Influence of material models on chemical or nuclear-explosion source functions

摘要

Physical models of explosion sources are needed to explain the variations in the performance of existing discriminants in different regions, and to help develop more robust methods for identifying underground explosions. In this paper, we assess the sensitivity of explosion source functions to material properties by means of numerical simulations. Specifically, we have calculated the effect of varying the yield strength, overburden pressure, and gas porosity on the spectra of the reduced velocity potential for both nuclear and chemical explosions, and compared these with experimental results derived from free-field particle acceleration and regional seismic (LNN) data. The chemical-explosion calculations were intended to simulate the kiloton experiment recently conducted in Area 12 of the Nevada Test Site (NTS) that has been dubbed the Non-Proliferation Experiment (NPE). We found that the asymptotic (long period) value of the reduced displacement potential, (phi)(infinity), for explosions with the ANFO blasting agent used in the NPE, was larger than that derived for a tamped nuclear explosion of the same yield by a factor of 1.9, in good agreement with the experimental results derived from free-field particle velocity measurements, and also with m(sub b)(P(sub n)) data from the Livermore Nevada Network (LNN).