magnetic pressure and short discharge time. While, the water conductivity and temperature have a significant effect on current and voltage in vaporization stage. The shunt effect of saline water and high thermal conductivity of high-temperature water effect the energy deposition in this stage, which made the amplitude of SWs are falling.