Cowboy Trails. Phase I. Small-Scale Explosive Tests in Salt Domes. Part 1. Goals, Methods and Conclusions. Part 2. Experimental Program
Abstract
The energies of stock chemical explosives (CEs) most often vary with confinement. In Phase I of the Cowboy Trails program CE spheres were fired in dome salt, in mines near Hockley and Grand Saline, Texas. The Hockley charges weighed approx. 20-30 gm and those at Grand Saline approx. 75 gm. All were center-lit and buried deeply enough for containment. From the volumes of the resulting cavities and the known energy of one of the CEs (PETN), an energy, e sub o, of 4.50 kilojoules (kj) per gram was found for nitromethane (NM, another of the CEs). Constancy of the ratio of cavity-volume-increase (Delta V sub C) to the energy (E) released, which theory and experiment both roughly aver, underlay the deduction of e sub o. On that basis, values of e sub o were also found for RDX, and for TNT at loading densities of 1.59 and 1.21 gm/cc. For Pelletol, tamped as in Project Cowboy, e sub o then becomes accessible via Cowboy-size bursts (Phase II); safety precludes the use of PETN at that scale, and NM takes its place. NM's e-value is now uncertain to the extent of approx. 8%; the r.m.s. scatter of its measured values is approx. 5%. Cavities blown in the domes at Hockley and Winnfield, La. had the same Delta V sub c/E-value, within a margin of error set by the uncertainty in e sub o for Pelletol. Likewise, it appears that the change of dome and scale from Hockley to Grand Saline had no significant effect on Delta V sub c per unit mass of PETN, while Delta V sub C increased by approx. 8% per unit mass of NM. if so, then e sub o varies with charge-size for the small masses of NM in Phase I.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 15, 1983
- Accession Number
- ADA158233
Entities
People
- Franklin C. Ford
- John G. Trulio