Design and Simulation of a Partially Confined Detonation Facility
Abstract
It is estimated that more than 500,000 tons of obsolete and unwanted conventional weapons exists in the United States. The disposal of these unexploded ordnances, in an environmentally sound and cost effective way, is of tantamount importance. Open-air burning and open-air detonation (OB/OD) are two of the most widely used methods to dispose of these unwanted energetic materials. This report describes our efforts to improve the environmental safety of OB/OD operations through the design and testing of a new, large-scale, partially confined facility that minimizes the adverse affects of far field noise and maximizes the afterburn of explosive byproducts. Several designs were evaluated by a series of axisymmetric, time-dependent numerical simulations using FAST3D, a Flux-Corrected Transport based code optimized for parallel processing. The simulations are used to investigate various facility geometries and shapes and charge size, shape, and placement to determine combinations that result in acceptable detonations. Results from the simulations were used to determine the structural response of the facility to the initial blast.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 30, 1997
- Accession Number
- ADA331869
Entities
People
- Charles A. Lind
- Elaine Oran
- Jay Paul Boris
Organizations
- United States Naval Research Laboratory