DRDO’s HEMRL Seeks Advanced Simulation Software to Study High-Explosive Charges Under Thermal and Shock Effects

India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation is seeking a new numerical-simulation capability to study how high-explosive charges and encased explosive systems behave when exposed to thermal and shock effects, signalling a deeper move toward computer-assisted design and vulnerability assessment of future Indian munitions.

The requirement has been issued by DRDO’s High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL) in Pune, the organisation’s specialist centre for high-energy materials. The tender calls for the “Development of software for numerical simulation of response of HE charges and encased HE charges under thermal and shock effects” .

The requirement is significant because understanding the behaviour of high explosives under severe external conditions is an important part of modern ammunition and warhead development. An explosive filling cannot be evaluated solely according to the energy it releases during its intended functioning. Designers must also understand how the material and the complete munition respond when subjected to heat, mechanical shock and other extreme environments that may occur during storage, transportation, battlefield exposure or interactions with other weapon effects.

The reference to both HE charges and encased HE charges is particularly important. While an unconfined explosive sample provides information about the energetic material itself, operational munitions generally contain the explosive within a surrounding structure or casing. That enclosure affects the way mechanical and thermal energy interacts with the explosive, making numerical analysis of the complete configuration valuable when evaluating the behaviour and vulnerability of practical weapon systems.

DRDO’s published technology roadmap confirms that computational analysis has become an important part of this research. Under the warhead, explosives and ballistic-protection technology domain, HEMRL is assigned computational and analytical studies on selected energetic materials, alongside work on reactive materials for warheads, insensitive-munition-class high explosives for naval warheads and analysis of thermobaric explosive compositions.

The new software requirement also closely follows HEMRL’s “Modelling of Next Generation High Explosives — NeXT-2026” initiative held in Pune in January. That programme brought together approximately 150 participants from DRDO, ISRO, IITs, academia and industry to examine emerging methods for computational modelling and the design of advanced high-energy materials.

During NeXT-2026, DRDO highlighted the growing role of high-performance computing, artificial intelligence and simulation-driven methodologies in developing future energetic materials. HEMRL Director Dr A. P. Dash emphasised predictive modelling frameworks as a means of improving both performance and safety characteristics of next-generation explosive formulations. Expert sessions covered molecular modelling, AI-assisted retrosynthesis, material behaviour under extreme thermo-mechanical stimuli and vulnerability assessment of energetic systems.

The August tender appears to translate part of that research direction into a dedicated engineering capability. Instead of limiting computational work to the molecular properties of an explosive compound, the proposed software would allow HEMRL to examine how larger explosive charges behave when subjected to thermal and shock environments.

This creates an important bridge between material science and weapon-system engineering. At one end of the development process, researchers can investigate the properties of candidate energetic materials. At the other, numerical models can help evaluate how those materials may respond when incorporated into realistic explosive configurations and subjected to demanding conditions.

Such simulation can become particularly valuable during the development of safer and more predictable munitions. Modern armed forces increasingly seek energetic systems that deliver high performance during intended operation while reducing the possibility of unintended violent reactions when exposed to accidental or hostile stimuli. DRDO’s technology roadmap already identifies Insensitive Munition-class high-explosive compositions for naval warheads as an HEMRL research area, showing that survivability and controlled response are part of the laboratory’s wider development priorities.

HEMRL’s existing technology portfolio illustrates the range of programmes that depend on advanced explosive science. DRDO has offered technologies involving high-explosive fillings for missile and naval warheads, energetic binders for warhead explosives, VSHORADS warhead compositions and other specialised energetic materials for transfer to Indian industry. In January 2026, for example, DRDO listed HEMRL’s PBHE-509 high-explosive filling for an underwater warhead for technology transfer.

Similarly, HEMRL has developed the PBXPW-1 pressable high-explosive composition for the VSHORADS warhead, while other technologies have covered high-explosive compositions intended for missile warheads. These programmes demonstrate why the ability to predict explosive behaviour digitally has relevance across multiple classes of Indian weapon systems.

Numerical modelling offers several advantages during such research. Engineers can examine multiple conditions and design variations computationally before deciding which configurations require physical testing. Models can also help identify areas of particular interest or vulnerability that warrant closer experimental investigation.

The approach is not intended to eliminate physical explosive trials. High-energy materials and complete munitions still require extensive laboratory characterisation, safety evaluation and representative testing before operational deployment. Numerical simulation instead provides an additional predictive layer that can help researchers design those experiments more effectively and interpret their results.

The programme also reflects a broader transformation in defence research as high-performance computing becomes increasingly integrated with physical experimentation. Complex processes that were once studied predominantly through destructive testing can now be investigated through increasingly sophisticated numerical models, allowing researchers to examine behaviour across a much larger range of conditions before proceeding to full-scale trials.

For India, developing such tools domestically also carries strategic value. Software used to model sensitive energetic systems can involve specialised algorithms, material models and data generated through national weapons-development programmes. Building an indigenous simulation environment can provide DRDO with greater control over these capabilities while allowing the software to evolve alongside Indian-developed explosives and warheads.

The latest HEMRL tender should therefore be viewed as more than a routine software procurement. It represents another component of DRDO’s emerging simulation-driven high-energy-material research ecosystem, connecting advanced computing with the design, safety assessment and evaluation of future explosive systems.

With HEMRL already pursuing predictive modelling, advanced energetic materials and insensitive-munition technologies, the new thermal-and-shock simulation capability could provide Indian researchers with a stronger digital foundation for understanding how future explosive charges behave before those designs progress to expensive and hazardous physical testing.

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