Document Details

OPERATION BUSTER PROJECT 2.4-2, THE EFFECT OF THERMAL RADIATION ON MATERIALS

MONAHAN, T I [NAVAL MATERIAL LABORATORY, NEW YORK NAVAL SHIPYARD, BROOKLYN, NY]

BLAST EFFECTS; BUSTER OPERATION; BAKER-0151 EVENT; DOG-1151 EVENT; THERMAL RADIATION; MATERIALS; TESTING; BUSTER-JANGLE OPERATION

Location - DOE/NNSA NUCLEAR TESTING ARCHIVE Address - P.O. Box 98521 City - Las Vegas State - NV Zip - 89193-8521 Phone - (702)794-5106 Fax - (702)862-4240 Email - NTA@NV.DOE.GOV

REPORT

Declassified

0101

NV0051106

WT311

NAVAL MATERIAL LABORATORY, NEW YORK NAVAL SHIPYARD

1994 Aug 26

2003 Sep 18

VARIOUS MATERIAL INDICATORS WERE EXPOSED TO THE THERMAL RADIATION OF T HE ATOMIC EXPLOSIONS AT BUSTER TO DETERMINE THE EFFECTS OF THIS EXPOSU RE ON THESE MATERIALS, THE DEGREE OF CORRELATION BETWEEN THESE EFFECTS AND THOSE PRODUCED BY LABORATORY SOURCES OF THERMAL RADIATION, AND SO ME OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RADIATION. THESE STUDIES ARE A CONTIN UATION OF THOSE MADE DURING GREENHOUSE, WITH EMPHASIS ON THE EFFECTIVE TIME OF THE RADIATION WITH REGARD TO INITIATING AND SUSTAINING THE PR OCESS OF DAMAGE TO MATERIALS, THE EFFECTS OF TARGET GEOMETRY, THE EVAL UATION OF PROTECTIVE MEASURES AND THE IRRADIANCE-TIME AND SPECTRAL CHA RACTERISTICS OF THE RADIATION. ANALYSIS OF THE FIELD RESULTS INDICATES THAT THE THERMAL ENERGY PARTITIONS OF THE 3.47 KT AND 20.9 KT WEAPONS ( BAKER AND DOG SHOTS ) EMPLOYED IN THE BUSTER TESTS WERE APPROXIMATE LY 33 AND 23 PERCENT, RESPECTIVELY; THESE VALUES ARE CONSIDERABLY GREA TER THAN THOSE MEASURED DURING THE RANGER AND GREENHOUSE OPERATIONS. T HE EMITTED RADIATION MAY BE CONSIDERED BLACK-BODY, THE TEMPERATURES FO R THE BAKER AND DOG SHOTS BEING APPROXIMATELY 7700 DEGREES KALVIN AND 8850 DEGREES KALVIN, RESPECTIVELY. AT THE DISTANCES OF INTEREST IN STU DYING THE EFFECTS OF THERMAL RADIATION ON MATERIALS, APPROXIMATELY 16 PERCENT OF THE RADIATION IS IN THE ULTRAVIOLET AND 23 PERCENT IS IN TH E INFRARED. BECAUSE OF THE LARGE THERMAL YIELD OF THESE MUCLEAR DETONA TIONS, CONSIDERABLE DAMAGE WAS NOTED ON THE MATERIALS EXPOSED. IN GENE RAL, THIS DAMAGE WAS IN AGREEMENT WITH THE RESULTS FROM EXPOSURES TO T HE HIGH-INTENSITY, SMALL-AREA LABORATORY SOURCE OF THERMAL RADIATION, ALTHOUGH THE CORRELATION STUDIES SUFFERED FROM THE LARGE NUMBER OF FIE LD SAMPLES WHICH WERE EITHER UNAFFECTED OR COMPLETELY DAMAGED. THE DAM AGED. THE DAMAGE TO WOOES EXPOSED AT ANGLES OTHER THAN NORMAL TO THE I NCIDENT RADIATION INDICATED THAT THE DAMAGE IS PROPORTIONAL TO THE COS INE OF THE ANGLE OF INCIDENCE AND THAT THE AFFECT OF INTERREFLECTIONS FROM THE SIDES OF V-SHAPED WOOD GROOVES IS NOT PRONOUNCED. THE STUDY O F THERMAL DAMAGE AS A FUNCTION OF TIME OF EXPOSURE INDICATES THAT FOR THE 3.47 KT DETONATION NO ADDITIONAL DAMAGE WAS SUSTAINED AFTER 200 MI LLISECONDS. FOR THE 20.9 KT DETONATION MOST OF THE DAMAGE OCCURRED BET WEEN 130 AND 160 MILLISECONDS. DUE TO THE SHORT DURATION OF THE RADIAT ION PULSE, NO CONCLUSIONS CAN BE DRAWN FROM THIS EXPERIMENT AS TO THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE DECREASING PORTION OF THE INTENSITY-TIME CHARACTER ISTICS TO THE TOTAL MATERIAL DAMAGE. THE DISTRIBUTION OF THERMAL RADIA TION WITHIN A 2X6X4 FOOT FOXHOLE INDICATES THAT, FOR THE ORIENTATION E MPLOYED ( 6-FOOT SIDE ON THE RADIUS VECTOR FROM GROUND ZERO ), NO SIGN IFICANT RADIATION ( 1 CAL/CM-2 ) IS RECEIVED WITHIN THE FORWARD SECTIO N OF THE FOXHOLE, EVENT THOUGH AS MUCH AS 18 CAL/CM-2 MAY BE INCIDENT ON THE EXPOSED BACKWALL. OF THE THREE FLAMEPROOFING CLOTH TREATMENTS T ESTED, ERIFON APPEARS TO BE SUPERIOR TO EITHER REZGARD OR PYROSET, BUT THE AMOUNT OF PROTECTION FROM THERMAL RADIATION AFFORDED TO PERSONNEL BY ANY OF THESE TREATMENTS IS QUESTIONABLE. OF THE SEVERAL TREATMENTS APPLIED TO THE WOOD SURFACES, ALBI TEMP KOTE AND VITA VAR APPEAR MORE PROMISING THAN THE OTHER PAINTS TESTED. THE RESULTS OF THE PROJECT AR E SUMMARIZED AND THE FUTURE FIELD TEST PLANS OF THE NAVAL MATERIAL LAB ORATORY ARE OUTLINED.