  Antiprotons are produced at CERN by colliding a 26 GeV/c proton beam with a
fixed target made of a 3 mm diameter, 55 mm length iridium core. The inherent
characteristics of antiproton production involve extremely high energy
depositions inside the target when impacted by each primary proton beam, making
it one of the most dynamically demanding among high energy solid targets in the
world, with a rise temperature above 2000 {\deg}C after each pulse impact and
successive dynamic pressure waves of the order of GPa's. An optimized redesign
of the current target is foreseen for the next 20 years of operation. As a
first step in the design procedure, this numerical study delves into the
fundamental phenomena present in the target material core under proton pulse
impact and subsequent pressure wave propagation by the use of hydrocodes. Three
major phenomena have been identified, (i) the dominance of a high frequency
radial wave which produces destructive compressive-to-tensile pressure response
(ii) The existence of end-of-pulse tensile waves and its relevance on the
overall response (iii) A reduction of 40% in tensile pressure could be obtained
by the use of a high density tantalum cladding.
