High Explosive Storage Test BIG PAPA
Abstract
In July 1966, the Chief of Staff, USAF, was informed of the critical shortage of munitions storage at air bases in Southeast Asia (SEA). In September 1966, a special Air Force Ad Hoc Study Group was convened at the Armed Services Explosives Safety Board in Washington, D. C. to determine if existing munitions storage quantity-distance criteria for barricaded munitions (bombs) could be reduced. The Ad Hoc Study Group recommended a storage configuration incorporating standard earth barricades and reduced quantity-distance criteria which would prevent the propagation of sympathetic simultaneous detonations from one bomb stack to another. The study group also recommended a test program to validate the newly recommended criteria. A four-phase test program was developed and executed as described in detail in this report. Full-scale barricaded bomb stacks were used as donors. Both full-scale and scaled acceptors were used. Donor stacks were detonated to discover if blast, thermal effects, or fragment impingement could produce sympathetic simultaneous detonations in the acceptor stacks. Total explosive weight, distances between stacks of bombs, and types and heights of protective revetments were the basic parameters investigated. No sympathetic simultaneous detonations were propagated from a donor stack to any acceptor in any of the tests. Tests of earth-filled, metal-bin barricades resulted in the conclusion that such barricades should not be used for storage of large quantities of bombs at revised quantity-distance criteria distances.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 1968
- Accession Number
- AD0834132
Entities
People
- Charles J. Lemont
- Frederick H. Peterson
- Robert R. Vergnolle
Organizations
- Air Force Research Laboratory