VULNERABILITY TO AIRBLAST-INDUCED SHOCK

THE DAMAGING EFFECTS OF NUCLEAR AIRBLAST, THERMAL AND PROMPT RADITION, AND EMP ON EXPOSED EQUIPMENT AND STRUCTURES ARE WELL KNOWN. AN ADDITIONAL, LESS WIDELY RECOGNIZED BUT POTENTIALLY SERIOUS NUCLEAR EFFECT IS THAT OF AIRBLAST-INDUCED SHOCK (ABIS). EQUIPMENT MOUNTED INSIDE AN ENCLOSED SPACE CAN BE EXPOSED TO LARGE INDUCED VELOCITIES AND ACCELERATIONS, PRIMARLY IN THE HORIZONTAL DIRECTION. THE INTENT OF THE PROPOSED EFFORT IS TO CHARACTERIZE THE ABIS ENVIRONMENT, AND ASCERTAIN THE ABIS VULNERABILITY OF REPRESENTATIVE MISSION-ESSENTIAL SYSTEMS, BASED ON ANALYSIS OF EXISTING MEASURED DATA. VULNERABLE SYSTEM COMPONENTS WILL BE CATEGORIZED, ND CORRELATED WITH PEAK VELOCITY LEVELS CORRESPONDING TO ONSET OF DAMAGE. IF ABIS EFFECTS ARE DETERMINED TO BE A SERIOUS THREAT, A COMPUTERIZED ANALYTICAL METHOD FOR PREDICTING THE ABIS ENVIRONMENT WILL BE DESIGNED. THE METHOD WILL PROVIDE THE BASE INPUT MOTIONS REQUIRED BY EQUIPMENT DESIGNERS TO DEVELOP HARDENED, SURVIVABLE EQUIPMENT. IN PHASE I, THE PRELIMINARY PROGRAM SPECIFICATION WILL BE DEVELOPED.