Blast Loading on Model Munition Storage Magazines; Technical Report ARBRL-TR-02140

Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD: US Army Armament Research and Development Command, Ballistic Research Laboratory, 1979. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Wraps. Good. 116 pages. Figures and Tables. Three Appendixes. Some cover soiling. The Ballistic Research Laboratory (BRL) at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland was the center for the United States Army's research efforts in ballistics (interior, exterior, and terminal) as well as vulnerability/lethality analysis. In 1992, the BRL's mission, personnel, and facilities were incorporated into the newly created Army Research Laboratory, and BRL was disestablished. According to a pamphlet published in 1955 by the US Army's Ordnance Corps, BRL was "established by the Ordnance Department (Ordnance Corps) because they recognized that Ballistics, the study of the motion of projectiles, provides a rational foundation for the design and development of Ordnance." The name was originally plural, reflecting subordinate laboratories for each of the ballistic disciplines, but these were eventually redesignated divisions of a single laboratory. Over the years, and particularly during World War II, BRL's permanent technical staff was augmented by a number of eminent scientists and engineers serving in various capacities. Among those was noted American astronomer Edwin P. Hubble who served as Chief of the External Ballistics Branch of the BRL during which he directed a large volume of research in exterior ballistics during the war which increased the effective fire power of bombs and projectiles. The results of his studies was credited with greatly improving design, performance, and military effectiveness of bombs and rockets This report contains the results obtained from a series of high explosive tests designed to determine the blast loading on scaled models of earth covered munition storage magazines from an accidental explosion. the donor model was a 1/50th scale of an earth covered munition storage magazine. the acceptor models were 1/50th scale non-responding models constructed of cast concrete. Charge weights of 0.357, 1.066. and 1.792 kg were used to simulate 44625, 133250, and 224000 kg in full size storage magazines. Blast loading trends were established for structures located at established safe separation distances. Correlation with the United Kingdom 1/10 scaled model results and US full scale results are also presented. The report addresses Test Procedures, Test Instrumentation, Test Layout and results.