STRUCTURAL DEBRIS CAUSED BY NUCLEAR BLAST
Abstract
The purpose of this program was to develop means for predicting the quantity of structural debris produced by air blast from various types of nuclear weapon attack. In general it was not found possible to base quantitative estimates of debris on existing analyses of damage, since structural damage and the debris produced as a result of the damage are not necessarily related. Most of the applicable basic information was derived from tests (or attacks) with kilotron-range weapons, and therefore the first curves developed for estimating debris quantities--as functions of incident air blast overpressure level--were for kilotonrange weapons. However, analysis of the influence of the longer overpressure durations from megaton-range weapons on structural behavior permitted the development of curves predicting debris quantities for these weapons. The results to date, of the program are summarized. These show debris quantities as a percentage of total building materials produced by various air blast overpressures from both kiloton- and megaton-range weapons for six classes of structures (light and heavy industrial, ordinary and aseismic design steel and reinforced concrete frame, wooden, and brick or masonry).
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 1964
- Accession Number
- AD0450115
Entities
People
- C. K. Wiehle
- J. E. Edmunds
- K. Kaplan
Organizations
- URS Corporation