DEBRIS MODEL RESEARCH WITH BUILDING DAMAGE, FIRE SPREAD, AND DEBRIS PREDICTIONS FOR FIVE-CITY STUDY

Abstract

This report is divided into two parts. Part I reports on research work directed toward improvement of the model to predict debris from buildings subjected to the blast and fire effects of nuclear weapons. Part II reports on application of the model in support of the Office of Civil Defense Five-City Study. The research was primarily concerned with the development of multi-yield (other than 20 kt and 20 Mt) building debris charts, and improvement of debris distribution procedures. During work on the multi-yield debris charts, significant inconsistencies in present building damage functions for many building types were discovered. These inconsistencies could not be resolved within the scope of the present study, and therefore charts were prepared only for those building types whose damage functions displayed little or no irregularities. While the charts were in preparation, it was ascertained that overturning can be a significant mode of building damage, especially for tall buildings acted upon by blast from large-yield weapons. Predictions were made of initial ignitions and fire spread in wildland fuels, and of debris resulting from the destruction of trees and buildings by the coupled effects of air blast and fire, and detailed descriptions of building damage were provided. These predictions are on file in the Five-City Study Data Bank and are presented for reader convenience in scaled-down and abbreviated form.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 1967
Accession Number
AD0822061

Entities

People

  • J. Rotz

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Blast
  • Blast Waves
  • Civil Defense
  • Construction
  • Coordinate Systems
  • Dynamic Response
  • Failure Mode And Effect Analysis
  • Forests
  • Mechanical Equipment
  • Nuclear Weapons
  • Photographs
  • Photography
  • Plastic Explosives
  • Reinforced Concrete
  • Topographic Maps
  • United States
  • Urban Areas

Fields of Study

  • Engineering

Readers

  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Computer Science.
  • Fire Suppression Systems Design.