An Overview of Numerical Simulation of Chemical Weapon Explosions Using Hydrocodes
Abstract
The U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is the Army's Mandatory Center of Expertise for the remediation of ordnance and explosive (OE) waste sites. The Center is also the design agency for the Army's Chemical Stockpile Disposal Program. To develop safe and efficient methods for removal of ordnance, the blast and fragment hazards caused by an explosion must be known. Typically, this information has been developed via expensive and timeconsuming arena tests. However, the schedule for an OE remediation project often precludes performing an arena test. Additionally, many chemical weapons already recovered, or that we expect to find, are pre-World War II munitions. No arena test data exists for most of these weapons. The Huntsville Center is investigating the use of hydrocode programs for use in predicting blast pressures and fragmentation from chemical weapons. Hydrocodes are used extensively in modeling explosions, high-velocity impacts, and other phenomena. It is believed that, if correctly used, hydrocodes can provide a fast and cost-effective alternative to arena testing, especially for the complex geometries of chemical weapons. The goal of this effort is to validate hydrocodes for prediction of chemical weapon's blast and fragment effects, and to develop guidelines for performing this type of analysis.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 22, 1996
- Accession Number
- ADA509701
Entities
People
- David J. Stevens
- Joseph M. Serena Iii