Response of MX Horizontal Shelter Models to Static and Dynamic Loading

摘要

A concept considered for basing the Missile X System was to emplace the missile in a buried, horizontal shelter. In support of the MX Horizontal Shelter Component Test Program, the U. S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station (WES) developed and performed a program of static and dynamic model tests so that response data on specific structural details and shelter components could be obtained. The objectives of the test program were to evaluate the load capacity merits of various shelter soil-structure design concepts and to optimize certain parameters, while providing a design team with timely data necessary for structure survivability verification and construction economy comparisons. Static load vs. damage data from such tests provide necessary input for dynamic analyses, while dynamic test data help verify those analyses and the applicability of static data in predicting dynamic response. This paper discusses the Phase II static tests and the associated dynamic verification tests, and summarizes their results. Conclusions concerning the relative merits of the selected wall thickness, burial depth, backfill stiffness, and opening detail for the baseline shelter design are presented.