Determination of Shock-Entrained Dust Concentration from Photographic Records of Nuclear Weapon Tests.
Abstract
A technique is developed for deducing the extinction coefficient of shock-entrained dust from measurements of object/background contrast attenuation. The measurements are made from frames of Nevada atmospheric test movies for which object and camera are both enveloped by the dust cloud and the object is at a known distance from the camera. The contrast measurements can be made visually at an instant of time at which the object is at the threshold of visual detection. Alternatively, the measurements can be made on a microdensitometer at general times before or after this threshold occurs. The technique is applied to films of several NTS shots to arrive at the extinction coefficient. Existing experimentally determined particle size distribution data for shock-entrained dust is then used in conjunction with the deduced extinction coefficient to arrive at the dust concentration. Possible sources of error are identified, and the reliability of the technique is estimated, although a precise quantification of the error bounds can only be made through a simulation experiment. A preliminary test plan is presented for conducting such an experiment as part of a future HE test. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 30, 1980
- Accession Number
- ADA095504
Entities
People
- John P. Doty
- Melvin L. Price
- Ronald Snow
Organizations
- Teledyne Technologies