LAUSR

The behavior of silica glass material under shock compression has been investigated in this work. Laser-driven experiments and molecular dynamics simulations were combined to study the elastic regime of fused silica up to 8 GPa. Two simple pair potentials, BKS and CHIK, were tested and the shocked states of the glassy material were obtained by direct shocks and a new Hugoniostat method. The Hugoniot curves obtained numerically were in a very good agreement with the experimental curves. Despite the simplicity of their mathematical form, the pair potentials tested (BKS and CHIK) were able to give a fair description of the silica glass behavior under shock loading conditions. The structural properties of silica glass were also thoroughly studied. It was found that in the elastic regime, the short-range order (tetrahedra) and the medium-range order (rings) were not impacted by the shock wave propagation inside the material. The structural changes behind the shock front were mainly related to a free volume clo...