PROJECT SCOOTER. Final Report
Project Scooter was a cratering experiment devised as a part of the Plowshare study of large-scale explosions as excavation tools. The Scooter explosive was approximately one million pounds of TNT stacked in a spherical cavity centered at a depth of 125 feet in desert alluvium at Area 10 of the AEC Nevada Test Site. Results are presented of studies of crater dimension, throwout material distribution, ground motion, dust cloud growth, and long-range air blast. The crater produced by Scooter was 75 feet deep, had an average diameter of 307 feet, and a volume of nearly 100,000 cubic yards. Crater dimensions for chemical explosions up to a million pounds of TNT were found to fit overburden approximate scaling best. Fine particulate material ejected from the crater verified the empirical scaling law for ejecta derived from the Stagecoach experiments. Particle motion studies indicated a shock transmitted at a velocity of 4260 feet per second through desert alluvium. All measurements were at distances between 50 and 300 feet from the charge center and were shown to be within the region of nonlinear response of the soil. Surface particle velocities derived from photographic records served to derive expressions for crater radius stresses. Ground surface accelerations show a double peak, implying reaction first to ground shock and then to gas pressure. Maximum cloud height appears to scale as the fourth root of yield. Base surge propagated at an average velocity more than double the rate of base surge growth observed for the two shallower Stagecoach events. Long distance air-blast studies show that signals are ducted through the ozonosphere with higher transmission factors for larger yields. A high-speed jet stream affected strongly the signals ducted through the troposphere. (auth)
- Research Organization:
- Sandia Lab., Albuquerque, N. Mex.
- DOE Contract Number:
- AT(29-1)-789
- NSA Number:
- NSA-18-005443
- OSTI ID:
- 4131730
- Report Number(s):
- SC-4602(RR)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
INFILTRATION VELOCITIES AT SEDAN AND SCOOTER CRATERS. Final Report
High-explosive craters in desert alluvium, tuff, and basalt