JWL Equation of State

The JWL equation of state (EOS) is frequently used for the products (and sometimes reactants) of a high explosive (HE). Here we review and systematically derive important properties. The JWL EOS is of the Mie-Grueneisen form with a constant Grueneisen coefficient and a constants specific heat. It is thermodynamically consistent to specify the temperature at a reference state. However, increasing the reference state temperature restricts the EOS domain in the (V, e)-plane of phase space. The restrictions are due to the conditions that P ≥ 0, T ≥ 0, and the isothermal bulk modulus is positive. Typically, this limits the low temperature regime in expansion. The domain restrictions can result in the P-T equilibrium EOS of a partly burned HE failing to have a solution in some cases. For application to HE, the heat of detonation is discussed. Example JWL parameters for an HE, both products and reactions, are used to illustrate the restrictions on the domain of the EOS.