Experimental Determination of Scaling Laws for Contained and Cratering Explosions
Abstract
Application of cube-root scaling to the observed RAINIER reduced displacement potential for tuff satisfactorily explains spectral ratios over the yield range 0.7 to 1200 kilotons for NTS Pahute Mesa shots detonated below the water table and observed at KNUT and MNNV. The same theory extended to the time domain, assuming a reasonable value for the attenuation parameter of t+(star)=0. 1, explains amplitude observations at KNUT and MNNV. However, for no reasonable value of t+(star) can the same reduced displacement potential explain the observed teleseismic (m sub b):(M sub s) slope of unity. The only plausible explanation seems to be that the waves emergent vertically downward are significantly different from those emergent vertically upward or nearly horizontally. No clear empirical scaling conclusions could be derived from the writer's, limited data for cratering events. Cratering explosions in the range 20-100 kt seem to generate substantially more Rayleigh waves than do contained explosions in nearly identical media. For body waves there seems to be approximately equal generation of low and high frequency waves, while cratering explosions seem deficient at intermediate frequencies, 1-3 Hz.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 04, 1976
- Accession Number
- ADA036357
Entities
People
- Robert R. Blandford