CORRELATION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS EFFECTS DATA TO DIRECTED AND KINETIC EFFECTS

SEVERAL DIRECTED (DE) AND KINETIC ENERGY (KE) WEAPON TECHNOLOGIES ARE PRESENTLY IN THE LABORATORY, EITHER AS DESIGN CONCEPTS OR PROTOTYPE MODELS. FORTUNATELY, NONE OF THESE TECHNOLOGIES HAVE BEEN PUT TO FULL OPERATIONAL USE. THUS, REAL DATA IS LACKING OF THE EFFECTS TO THESE TECHNOLOGIES TO AN ARRAY OF MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES. HOWEVER, NUCLEAR WEAPON TECHNOLOGY HAS BEEN RESEARCHED IN-DEPTH FOR THE LAST 50 YEARS. THE EFFECTS OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS ON MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES ARE, IN SOME WAYS SIMILAR TO WHAT MIGHT BE EXPECTED FROM DE AND KE WEAPONS. IT IS PROPOSED THAT METHODOLOGIES MAY BE DERIVED THAT WILL ENABLE THE CORRELATION OF NUCLEAR EFFECTS DATA TO THE ANTICIPATED DE AND KE EFFECTS. AS AN EXAMPLE, IT IS ANTICIPATED THAT CORRELATIONS MAY BE DEVELOPED BETWEEN THE AMOUNT OF DEPOSITED LASER ENERGY REQUIRED FOR MATERIAL ABLATION/VAPORIZATION AND CORRESPONDING TERMAL ENERGY FROM A NUCLEAR EXPLOSION. IF APPROPRIATE CORRELATION FUNCTIONS CAN BE DEVELOPED, THAT IS, IF IT CAN BE FOUND THAT THERE EXIST A CERTAIN REGIME WHERE SIMILAR QUANTITIES OF LASER ENERGY REQUIRED FOR DESTRUCTIVE DAMAGE IS SIMILAR FOR NUCLEAR EXPLOSION, THEN IT IS POSSIBLE THAT NUCLEAR EFFECTS DATA FROM NUCLEAR EFFECTTS TESTS MAY BE USED TO DESCRIBE DE AND KE EFFECTS IN ENABLE SCIENTISTS AND ENGINEERS THE OPPORTUNITY TO EXTEND THEIR CURRENT UNDERSTANDING OF MATERIAL AND STRUCTURE EFFECTS FOR DE AND KE TO OTHER REGIMES OF INTEREST.