Asymmetric Collapse of LOS Pipe.

Abstract

A single laboratory experiment was performed to further evaluate the feasibility of using asymmetries to suppress jetting in line-of-sight (LOS) pipes that are collapsed by the ground shock from an underground nuclear test. Underground conditions were simulated by using a sphere of high explosives to collapse eighteen small-scale models embedded in saturated sand. Two basic types of models were used in the experiment, symmetrical and asymmetrical. The symmetrical models represented pipe configurations used by the Defense Nuclear Agency (DNA) in their underground nuclear test program. They were designated as standard models. The results showed that all of these models produced high-energy jets. All other models contained some form of asymmetry on the inside surface of the model. The asymmetries were selected to either cause an off-axis collapse which would inhibit the formation of a jet, or to attenuate and suppress a jet after it is formed. The results of the experiment show that high-energy jetting was present in all of the standard models, and was eliminated in the models with helical asymmetries. These findings continue to support the feasibility of using asymmetries to suppress jetting from the collapse of a pipe. However, their efficacy in a full-scale LOS pipe in an underground nuclear test environment cannot yet be postulated.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 26, 1980
Accession Number
ADA112911

Entities

People

  • E. T. Moore Jr.
  • Ron Funston

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Counter IED
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Collapse
  • Detonation Waves
  • Explosives
  • Geometry
  • Ground Shock
  • High Energy
  • High Explosives
  • Instrumentation
  • Leading Edges
  • Line Of Sight
  • Materials
  • Measurement
  • Models
  • Scale Models
  • Shock
  • Shock Waves
  • Spiral Development

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Explosive Engineering.
  • Fluid Mechanics and Fluid Dynamics.
  • Seismology