Bomb Penetration Project

Abstract

The Colorado School of Mines Research Foundation undertook a Bomb Penetration Project, a project designed and sponsored by the Protective Construction Branch, Office, Chief of Engineer, U.S. Army, as a coordinated undertaking by the U. S. Air Force and the Army Corps of Engineers to determine the penetration of inert bombs into representative types of rocks. In the field, bombs of various types were dropped on 'hard' Paxton Springs granite and on 'soft' Putney Mesa sandstone. Data were taken to provide evidence for a study of the effect of the bomb on the medium and the effect of the medium on the bomb. The field data were supplemented by laboratory tests of the physical and elastic properties of the rocks, by model bomb experiments, by photoelastic model tests, by mathematical analysis of stress distributions, by metallurgical studies of the bomb metal, and by the development of a theory of rock failure and a theory of penetration. As a result of the analysis of the data and of the formula, the Livingston Penetration Formula, is thought to be valuable in the design and selection of bombs to reduce enemy fortifications and in the design of fortifications to resist enemy bombs.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 15, 1951
Accession Number
ADA953074

Entities

People

  • C. W. Livingston
  • F. L. Smith

Organizations

  • Colorado School of Mines

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Chemistry
  • Construction
  • Elastic Properties
  • Explosions
  • Explosives
  • Fungi
  • General Purpose Bombs
  • Materials Laboratories
  • Materials Processing
  • Materials Science
  • Mechanical Working
  • Mineralogy
  • Modulus Of Elasticity
  • Shear Modulus
  • Stress Strain Relations
  • Tectosilicates
  • United States

Readers

  • Explosive Engineering.
  • Technical Research and Report Writing.