Shock and Release Behaviour of Sand

A considerable body of knowledge exists on the shock properties of dry sand. However, capturing the release properties have proven experimentally complex, and currently little information exists on the topic. The measured Hugoniot and release behaviour from a number of experiments is presented, carried out with the aim of furthering or understanding of the fundamental physics behind the unloading of dry sand from a shocked state. Additionally, progress on extending the investigation to sand with varying water content will also be presented.