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https://hdl.handle.net/11681/11120| Title: | Explosive ditching and pavement breaching tests at Yuma Proving Ground, 1978-1980 |
| Authors: | Yuma Proving Ground (Ariz.) Woodbury, George A. Sullivan, Jeremiah J. Rooke, Allen D. |
| Keywords: | Antitank obstacles Pavement breaching Blasting agent Roadway demolition Cratering Shaped charges Ditching Slurry Line charges Military engineering Explosives |
| Publisher: | Structures Laboratory (U.S.) Engineer Research and Development Center (U.S.) |
| Series/Report no.: | Miscellaneous paper (U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station) ; SL-83-10. |
| Description: | Miscellaneous Paper Abstract: Beginning in FY 1975, the U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station (WES) assumed management of a Corps of Engineers research program for Military Engineering Applications of Commercial Explosives (MEACE). In early 1977, the Army Materiel Development and Readiness Command initiated a program to standardize a blasting agent for Army use and identified a pumpable slurry for standardization tests. The slurry blasting agent selected, IRECO DBA-105P, packaged as a binary explosive for military use, was officially designated (August 1978) as Demolition Kit, Blasting, XM268. The most significant doctrinal application to be investigated in the test program was the creation of anti-armor ditches by detonating buried slurry-filled plastic pipe. This report describes ditching tests using buried, slurry-filled pipe at Yuma Proving Ground (YPG). Problems of pipe emplacement, pumping, and slurry priming (or boostering) in the filled pipes were studied. Ditching in a desert soil of known poor cratering capability, representing a likely "worst case" cratering condition (by soil type), was assessed. A method of station pumping was tested and detonation velocity measured to assess the feasibility of employing the slurry in very long pipes. Pavement breaching application was tested in pipe buried 5 ft beneath a concrete pavement constructed to simulate a West German autobahn. Pavement penetration tests using the 15-lb M2A3 shaped charge and pavement breaching tests using the M180 demolition (cratering) kit were conducted. (Tests with pipe buried in other types of soil and a more general comparison of TNT and DBA-105P cratering in various soils are presented in a companion report.) The Yuma test demonstrates that previously buried 600-ft lengths of 4-in.-diam PVC pipe may be pumped full with DBA-105P and detonated from one end, producing anti-armor ditches upon order. It is concluded that employment of the pumpable XM268 in preemplaced long pipes is a workable concept and that successful application in pavement breaching (paved roadway ditching) appears highly probable. Problem areas requiring further research are identified. |
| Rights: | Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. |
| URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/11681/11120 |
| Appears in Collections: | Miscellaneous Paper |
Files in This Item:
| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MP-SL-83-10.pdf | 11.75 MB | Adobe PDF |  View/Open |