Explosive Effectiveness Capability (ExEC)
- LLNL
Gaining accurate predictions of damage inflicted by high explosive devices is vital in order to minimize collateral damage effects on a target. ExEC provides a means for conducting very detailed analysis of weapons effects on targets for advanced mission planning purposes. ExEC is composed of a suite of high fidelity physics codes, which have been used for decades by the nuclear weapons laboratories for assessing high explosive, thermal, and structural effects. The ExEC capability should not be confused with the fast running empirical codes MEA and MEVA, which are good for fast scoping analysis. MEA and MEVA rely on look-up tables or simple approximations to quickly obtain a rough estimate of weapon damage on a target. In contrast, the ExEC capability provides a much higher fidelity damage prediction and a limitless number of target configurations by solving the time dependent conservation equations for mass, momentum, and energy, in order to directly simulate the interaction of a weapon with a target component. In contrast, MEA/MEVA must be calibrated for every different weapon type and target. ExEC has produced accurate simulations for weapon disablement, shape charge penetration, sympathetic detonation, fragment damage effects, and blast effects. For example, ExEC was used to look at a DTRA test performed at White Sands Missile Range, Dipole Orbit 1 (DO1). In DO1, a BLU-109 bomb was statically detonated in a partially buried four-room building that was storing chemical and biological weapon simulants, as well as inactive equipment typical of a CBW (Chemical and Biological Warfare) facility. The blast wave (overpressure) histories were recorded and compared to an ExEC and MEVA simulation. A direct comparison between experimental data and calculations, for a single pressure gauge, indicated that MEVA had a 200% error compared to 5% for ExEC. In addition, ExEC tracks the time dependant fluctuations in pressure (for an accurate prediction of the impulse), while MEVA produces only the peak overpressure. ExEC provides added flexibility in target configurations, weapon selection, and weapon placement. For each potential target, ExEC can look into a variety of possible scenarios, in great detail, that will bound the uncertainty in achieving a mission goal. This is a great advantage on targets where it is desirable to minimize collateral damage. ExEC can provide detailed shot maps of ideal weapon placement for achieving target kill most efficiently. To do this ExEC requires more detailed information than a typical MEVA analysis.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Defense Programs (DP) (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 792743
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-ID-140577
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Structural response of ship-stiffened panel at Event MINOR SCALE
Demonstration test of the keyworker blast shelter. MINOR SCALE. Final report