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The review considers a wide range of phenomena and problems associated with the explosion. Detailed numerical studies revealed an interesting physical effect — the formation of discrete vortex structures directly behind the front of a shock wave propagating in dense layers of a heterogeneous atmosphere. The necessity of further investigation of such phenomena and the determination of the degree of their connection with the possible development of gas-dynamic instability is shown. The brief analysis of numerous works on the thermal explosion of meteoroids during their high-speed movement in the Earth’s atmosphere is given. Much attention is paid to the development of a numerical algorithm for calculating the simultaneous explosion of several fragments of meteoroids and the features of the development of such a gas-dynamic flow are analyzed. The work shows that earlier developed algorithms for calculating explosions can be successfully used to study explosive volcanic eruptions. The paper presents and discusses the results of such studies for both continental and underwater volcanoes with certain restrictions on the conditions of volcanic activity.

The mathematical analysis is performed and the results of analytical studies of a number of important physical phenomena characteristic of explosions of high specific energy in the ionosphere are presented. It is shown that the preliminary laboratory physical modeling of the main processes that determine these phenomena is of fundamental importance for the development of sufficiently complete and adequate theoretical and numerical models of such complex phenomena as powerful plasma disturbances in the ionosphere. Laser plasma is the closest object for such a simulation. The results of the corresponding theoretical and experimental studies are presented and their scientific and practical significance is shown. The brief review of recent years on the use of laser radiation for laboratory physical modeling of the effects of a nuclear explosion on asteroid materials is given.

As a result of the analysis performed in the review, it was possible to separate and preliminarily formulate some interesting and scientifically significant questions that must be investigated on the basis of the ideas already obtained. These are finely dispersed chemically active systems formed during the release of volcanoes; small-scale vortex structures; generation of spontaneous magnetic fields due to the development of instabilities and their role in the transformation of plasma energy during its expansion in the ionosphere. It is also important to study a possible laboratory physical simulation of the thermal explosion of bodies under the influence of highspeed plasma flow, which has only theoretical interpretations.

As part of the paper, a physical and theoretical analysis of the impact processes of various factors of a highaltitude and high-energy nuclear explosion on the asteroid in extra-atmospheric conditions of open space is done. It is shown that, in accordance with the energy and permeability of the plasma of explosion products, X-ray and gamma-neutron radiation, a layered structure with a different energy density depending on angular coordinates is formed on the surface of the asteroid. The temporal patterns of the energy transformation for each layer is clarified and the roles of various photo- and collision processes are determined. The effect of a high-speed plasma flow is erosive in nature, and the plasma pulse is transmitted to the asteroid. The paper presents that in a thin layer of x-ray absorption, the asteroid substance is heated to high temperatures and as a result of its expansion, a recoil impulse is formed, which is not decisive due to the small mass of the expanding high-temperature plasma. Calculations shows that the main impulse received by an asteroid is associated with the entrainment of a heated layer of a substance formed by a neutron flux (7.5 E 10¹⁴ g E cm/s). It is shown that an asteroid with a radius of ~100 m acquires a velocity of . 100 cm/s. The calculations were performed taking into account the explosion energy spent on the destruction of the amorphous structure of the asteroid material (~1 eV/atom = 3.8 E 10¹⁰ erg/g) and ionization in the region of the high-temperature layer. Based on a similar analysis, an approximation is obtained for estimating the average size of fragments in the event of the possible destruction of the asteroid by shock waves generated inside it under the influence of pressure impulses. A physical experiment was conducted in laboratory conditions, simulating the fragmentation of a stone asteroid and confirming the validity of the obtained dependence on the selected values of certain parameters. As a result of numerical studies of the effects of the explosion, carried out at different distances from the surface of the asteroid, it is shown that taking into account the real geometry of the spallation layer gives the optimal height for the formation of the maximum asteroid momentum by a factor of 1.5 greater than similar estimates according to the simplified model. A two-stage concept of the impact of nuclear explosions on an asteroid using radar guidance tools is proposed. The paper analyzes the possible impact of the emerging ionization interference on the radar tracking of the movement of large fragments of the asteroid in the space-time evolution of all elements of the studied dynamic system.

The review is based on some of the authors ’early works of particular scientific, methodological and practical interest and the greatest attention is paid to recent works, where quite detailed numerical studies of not only single, but also double and multiple explosions in a wide range of heights and environmental conditions have been performed . Since the shock wave of a powerful explosion is one of the main damaging factors in the lower atmosphere, the review focuses on both the physical analysis of their propagation and their interaction. Using the three-dimensional algorithms developed by the authors, the effects of interference and diffraction of several shock waves, which are interesting from a physical point of view, in the absence and presence of an underlying surface of various structures are considered. Quantitative characteristics are determined in the region of their maximum values, which is of known practical interest. For explosions in a dense atmosphere, some new analytical solutions based on the small perturbation method have been found that are convenient for approximate calculations. For a number of conditions, the possibility of using the self-similar properties of equations of the first and second kind to solve problems on the development of an explosion has been shown.

Based on numerical analysis, a fundamental change in the structure of the development of the perturbed region with a change in the height of the explosion in the range of 100–120 km is shown. At altitudes of more than 120 km, the geomagnetic field begins to influence the development of the explosion; therefore, even for a single explosion, the picture of the plasma flow after a few seconds becomes substantially three-dimensional. For the calculation of explosions at altitudes of 120–1000 km under the guidance of academician A. Kholodov. A special three-dimensional numerical algorithm based on the MHD approximation was developed. Numerous calculations were performed and for the first time a quite detailed picture of the three-dimensional flow of the explosion plasma was obtained with the formation of an upward jet in 5–10 s directed in the meridional plane approximately along the geomagnetic field. After some modification, this algorithm was used to calculate double explosions in the ionosphere, spaced a certain distance. The interaction between them was carried out both by plasma flows and through a geomagnetic field. Some results are given in this review and are described in detail in the original articles.