Blast effect and thermal measurements of thermobaric explosions in open terrain and enclosures

摘要

The experience of the latest military conflicts has shown the urban area as a space for combat. New types of asymmetric conflicts as well as global urbanization will require the transformation of combat tactics and, implicitly, weaponry used to wage fighting in urban areas. The urban area is dominated by buildings and structures with solid reinforced concrete structure. These spaces are real shelters for the insurgent elements present in the battlefield. To help eliminate the risks and threats specific to the enemy in urban guerrilla formations it is necessary to equip combat units with weapon systems capable of neutralizing the enemy forces housed in buildings, buried shelters, bunkers, tunnels or leading to the destruction of these structures. Thermobaric weapons are part of the air dispersed explosive systems family, known as "volumetric weapons". This family includes both fuel-air-explosive (FAE) and thermobaric explosive systems. The term used for naming this class of explosives originates from the Greek words "therme" and "baros", meaning "temperature" and "pressure", referring to the main destruction mechanisms for the operation of this type of weaponry. The destructive characteristics of these types of weapons are based on incendiary ability and shock wave. Both thermobaric and FAE systems are based on the same functional principle. In order to assess the destructive effects of thermobaric weapons, pressure measurements and thermal high speed video is used in order to compare the effects with TNT. For the pressure measurements, the open air configuration is complemented by measurements in semi confined spaces and closed spaces.