Loads Prediction Program for Accidental Explosions in Underground Munitions Storage Facilities

The KLOTZ Club is a multi-national group of explosives safety specialists concerned with the safe storage of military ammunition and munitions. One topic of present interest to the KLOTZ Club is the effects of the hazardous environment that would result from an accidental explosion in an underground military munitions storage facility. The necessary placement and/or design of nearby above-ground structures, to provide the required degree of safety for their occupants, is of concern. A knowledge of the predicted hazardous environments, and the resulting loads on the structures (blast, impulse, debris, ground shock, and thermal flux), is required if the prescribed degree of safety is to be provided. For an above-ground storage facility, only a few parameters are needed to characterize the effects. An underground facility, however, requires the consideration of a number of variables if safety hazards are to be adequately predicted and mitigated. In order to properly account for this multitude of parameters, the KLOTZ Club decided, at its 1990 working group meeting, to sponsor development of a "Loads Prediction Computer Program for Underground Storage of Military Munitions". As presently conceived, the program is to run on an AT or 386-class personal computer. It is to be able to predict the details of the hazards expected from accidental detonation of the stored explosives within the facility with sufficient accuracy to permit revision of storage plans for existing facilities and design of planned facilities, as well as siting and design of occupied structures to be built near to or contiguous with the facilities. prediction capabilities for a wide range of site-specific underground storage facility designs are planned. influence hazardous loading environments will be considered. These will include such factors as facility geometry and size, composition and competency of the earth cover, the explosive material and its storage and packaging configuration, effective loading density, and geology. The pro1