The Effect of Row Charge Spacing and Depth on Crater Dimensions

Abstract

Forty row charges were fired in the Albuquerque fan-delta alluvium to define row-charge crater dimensions in terms of charge burial depth and the spacing between charges in the row. Sixty single charges were detonated at various burial depths for comparison. The factors limiting equivalence between row-charge craters and continuous line-charge craters are defined in terms of length of the row charge and also in terms of both burial depth and spacing. When the most efficient charge spacing was used, the optimum burial depth for row charges was 10 percent greater than the burial depth at which optimum crater dimensions were obtained from a single charge of the same weight. Channels were found to have a uniform width at a maximum charge spacing greater than the maximum spacing at which a uniform depth was obtained. The maximum spacing which produces a uniform channel width is a distance 30 percent greater than the crater radius of the same size charge detonated singly at that depth which produces an optimum single-crater radius. The maximum spacing for producing a uniform channel depth was found to be a distance 10 percent greater than the maximum single-charge crater radius in the same medium. The burst depth and spacing for the most efficient use of row charges is defined in this report, and the loss in cratering efficiency resulting from failure to work at optimum burst depth or optimum spacing can be evaluated from information obtained from this experiment. Throwout from the single charges and row charges was examined, but no scaling was derived.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 01, 1963
Accession Number
ADA385007

Entities

People

  • L. J. Vortman
  • L. N. Schofield

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Counter IED
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Chemical Explosives
  • Corporations
  • Cratering
  • Diameters
  • Disparities
  • Excavation
  • Explosions
  • Explosives
  • Geography
  • High Explosives
  • Materials
  • Measurement
  • Moisture
  • Moisture Content
  • Right Angles
  • Topography
  • Two Dimensional

Readers

  • Explosive Engineering.
  • Mathematics or Statistics
  • Phased Array Antenna Design.

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Hall-Effect Thruster
  • Space - Orbital Debris