EFFECT OF EXPLOSIONS ON SNOW STRUCTURES

Abstract

During the summar of 1960, tests were conducted on the Greenland Ice Cap to study the resistance and behavior of snow structures to dynamic loading from a surface or above-surface air blast of 4 or 32 lb. spherical cast TNT. A number of small-and full-scale vertical and full-size horizontal arches were constructed in processed snow pads. Arch spans and arch crown thickness were varied to establish a relation between surface overpressure and the ratio of arch span (S) to arch crown thickness (T). Some correlation was found for vertical structures but none between vertical and horizontal arches. The results show that, for the same charge weight and S/T ratio, the horizontal structures can withstand over 100 psi overpressure, while small-scale vertical arches fail at 20 psi.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 01, 1966
Accession Number
AD0640974

Entities

People

  • Henryk Szostak
  • Robert Benert

Organizations

  • Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Counter IED

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Arctic Regions
  • Blast
  • Classification
  • Cold Regions
  • Construction
  • Engineering
  • Explosions
  • Explosives
  • Glaciers
  • Height Of Burst
  • Materials
  • Overpressure
  • Pressure Distribution
  • Pressure Measurement
  • Regions
  • Security
  • Thickness

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Atmospheric Remote Sensing.
  • Battery Technology and Engineering
  • Combustion Dynamics and Shock Wave Physics.