KB is a comprehensive educational package of computer codes and reference documents for modeling model materials at high temperature and pressure. The Windows programs, available at no charge to educators and academic researchers, may be used in computer laboratories or distributed to students. The package is of particular interest to physicists, mechanical engineers and civil engineers. It provides students with a hands-on introduction to the hydrodynamic equations, the equation of state and concepts like the Hugoniot curve. The instruction manual includes an array of benchmark tests to illustrate accuracy issues in numerical modeling.

The KB package has the following components:

• Equation-of-state data for a wide variety of materials over a density range to 1000 times normal density and temperature range to 100 million °K.
• 130-page instruction manual that reviews essential shock and detonation physics.
• Interactive utility to calculate and to plot Hugoniot curves and other hydrodynamic quantities from EOS data.
• 1D hydrodynamic simulation code with graphical postprocessor for planar, cylindrical and spherical geometries.
• 2D code suite for simulations of shocks and detonations.
• Ready to run benchmark and application examples.

The 2D suite is the centerpiece of the KB package. It employs a unique finite-element approach on a deformable mesh that provides automatic zone refinement. The program handles both planar and cylindrical geometries. The user has complete flexbility to specify geometry, material types and initial conditions. The self-contained package includes graphical postprocessors for spatial and temporal data as well as an educational version of the Field Precision Mesh program. This utility, which creates conformal meshes to describe the initial state, features a built-in CAD editor and the option for importing DXF files.