Abstract
The purpose of airblast predictions and monitoring is to guard against strong blast waves being carried by the atmospheric acoustic lens into populated areas where they could cause hazard and damage. Experience and theory, with both high explosives and nuclear tests, burst both underground and in the air, have been developed to allow reasonable confidence in safety predictions. Standard explosion calculations and scaling laws are used to define the source strength to distances where quasi-acoustic propagation physics becomes valid. Underground bursts are attenuated by a factor which depends on scaled burst depth and the burst environment material. For row charges the source strength approaches a line source model with cylindrical blast expansion in directions perpendicular to the row. Atmospheric refraction by strata of different temperatures and winds causes nonuniform blast overpressure patterns to be propagated great distances. Jet stream winds may duct and even focus airblasts with as large as 8X magnifications over standard wave expansion at ranges of 30 to 100 miles. Ozonosphere ducting, by warm temperatures and monsoon winds at 30 miles altitudes, can cause 3X magnification at ranges from 70 to 150 miles. For very large explosives, these atmospheric effects can cause nuisance damage and breakage to
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Reed, J W
[1]
- Division 9111, Sandia Laboratory, Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Citation Formats
Reed, J W.
Airblast from Plowshare projects.
IAEA: N. p.,
1969.
Web.
Reed, J W.
Airblast from Plowshare projects.
IAEA.
Reed, J W.
1969.
"Airblast from Plowshare projects."
IAEA.
@misc{etde_20699893,
title = {Airblast from Plowshare projects}
author = {Reed, J W}
abstractNote = {The purpose of airblast predictions and monitoring is to guard against strong blast waves being carried by the atmospheric acoustic lens into populated areas where they could cause hazard and damage. Experience and theory, with both high explosives and nuclear tests, burst both underground and in the air, have been developed to allow reasonable confidence in safety predictions. Standard explosion calculations and scaling laws are used to define the source strength to distances where quasi-acoustic propagation physics becomes valid. Underground bursts are attenuated by a factor which depends on scaled burst depth and the burst environment material. For row charges the source strength approaches a line source model with cylindrical blast expansion in directions perpendicular to the row. Atmospheric refraction by strata of different temperatures and winds causes nonuniform blast overpressure patterns to be propagated great distances. Jet stream winds may duct and even focus airblasts with as large as 8X magnifications over standard wave expansion at ranges of 30 to 100 miles. Ozonosphere ducting, by warm temperatures and monsoon winds at 30 miles altitudes, can cause 3X magnification at ranges from 70 to 150 miles. For very large explosives, these atmospheric effects can cause nuisance damage and breakage to windows and plaster walls with a slight associated hazard to inhabitants. Damage claims from explosive tests, accidents, and sonic booms have been analyzed to give damage prediction equations in terms of incident airblast overpressure and exposed population. Over pressures can be calculated from source strength and atmospheric propagation parameters. Measurements in communities surrounding various explosives tests have served to verify prediction procedures and interpret the validity of damage claims. (author)}
place = {IAEA}
year = {1969}
month = {Jul}
}
title = {Airblast from Plowshare projects}
author = {Reed, J W}
abstractNote = {The purpose of airblast predictions and monitoring is to guard against strong blast waves being carried by the atmospheric acoustic lens into populated areas where they could cause hazard and damage. Experience and theory, with both high explosives and nuclear tests, burst both underground and in the air, have been developed to allow reasonable confidence in safety predictions. Standard explosion calculations and scaling laws are used to define the source strength to distances where quasi-acoustic propagation physics becomes valid. Underground bursts are attenuated by a factor which depends on scaled burst depth and the burst environment material. For row charges the source strength approaches a line source model with cylindrical blast expansion in directions perpendicular to the row. Atmospheric refraction by strata of different temperatures and winds causes nonuniform blast overpressure patterns to be propagated great distances. Jet stream winds may duct and even focus airblasts with as large as 8X magnifications over standard wave expansion at ranges of 30 to 100 miles. Ozonosphere ducting, by warm temperatures and monsoon winds at 30 miles altitudes, can cause 3X magnification at ranges from 70 to 150 miles. For very large explosives, these atmospheric effects can cause nuisance damage and breakage to windows and plaster walls with a slight associated hazard to inhabitants. Damage claims from explosive tests, accidents, and sonic booms have been analyzed to give damage prediction equations in terms of incident airblast overpressure and exposed population. Over pressures can be calculated from source strength and atmospheric propagation parameters. Measurements in communities surrounding various explosives tests have served to verify prediction procedures and interpret the validity of damage claims. (author)}
place = {IAEA}
year = {1969}
month = {Jul}
}