Project Sedan, Nevada Test Site, July 6, 1962. Close-In Air Blast From a Nuclear Event in NTS Desert Alluvium PDF Download

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 43

Get Book

Book Description
Close-in air blast from the Sedan event was considerably greater than expected on the basis of previous measurements of blast from nuclear events in basalt and from HE events in both basalt and alluvium. In Spite of overranging of the pressure gages, the measurements permit derivation of a lower limit of peak overpressure and an upper limit on the amount of blast Suppression resulting from charge burial. Comparison of Sedan blast suppression with that of previous buried HE and nuclear shots shows that Sedan blast suppression was considerably less than would have been predicted from HE shots at comparable burst depths. Sedan peak overpressures were two to three times those of Stagecoach III at approximately the same cube-root sealed burial depth and four times those of Scooter or Buckboard 12 (at or near the burial depth for maximum crater). The scaled total positive-phase impulse for Sedan was about the same as those of Stagecoach III, Buckboard 12, and Scooter, while the scaled positive- phase duration was much shorter. Blast suppression factors, based on peak overpressure and impulse, reflect the above differences. The differences may be due, in part at least, to a higher pressure in a relatively smaller cavity volume at the time of venting for Sedan than for the HE shots.