Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/11681/5712
Title: Excavations in frozen ground, Alaska, 1960-61
Authors: Lawrence Radiation Laboratory
McCoy, John E.
Keywords: Cratering
Shaped charges
Frozen ground
Frozen soil
Soil mechanics
Excavation
Alaska
Publisher: Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (U.S.)
Engineer Research and Development Center (U.S.)
Series/Report no.: Technical report (Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (U.S.)) ; 120.
Description: Technical Report
Summary: Spherical and cylindrical charges of 1, 4, 8, 32, 256 and 2560 lbs. were exploded in frozen silt near Fairbanks, Alaska, to investigate the applicability of lambda scaling for placing charges in frozen ground. One hundred and thirty holes, ranging from 3 to 6 in. in diameter, and 2 to 6 ft in depth, were drilled with a truck-mounted core drill. Compressed air, passed through an air-to-air heat exchanger to cool it below 25° F, was used as a drilling fluid. Charge emplacement, stemming, and detonation are also described. Six basic series were fired which, except for the 2560-lb shots, consisted of two spheres and two cylinders buried at each of six scale depths. The crater volume was calculated by the centroid-volume method. A planimeter was used to measure the area of two mutually perpendicular cross sections through the center of the blast hole. Upon detonation of charges of a given weight at increasing depths, the resultant crater will increase to a maximum and rapidly drop off and disappear. At depths slightly beyond optimum, lambda scaling does not apply and the results are indeterminate.
Rights: Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/11681/5712
Appears in Collections:Technical Report

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