Blast Overpressure and Survivability Calculations for Various Sizes of Explosive Charges

Abstract

Blast overpressures and durations were calculated for several different explosive charge sizes. The charge sizes range from 1 ounce of TNT to 32 ounces of TNT. The distance from the charge ranged from 1 to 3 feet. When the blast calculations were compared to human blast tolerance limits, it was found that the blast exposures mostly fell in between the 1 % survival limit and the threshold of lung damage. This probably means that a heavily-protected explosive ordnance disposal technician, supplied with a rigid enclosed thoraco-abdominal protector, may be able to survive the air blast effects at these distances. Note that these calculations only pertain to direct air blast effects and ignore fragments and thermal effects entirely.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 01, 1994
Accession Number
ADA286212

Entities

People

  • Phillip Gibson

Organizations

  • United States Army Soldier Systems Center

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Counter IED
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Blast
  • Blast Waves
  • Explosions
  • Explosive Charges
  • Explosive Ordnance Disposal
  • Explosives
  • Free Stream
  • Munitions
  • Overpressure
  • Plastic Explosives
  • Protective Clothing
  • Shock
  • Shock Waves
  • Surface Burst
  • Survivability
  • Survival
  • Wounds And Injuries

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Explosive Engineering.
  • Systems Analysis and Design