This paper presents the characteristics of underwater electrical wire explosion (UEWE) with three discharge types, namely, Type-A, Type-B, and Type-C. Experiments were carried out with copper and tungsten wires (4 cm long and 50–300 μm in diameter) driven by a microsecond time-scale pulsed current source with 500 J stored energy. A time-integrated spectrometer and a photodiode were used to measure the optical emission of UEWE. A Polyvinylidene Fluoride probe was adopted to record the pressure waveforms. Experimental results indicate that from Type-A to Type-C, more energy deposits prior to the voltage peak and the first peak power increases drastically. This variation of energy deposition influences the optical emission and shock wave generation process. Specifically, the light intensity decreases by more than 90% and the peak of continuous spectra moves from ∼400 nm to ∼700 nm. In addition, the peak pressure of the first shock wave increases from ∼2 MPa to more than 7.5 MPa.

Underwater shock waves generated by pulsed electrical discharges are an effective, economical, and environmentally friendly means of stimulating reservoirs, and this technology has received much attention and intensive research in the past few years. This paper reviews the main results of recent work on underwater electrical wire explosion (UEWE) for reservoir stimulation. A platform is developed for microsecond single-wire explosions in water, and diagnostics based on a voltage probe, current coil, pressure probe, photodiode, and spectrometer are used to characterize the UEWE process and accompanying shock waves. First, the UEWE characteristics under different discharge types are studied and general principles are clarified. Second, the shock-wave generation mechanism is investigated experimentally by interrupting the electrical energy injection into the wire at different stages of the wire-explosion process. It is found that the vaporization process is vital for the formation of shock waves, whereas the energy deposited after voltage collapse has only a limited effect. Furthermore, the relationships between the electrical-circuit and shock-wave parameters are investigated, and an empirical approach is developed for estimating the shock-wave parameters. Third, how the wire material and water state affect the wire-explosion process is studied. To adjust the shock-wave parameters, a promising method concerning energetic material load is proposed and tested. Finally, the fracturing effect of the pulsed-discharge shock waves is discussed, as briefly are some of the difficulties associated with UEWE-based reservoir stimulation.

Optical emission spectroscopy (OES) is a common method for characterizing radio frequency (RF) discharge plasmas. Particulary, helicon plasma is featured by its high plasma density among all RF-excited plasmas. In order to obtain the spatial-resolved information of a helicon plasma, local optical emission spectroscopy (LOES) with a 3 mm spatial resolution was proposed and carried out to evaluate the local electron density and temperature. The plasma emission intensity via LOES was measured and compared with the electron density obtained by a RF-compensated Langmuir probe (LP) in Ar, N ₂ and Air helicon plasmas, respectively. The results revealed that there existed a functional relationship between some specific lines (LOES) and electron density (LP). Further, helicon plasma characteristics under capacitive (E) , inductive (H), and helicon (W) modes were systemetically investigated based on LOES. Besides, two-dimensional (2D) contour maps for plasma distributions were made via LOES as well. It was found that in E- and H-modes, axial profiles of plasma density and electron temperature were consistent under two opposite magnetic field directions. However, in W-mode, the plasma presented an asymmetric axial profile along the tube. As for radial profiles, plasma distribution varied under three discharge modes due to different heating mechanisms in Ar, N ₂ or Air helicon plasma. A deeper analysis indicated that the bulk absorption comes from the coupling of the helicon wave in Ar helicon plasma while the power depositions in N ₂ and Air helicon plasma are mainly dominated by the TG wave.

An experimental study of pressure waves generated by an exploding copper wire in a water medium is performed. We examined the effects of energy deposited at different stages on the characteristics of the resulting shock waves. In the experiments, a microsecond time-scale pulsed current source was used to explode a 300-μm-diameter, 4-cm-long copper wire with initial stored energies ranging from 500 to 2700 J. Our experimental results indicated that the peak pressure (4.5–8.1 MPa) and energy (49–287 J) of the shock waves did not follow a simple relationship with any electrical parameters, such as peak voltage or deposited energy. Conversely, the impulse had a quasi-linear relationship with the parameter Π. We also found that the peak pressure was mainly influenced by the energy deposited before separation of the shock wave front and the discharge plasma channel (DPC). The decay time constant of the pressure waveform was affected by the energy injection after the separation. These phenomena clearly demonstrated that the deposited energy influenced the expansion of the DPC and affected the shock wave characteristics.

Electrohydraulic shock waves (ESWs) are widely applied to many fields such as sterilization, lithotripsy, food processing, and so on. Based on high-pulsed power technology, electrical explosion is increasingly utilized to generate shock waves with steep fronts and short duration. In order to further magnify the shock waves, we have proposed a new technique by using energetic materials (EMs) loads. This paper investigated the fracturing effect of the ESWs generated by plasma-ignited EMs explosion. During the ESWs fracturing process, a large-scale triaxial stress pressurizing equipment and a dynamic strain measurement system were applied to the shale samples. The most evident experimental results showed that a large number of cell-shaped multiple cracks developed after the ESWs fracturing process. In addition, interior crack morphology and fluorescent tracing proved the evidence of penetration cracks. These cracks contributed to a great reduction of fracture pressure in fracturing test, which laid a scientific foundation for ESWs technique to be a promising method of well stimulation in those low permeability reservoir and further optimized into a new plugging relief and injection gain technology.

Besides a typical high‐density plasma source, electrical explosion of conductors is also indispensable in switches, nanomaterial synthesis, shock‐wave sources, etc. In this paper, an experimental study regarding plasma dynamics of electrical wire explosions (μs‐timescale) is presented, with spatiotemporal resolved diagnostics. Pure Cu/Ni wire and Cu‐Ni alloy wire were used and compared. The alloy wire usually has a higher resistivity, resulting in a higher initial energy deposition (heating) rate. Abel inverse transformation indicated that the plasma radiation focussed on the outer region of the discharge channel for the alloy wire. In addition, the metallic vapour determined by the material properties had a considerable influence on the plasma process and resulting nanomaterials. In particular, both transverse and axial‐layered structures were observed in alloy wire vapour. In addition, for the first time, the expanding arc‐like plasma of explosion products was understood and examined from aspects of material properties and energy relaxation. The later stage of wire explosion resembled the state of regular metal vapour arcs under 1 MPa pressure. Finally, the core factor for the fast energy deposition stage of wire explosion was ascertained. Correlations between pre‐exposition circuit parameters and post‐explosion dynamic effects were found, which is significant for practical applications.