Scaled Debris Throw Tests of Norwegian/US Aircraft Shelters

• Main Authors: Bowles, Patricia M, Marchand, Kirk A, Strybos, John W
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Subjects: AIRCRAFT SHELTER DESIGNS; AMERICAN SHELTERS; BERMED SHELTERS; BLAST LOADS; CONCRETE; DEBRIS; DEBRIS ANGLES; DEBRIS VELOCITIES; DETONATIONS; DISTANT RUNNER PROGRAM; EXPLOSION EFFECTS; Explosions; FAILURE(MECHANICS); HANGARS; INTERNAL; INTERNAL DETONATIONS; NORWAY; NORWEGIAN SHELTERS; POSITION(LOCATION); ROCK RUBBLE BERMS; SAFE LOCATIONS; SAFETY; Safety Engineering; SCALE MODELS; SCALED DEBRIS THROW TESTS; SITING CRITERIA; STRUCTURAL COMPONENTS; STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING; Structural Engineering and Building Technology; STRUCTURAL RESPONSE; SYMPOSIA; Terminal Flight Facilities; TEST AND EVALUATION; UNBERMED SHELTERS; UNITED STATES; WEST GERMAN SHELTERS; WEST GERMANY

A new aircraft shelter design is to be used in the construction of shelters throughout Norway. The new shelter is called the third generation Norwegian/U.S. shelter due to structural characteristics common to both the third-generation Norwegian shelter and the third-generation U.S. shelter. Since test data for debris and blast hazards do not exist for this new shelter configuration, NATO has recommended using current aircraft shelter siting criteria to establish safe locations for the newly constructed shelters. The current criteria are based on test results and conclusions from the DISTANT RUNNER program, which was a series of full-scale explosion tests, including both external and internal detonations of munitions stored in third generation U.S. aircraft shelters. Although there are structural similarities between the third generation U.S. shelters and the third generation Norwegian/U.S. shelters, major differences between the front door systems and the lack of any rock rubble berm on the DISTANT RUNNER-tested shelters raised some concern about applying the current criteria to siting of the new shelters. An initial 1/15-scale test series recently completed documents the effect of a rock rubble berm on the initial velocities and angles at which concrete debris leave a shelter following an internal detonation. Three different shelter designs and three explosive yields were tested in the series, which included tests with and without a rock rubble berm for all configurations. The tests provide meaningful data on the effect of placing berms on existing and new shelters and on the response differences between the three aircraft shelter designs. See also ADA235006, Minutes of the Explosives Safety Seminar (24th) Held in St. Louis, MO on 28-30 August 1990, v2 p1813-1827.