Predictions of the Airblast and Ground Motions Resulting from Explosive Removal of the Birds Point-New Madrid Fuze Plug Levee

摘要

Emergency flood procedures call for the creation of two large crevasses in the Birds Point-New Madrid fuze plug levee on the Mississippi River below Cairo, Ill. Slurry explosives will be used to create 11,400- and 6000-ft breaches in the levee system. Potential hazards to nearby structures from airblast and ground shock from these explosions (128 and 67 tons, respectively) were assessed. Conventional methods could not be used to predict explosion effects because of (1) the unusual geometry of the explosion; and (2) most civil blasting safety procedures were developed for rock. A data base from row charge experiments in soil was analyzed for this project.