Effect of Explosions on Snow Structures

Book excerpt: During the summar of 1960, tests were conducted on the Greenland Ice Cap to study the resistance and behavior of snow structures to dynamic loading from a surface or above-surface air blast of 4 or 32 lb. spherical cast TNT. A number of small-and full-scale vertical and full-size horizontal arches were constructed in processed snow pads. Arch spans and arch crown thickness were varied to establish a relation between surface overpressure and the ratio of arch span (S) to arch crown thickness (T). Some correlation was found for vertical structures but none between vertical and horizontal arches. The results show that, for the same charge weight and S/T ratio, the horizontal structures can withstand over 100 psi overpressure, while smale-scale vertical arches fail at 20 psi. (Author).