Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/11681/11156
Title: Structural element tests in support of the Keyworker Blast Shelter Program
Authors: Keyworker Blast Shelter Program
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
United States. Defense Nuclear Agency
Slawson, Thomas R.
Taylor, Hugh M.
Dallriva, Frank D.
Kiger, Sam A.
Keywords: Airblast simulation
Concrete structures
Underground structures
Buried structures
Nuclear blast shelter
Nuclear explosion simulation
Box structures
Shallow-buried structures
Civil defense
Soil-structure interaction
Blast effects
Explosion effects
Publisher: Structures Laboratory (U.S.)
Engineer Research and Development Center (U.S.)
Series/Report no.: Technical report (U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station) ; SL-85-8.
Description: Technical Report
Abstract: At the initiation of this study, civil defense planning called for the evacuation of nonessential personnel to safe host areas during a time of crisis, and the construction of shelters to protect the keyworkers remaining behind. The investigation documented in this report will assist the US Army Engineer Division, Huntsville, in designing a 100-man keyworker blast shelter. Six static tests and twelve dynamic tests were conducted on approximately 1/4-scale models of blast shelters. Specific objectives of these tests were to evaluate the preliminary structural design, to investigate structural response in various backfills, to investigate and recommend minimum concrete strength requirements, to evaluate structural response calculations, and to develop a data base on repeated hits so that structural response computational procedures can be developed to include the effects of repeated hits. Test results indicate that the keyworker blast shelter design will resist a peak overpressure of 150 psi from a 1-MT nuclear weapon. Based on the results of this series of static and dynamic tests, it is recommended that: (1.) Minimum strength of concrete used in the keyworker blast shelter should be 3,000 psi. (2.) Backfill specifications can be reduced to include soils with a minimum angle of internal friction of 25 degrees (30 degrees for foundation materials). (3.) A minimum depth of burial of 4 feet (30 percent of the unsupported roof span) should be used. (4.) The interior structural steel frames should be replaced with precast or cast-in-place reinforced concrete walls. NOTE: This file is very large. Allow your browser several minutes to open the file.
Rights: Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/11681/11156
Appears in Collections:Technical Report

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