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0Rhmd In V.S.A. 'iiccdlwvailable from the Clearinghous for FderdScienlii;: an d Tc;cilnicai Information, National Bureau of Standard,>

U. S. Uspfi'tincn: of Ccmrnerce, Springfield, Virginia

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DISCLAIMER

This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by anagency of the United States Government. Neither the United StatesGovernment nor any agency Thereof, nor any of their employees,makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legalliability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, orusefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or processdisclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privatelyowned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product,process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, orotherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement,recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or anyagency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed hereindo not necessarily state or reflect those of the United StatesGovernment or any agency thereof.

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DISCLAIMER

Portions of this document may be illegible inelectronic image products. Images are producedfrom the best available original document.

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PROJECT SULKYP N E 713F

This report was prepared as an accoun, of Governmenl sponsored work. Neither the UnitedStates, nor the Commission. n or any person acting on behalf of the Commission:

A. Makes anywarranty or representation,expressedor ~mpl ied, ith respect to the accu-racy, completeness, or usefulness of the information contained In thirr repart, or that the uaeof any information, apparatus, method, or proc ess disclosed In this rep ort may not infrlngeprivately o w e d rights ; or

8 . A86umes an y liabiliti es with respect to the use of, or for damages resulting from theus e of an y informatlon, apparatus;rmelhod..or~proces~isclosed in this report.

As used ~n the above. "person aetlng on GhX1i.o~-the Commirrsion" includes m y em -pioyee or contractor of the Commission, or employee of such contr actor. to the extenl thatsuch employee or contractor of the Commission. or employee of such contractor p repares,dlsseminatrs , or provides access to, any informatlon pursuant to his employment or contractwlth the Commiseton, or hi8 employment with such contractor.

RELEASED FOR ANNOUBC-IN WCLEAR SCIEBCE ABSTRACTS

CRATER MEASUREMENTS

F. F. VideonU . S. A rm y EngineerNuclear Cra terin g GroupLawrence Radiation L abora toryLivermore, Cal i forniaOctober 1965

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CONTENTSABSTRACT . , 4 .

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION. 51.1 Des cri pti on of Sulky . 51 .2 O jective of C r a te r ~ e a s u r e k e n t sP r o g r a m 51.3 Background . 61.4 Predic t ion of Cr a t e r Dimens ions . 10

CHAP TER 2 DESCRIPTION O F TH EEXPERIMENT . . ' . . 112.1 Site Desc ript ion . 11. -. . 2.1.1 Geology . . 112.1.2 Topgraphy . .. . 152.2 Device Emplacem ent . . 15CHAP TER 3 RESULTS . . 183.1 General. . . 183.2 Me asu rem ent of Mound Dimens ions . . 183 . 3 Defini tion of Cr a t e r Pa ra me te r s . . 2 0CH AP TE R 4 DISCUSSION . . 274.1 Apparent Cr a t e r Dimens ions . a 274.2 Mound Height . 304 .3 C r a t e r M e ch a ni s ms . 324.4 Mound Vol ume . . 33C H A PTER 5 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS . . 35REFERENCES . 37TABLES3.1 Di me nsi on s of Sulky Mound. . 23FIGURES1.1 A ppar e nt c r a t e r r a d ius ve r s us de pthof bu rs t in basa l t ( f r om Refe rence 3) . 81.2 Apparent c ra te r depth ve r su s depthof' burs t in basa l t ( f ro m Refe ren ce 3 ) . 92.1 Topog raphic map of BuckboardMes a showing Sulky s i te . . 122.2 Genera l ized geologic c r o ss sec t ionsthrough Buckboard M esa ( f ro mR e f e r e nc e 6 ) . . 132.3 Geologic c r o ss sec t ions throughSu lky s i t e ( f r o m R e f e r e n c e 7 ) . . 14

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FIGURES (continued)2.4 Histogr ams and cumulat ive curv esof joint spacing, Buckb oard Mesa(f rom Reference 6 ) . 162.5 Pr es ho t topographic map of Sulkysi te . 1 73.1 Ph ot og rap hs of Sulky mound(a) low a ir view (b) s ide view . 1 93.2 Postshot topographic map ofSulky cr at er . 213.3 Definitions of mound di me ns io ns . . 2 23.4 Typical cr os s sect ions throughSulky mound 243.5 Pro fi le along l ip cr es t . 243.6 Outline of lip c r e s t and edge ofrubble . 264.1 Apparent c r a t er radius vers usdepth of burst in basal t . 2 84.2 Apparent cr at er depth ve rsu sdepth of bur st in bas alt . 294 .3 Apparent l i p height versus depthof burs t in basal t . - 314.4 Tr ue c ra t e r r ad ius ve r sus dep thof bu rs t in basalt . 34

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ABSTRACTPr oj ec t Sulky was th e detonation of an 85-ton nuclear device- -.

in basal t at a depth of bu rs t of 27.4 me ter s . ' Th e detonationIproduced a mound of broke n rock wi th a de pres sion in the cen ter .The ba se of the mound was roughly ci rc ul ar in plan and had arad ius of 24.2 m e t e r s . Th e radiu s of the cr es t of the l iparound the ejecta was 8 .87 me te rs and the avera ge height ofthe l ip c r es t above preshot g round sur f ace was 6 .31 m e t e r s .

Th e bot tom of the dep ress ion was 2.80 m e t e r s above t he p re sho tground elevation. Th e pres hot ground su rfa ce was upli f ted and ficrac ked to a dis tance of approxim ately 5 2 m e t e r s f r o m s u r fa c e Ize ro . Th e height of the upthrust w as 1 m et e r at the ba se of the I

B / jrubble mound. , '-." C--.-----'~-w- r n . 6 - -Based on the re su l t s of Sulky and other cra ter ing data fo r

basal t , the fol lowing conclusions have been m ade concerningcra te r ing in hard , d ry , i ner t rock :

(1) In the regio n of depths of bu rs t som ewhat de ep er thanopt imum, nuclear explosives a re l e s s e f fect ive than h ighexp1.osives for apparent cr at e r product ion.

( 2 ) Apparent -c r a t e r d i m ens i ons d i m i ni sh r api d ly a s t hedepth of bu rs t inc re as es beyond opt imum.

( 3 ) Th e apparent l ip height , t h e t r u e c r a t e r r a d i i a nd t he .extent of up th rus t beyond t he t rue c r a t e r a r e s i m i l a r f o r bo thnuc lear and h igh explos ive c ra t e rs in basa l t .

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CHAPTER 1INTRODUCTION

1.1 DESCRIPTION O F S U LKY .Pro jec t Su lky was a nuc lear c ra t e r ing exper iment in hard

rock executed a s par t of the P lowsh are Pr og ra m for deve lopmentof n uc le ar exc avation technology. Th e pu rpo ses of the Sulkyexperiment w ere: (1) t o determ ine the dis t r ibut ion of radioact ivi typroduced at a gr ea te r scale d depth than Danny Boy, which wouldprovide bas ic input for the design of follow-on la rg er yieldexpe r i m en ts i n a s i m i l a r ( 2 ) t o de t e rm i ne t he concen-t ra t io ns of cer t a in rad ionuc lides a i rbo rne a t var ious d i s t anc es ;and ( 3 ) t o p roduce c ra t e r m echan i cs i n fo rm at i on a t a g re a t e rscaled depth than Danny Boy.

Pr oje ct Sulky was f i red 18 Dece mber 1964 at approx imately1135 Paci f ic Standard T im e (1935 Greenwich Mean Tim e) onBuckboard Mesa, A re a 18, Nevada Tes t Si te. The depth ofbur i a l was 2 7 . 4 m e t e r s (90 feet ) and the resul tant yield was85 % 15 tons. The emplacement nole, U 1 8 d , was loca ted atgeodet ic coordinates Lat . N 37" -4 ' 57" , Long. W 116" 20' 3 3 " .1 .2 OBJECTIVE O F C W T E R MEASUREMENTS PROGRAM

The ob jec t ive of the c r a t e r meas urem ent s p ro gra m was todefine the geo metry of the cr a te r and l ip produced by a n uclea rdetonation in rock at a scale d depth of bu rs t dee per thanoptimum. The d imens ions and shape of the v i s ib l e c ra t e r and

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l ip a r e presen ted in th i s repor t . The significance of the resultswith res pec t to nuclear excavation is discussed.1.3 BACKGROUND

Basal t i s class ified a s hard, dry, in er t rock. The nuclearcrater ing ch aracte r is t ics of this medium a r e expected to besomewhat different fr om those of porous rock, such a s certa intyp es of sandstone, o r rock that will prodllce a la rg e amount ofgas when vaporized, such a s l imestone. Since i t is anticipatedthat the hard, dry, ine rt ro cks will be encountered frequently innuclear excavation proje cts, i t i s important that we understandcra te r format ion in these mater ia l s .

Crate r ing experience in hard rock is l im it ed to s eve ra lhigh explosive detonations and only one nuc lea r tes t. Th e highexplosive te st s have included the Pa nam a Canal Company t e st s(Reference I ) , Projec t Buckboard (Reference 2 ) , and ProjectPre-Schooner (Referen ce 3 ) . One row charge experiment inbasalt , Pr oj ec t Dugout (Referenc e 4) al so ha s been conducted.The r e su l t s of these exper iments a r e sum mar ized a s fol lows:

a. When cra ter ing in rock, reliab le crater -dim ensio ndata can be obtained only if the s i ze of the c ra t e r is much la rgerthan the m aximum block si ze of the throwout. I t appe ars that

both the 200-pound cha rge s used in the Isthmian Canal Studiesand the 1000-pound cha rge s used a s a pa rt of P ro je ct Buckboardwer e too small to sat isfy this requirement . Consequently , the

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most useful high explosive craterin g data for basalt is thatobtained fr om the 20-ton char ges used in Pro je ct s Buckboardand Pre-Schooner.

b. The high-explosive crat erin g data and the c urv es fi t tedto these data a r e plot ted in Figs. 1.1and 1 . 2 As shown, t hecra t e r d imens ions inc re ase to maximum va lues a s the dep thof burs t inc r ease s f ro m zero . Beyond the depth of burst atwhich maximum cr at er d imensions ar e produced, both cr a t erradi us and depth d ecr eas e reapidly with increasin g depth ofburst until a mound of rubble is produced.

c. The c ro ss sect ion of the apparent cr a t er in basal tapproximates a hyperbola ( Referen ce 3). Th e slo pes of thecr at er walls a r e fairly uniform; the inclination of the slop es ofcr a t er s f r om charges bur ied near optimum depth of bu rs t is30 - 35 d egre es f ro m th e horizontal .

d. Fo r cr a t er s in basalt , the height of the l ip i s approximate-ly twice as g rea t a s fo r c ra t e r s in a lluv ium. The l ip he ightincreases with increasing depth of burs t .

Danny Boy (Referenc e 5), the only nuclear crat erin g test inbasalt , produced a cr at er about the s am e depth and with aslightly sm all er radi us than would have been predicted fr om thehigh explosive tes t r esul ts . Th e scaled dimensions of theDanny Boy Cr at er a r e plotted on Figs. 1.1 and 1.2.

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DEPTH OF BURST (m/kt''3.4)Fig. 1.1. Apparent c r a te r rad i us ver sus depth of burs t in basa l t ( f rom Reference 3 ) .

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DEPTH OF BURST (m/kt ' '3 .4 )Fig. 1.2. Apparent c ra t er depth versu s depth of bur s t in basal t ( f ro m Reference 3 ) .

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1.4 PREDICTION O F CRATER DIMENSIONSPr ed ict ion s of the dimens ions of the apparent c ra te r for

Pro ject Sulky we re a s follows:Depth of appa rent cr at er : 9.8 f 2 mete r s ;Radius of apparent cra te r: 18.2 f 2 meters .

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CHAPTER 2DESCRIPTION O F TH E EXPERIMENT

2.1 SIT E DESCRIPTION2.1.1 Geology: Pr oj ec t Sulky was detonated in the basal t of

Buckboard Mesa in Are a 18 of the Nevada Te st Site. Theloca tion of the Sulky emplac eme nt hole (U18d) i s shown inFig. 2.1. Detailed stu di es of the geology of Buckboard M esaand the physic al pro pe rt ie s of th e ba salt of which Buckboa rdMesa is composed have been made by the Waterways ExperimentStation (Re feren ces 6 and 7 ) . A sum ma ry of the re su lt s ofthese s tudies i s given below.

Buckboard Mesa i s capped by an isolate d sh eet of ne arlyf lat -lying basal t that var ies in thickness f r om le ss than 15 met ersto m ore than 60 meters . Generalized geologic cross sectionsthrough Buckboard Mesa are shown in Fig. 2.2. Fi gu re 2.3 containsgeologic cross sections at the Sulky site. The basalt in thevicinity of the Sulky site c on sis ts of an upper ve sicu lar zone15 to 21 met er s thick, a 30-to 46-meter-thick zone of densebasa lt and a thin low er zone of ves icu lar basa lt. The basa lti s ove rlain'by about 0.6 t o 1 meter of residual soil .

The basalt of Buckboard Mesa h as a moderately welldeveloped joint sys tem . The joints vary f r om thin f ractu reswith very l i t t le separat ion between frac ture f ace s to widerand m or e continuous joints that h av e'a s much a s 10-15 cm

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SCALE IN FEET,OW_ 0 1000 xna 3oW 4wo-

Fig. 2.1. Topographic map of Buckboard Mesa showing Sulkysite.

- 1 2 -

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@ WEST BUCKBOARD MESA EAST @ @ WEST ,BUCKBOARD MESA EAST @-I 5500r 1I NCG 1

J; .300CANYON

Z 3200L

TAN TO WHITETUFFACEOUS BEDS

-4 8 0 0 2 0 0 0 4 0 0 0DISTANCE IN 800 0EET 0000 10,000

NCGNCG

BASE Of BASALT

5100 : ==) GRAY ASH BE 0RHYOLITIC A s n FLOW'LIGHT TAN TUFF

5000LIGHT TAN TO WNrrE TUFF

BUCKBOARD MESA

4 9 0 0 I I I I2 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 8 0 0 0 8 0 0 0DISTANCE IN FEET

--TUFF LIGHT TAN TO

RHYOLlTlC ASH FLOW \

SOUTH @

n o 0 I I I I I I I 1 I I2 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 8 0 00 8 00 0 10000 I 2. 00 0 14.00 0 16. 000 18, 000 2 0. 00 0DISTANCE IN FEETVESICULAR BASAL T DENSE BASALT CINDER ZONES _-_-,ONTACTS BETWEEN SEPARATE FLOWS NOTE: FOR LOCATIONS OF SECTIONS, SEE FIGURE 1.2.OR MAJOR TONGUES WITHIN ONE FLOW FOR LOGS OF BORINGS. SEE APPE NDIC ES A ANDC

VERTICAL EXAGGERATION IS TEN TIMES THE NORI-ZONTAL SCALE.

Fig. 2.2. Generalized geologic c ro ss sections through Buckboard M esa (f rom Reference 6).

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IC-L

-

I&I

5 2 3 0

- 5 2 0 0

- 5170

- 5 1 4 0

-5110

DISTANCE IN FE ET0 30 60 90 I20

5230

5 2 0 0

5110

5140-

5110-

"I-

-

-

5170

5140

51 O

-

LEGENDSOIL 0

IO O eo 9c v e s i c L E 9 m

VESICULAR BASKT, ~ ~20% VESICLES a

VESICULAR BASALTVESICULAR BASALT,< 10% VESICLES

- 5 0 8 0

5050

- 5020

DENSE BASALTTUFFCORE LOSS ZONE

tWWII.z

DISTANCE IN FEET0 30 60 90.

r I I I I

LEGEND-3 VESICULAR BASALT,< 10% VESICLESOI L

VESICULAR BASALT,> 2 0 % VESICLESVESICULAR BASALT,IO TO 20 % VESICLES

a ENSE BASALT

A. STRATIGRAPHY AT SECTIO N D-D'. 8. STRATIGRAPHY AT SECTION -E '

Fig. 2.3. Geologic c r os s s ec t ions through Sulky s i t e ( f rom Reference 7 ) .

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sepa ration . Both open joints and joints with varying d eg re es ofcalcium carbonate fil l ing have been observed. Studies have

shown tha t the joint spac ing is quite variable. As shown inFig. 2.4, joint spacing var ies fro m more than 3 m et er s tol e s s than 3 cm .

Vesi cles in the basalt range in maximum dimension up tomo re than 15 cm. They ar e var iable in s k p c a;;d ~ r i e l l l d l i ~ 1 1and c omp rise as much a s 35 to 40 per cen t of the total ro ckvolume. The ve sicul arity of the bas alt h as a significant effecton i ts physical propert ies . In gene ral i t can be stated thatwith increasing vesicularity the bulk specific gravity, themoduls of elasti city and the stren gth of the basalt will dec re as e.

2.1 .2 Topography: A topographic map showing the ar ea inthe vicinity of the Sulky su rfa ce zer o i s shown in Fig. 2.5. A sshown, sur fac e ze ro is on the crest of a flat lying ridge. Theground surface dips to the SSE at about 1 percent and to thewest and east at about 2 percent.2 .2 DEVICE E M P L A C E M E N T

The Sulky device was emplaced 27.4 m et er s below theground sur fa ce in a 36-inch-diam eter hole. The hole imm edi-ately above the device was fille d with a la ye r of Cal Seal, af a s t -setting grout, and the rem ain der of the hole was stemm edwith pea gravel.

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SITES .3 , 4, 7, 10, AND .I I(DATA FROM BOREHOLE C A M E R A LOGS)

JOINT SPACING IN FEET (VERTICAL DIRECTION ONLY)

t l E DANNY BOY BORINGS D A - 2 A N D D A - 5 1-Iloo 0

8 0 20 0zU2V)60 40 LsaA

4 0 80 I-tUL

2 0 8 0

0 1005 0 10 5 I 0.5 01 0 .0 5 O a lJOINT SPACING IN FEET

Fig. 2.4. Hist ogr ams and cumulative cur ves of joint spacing, Buckboard Mesa (fr om Reference 6).

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Fig. 2.5. Preshot topographic map of Sulky site.

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CHAPTER 3RESULTS

3 . 1 G E N E M LTh e deton ation of t he Sulky dev ice produc ed a mound of

rubble lying entir ely above the original ground surfa ce.Pho togr aph s of the mound a r e shown in Fig. 3.1. As shown,the mound is roughly c irc ula r in plan. Th e top of th e moundcontains a depression. The s lope of the rubble f ro m the cr es tof th e mound to i t s bas e i s about 30 degrees, which is muchsteep er than observed outer s lopes of the e jecta f rom othercra te r ing shots in basal t . Th e mound co ns is ts of rubb le con-taining many la rg e blocks of basalt . Beyond the rubble only afew isol ated blo cks can be found, and these a r e loca ted fa i r lyclo se to th e edge of t he mound. The ground su rface ha s beendisplaced ver t ica l ly and c racked fo r some dis tance beyond therubble. Some of the cr ac ks can be see n in Fig. 3 . 1 .3 . 2 MEASUREMENT O F MOUND DIMENSIONS

The dimensions of the mound w ere determine d f rom ananal ysis of the pr e- and postshot topographic maps of th es u r f a c e z e r o a r e a . T h e m a p s w e r e m a d e by A m e r i c a n A e r i a lSurveys , Inc . , us ing aer ia l s tereophotogra mmetr ic techniques .Ana lys i s of the c ra te r a l s o was per fo rmed by A m e r i c a nAeri a l Surveys , Inc . The preshot topography (Fig. 2.5) wasmade on 20 Feb rua ry 1964. The postshot f l ight was made th re e

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(a) Low a i r view.

(b ) Side view.

Fig. 3 . 1 . Photographs of Sulky mound.

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days af ter Sulky was f i re d on 2 1 December 1964. F ig u r e 3 . 2is the postshot topographic map.

A sketch of the c ro ss sectio n of the mound is shown in Fig.3 . 3 . The d imens ions tha t were me asured a r e i llus t ra ted in th i sfigure and a r e defined below. Techniques used to me asur e thevar ious dimensions a r e expla ined in Reference 3 .3 . 3 DEFINITION O F CRATER PARAMETERS

Hal - The averag e height of the cr es t of the l ip above theor iginal ground surface . Hal(max) is th e height of th e highestpoint on the l ip cr es t and Hal(min) is th e height of th e low estpoint.

Da - The ver t ica l d is tance f r o m the bot tom of th e vis ib lec r a t e r t o the o r ig ina l g round sur face . Th e bottom of th evis ible c ra te r fo r Sulky was above the or iginal ground surface ;the re fore , D is considered t o be negat ive .a

Ral - T h e a v e r a g e li p c r e s t r a d ius . Ral(max) is themaximum l ip cr es t rad ius and Ral(min) is the min imum l ipc r e s t r a d iu s.

Reb - The av erage radius to the outer edge of the rubble .Reb(max) and Reb(m in) a r e the maximum and min imum d is tancesto the outer edge of the rubble, respec tively.

The dimensions for t he mound produced by the Sulkydetonation a r e given in Table 3.1. C ro ss s ect ions of the mounda r e shown in F ig . 3 . 4 . F ig u r e 3.5 shows the prof i le taken

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Fig. 3 . 2 . Pos tsho t topographic ma p of Sulky c r a t e r .

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a. CROSS SECTION OF MOUND

b. PLAN VIEW OF MW ND SHOWING LIP CREST OUTLINE ANDOUTER EDGE OF RUBBL E

Fig. 3 . 3 . Definitions of mound dimensions.

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TABLE 3.1. DIMENSIONS O F SULKY MOUND-Parameter D i m e n s i o n S c a l e d D i m e n s i o n

(m e t e r s ) ( f ee t ) (m/k t1 /3*4) ( f t / k t1/3 '4 )

Hal 6.3 1 20.7 13.0Hal(ma x) 7.99 26.2 16.5Hal m i n ) 4.66 15.3 9.62Da - 2.80 -9.2 -5 .77

Reb(max) 26.43 86.7 54.5 178.9Reb(rnin) 21.95 72.0 45.2 148.4DOB 27.4 90 56 .5 185

. - . . . ---_I-.-.---.I __ _I__I__ __-

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Fig.

I ELEVATION (rn) ELEVATION (rn)b - . I .O slim 8 - $ K Bg i g 2 : a 9W - I'" II I

I I- I- IN ..

I

% - III-'" II

- -0 II

UI - IIIIg O I

5 II" - II-

0 - II-UI - III

N - III W _ I- I 0 II II% - ' I - III8 - I

IR -x y PR . ( r 3 y 7HEIGHT ABWE G Z W

3.4. Typical c ro s s s ecti ons through Sulky mound.

DISTANCE ALONG LIP CREST (m j

Fig. 3.5. Profile along lip crest.

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along the lip c res t. The lip c re st outline and the outlineof the out er edge of the e jec ta a r e shown i n Fig. 3.6.

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Fig. 3.6 . Outline of l ip c re s t and edge of rubble.

- 2 6 -

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CHAPTER 4DISCUSSION

4.1 APPARENT CRATER DIMENSIONSAlthough Sulky did not produc e an appar ent c ra te r , the

re su l t s of th e Sulky experiment provided meaningful data onthe c ra t e r ing behavior of n uc lear exp los ives in hard , d ry rock .The Sulky da ta has been p lot ted on the c ra t e r ing curv es f orbasa l t , F igs . 4 .1 and 4.2. In or de r to plot th e Sulky data , theapparen t c r a t e r ra d ius was cons idered to be z er o and the apparen tdep th was cons idered to be -2.8 m ete rs . A s shown, th e Sulkydime nsio ns plot below and to the left of the high-explosivecra ter ing curve. The Sulky re su l t s indicate that no apparentcr at er wi l l be produced by a nucle ar detonat ion in basa l t whenthe s cal ed depth of bu rs t is greater than about 56 m / k t 113.4Simi la r behavior has been observed for h igh explos ive c ra t e rs

for dep ths of bur s t g rea te r than 61 m / k t High explosivesa r e probably mo re e f fect ive than nuc lear exp l s ives fo r apparen tcr at er product ion in basal t in the region of depths of bu rstsomewhat gre ate r than opt imum beca use high-explosivede tona t ions produce m or e ga s which i s ava i l ab le fo r a longerper iod of t im e to a id in the e j ec tion of b roken ma ter i a l .

Inasmuch a s on ly two nuc lear c ra t e r ing exper ime nt s(Danny Boy and Sulky) have bee n conducted in ba sal t t o date ,suff ic ient data a r e not avai lable to just i fy the plot t ing of

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DEPTH OF BURST (rn/kt"3.4)Fig. 4.1. Apparent cr at er ra dius ve rsu s depth of burst in basalt .

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DEPTH OF BURST (m/kt"3.4)Fig. 4.2. Apparen t c r a te r dep th ver su s dep th of b u r s t i n basa l t .

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nuc lear c r a t e r ing cu rves i n t h i s ma te r i a l. I t is l ikely, however,that the nuclear curve will be s im ila r in shape to the highexplosive curve. It a ls o app ear s that the Danny Boy depth ofbu r s t is in the region of optimum depth of bu rs t fo r nucle arc ra te r d imens ions . Unti l addi tional nuclear cra ter i ng databecome available, i t is reasonable to use the Danny Boy c ra t e rfor predict ing of opt imum apparent c ra te r dimensions in hard,dry rock .4.2 MOUND HEIGHT

The mound height is the a ver age height of the c re st of thevis ible cr at er l ip above the preshot ground surfac e. Theaverag e mound height (apparent l ip height f o r crate r in g sh ots)is plotted in Fig. 4.3 a s a function of sca led depth of b ur st fo rSulky, Danny Boy, and the 20-ton Pre-S cho one r and Buck boardshots . As shown, a nea r ly l ine ar re la t ionship between l ipheight and depth of bur s t exis ts . Fur ther mo re, th is re la t ion-ship appe ars to be the sa me f o r both nuclea r and high explosivec r a t e r s .

The c re st of the Sulky vis ible cr at er l ip was general lyhigher on th e north sid e of th e mound than on the south side.The ma ximum deviat ions of the l ip height f r om the a ver agew e r e 4-1.67 m and -1.64 m and the i r regu la r i ty of t he ave ragedeviation was about ten percen t. The i r r egu lar i ty of the Sulkyl ip was le ss than tha t of the l ips o f o ther c ra te r ing exper iments

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DEPTH OF BURST (m/kt 113.4)Fig. 4 . 3 . Apparent l ip height ver su s depth of burs t in basa l t .

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in rock . Th i s probably is due to the f ac t tha t v ery l i t t l e e j ec tawas th rown f r om t he t r u e c r a t e r and r ays of e j ec t a wer e notdepos it ed a s they have been for o ther c ra te r ing shot s .4 . 3 C M T E R MECHANISMS

The ave rage r ad ius of the ba se of the Sulky rubble mound is24.2 m e t e r s . The maximum di s t ance f r om the center of themound to the edge of th e mound is 26.4 me t e r s and t he mi n i mumdis tance is 21.9 m e t e r s . The fa c t s tha t the mound base i s nea r l yc i r cu l a r , that no ra ys of ejecta we re formed , and that fewmi ss i le s w ere found beyond the mound indicate that the sp al lmec han ism wa s the m ost s ignif icant ef fect in the Sulky detona-t ion . The mound ro se to a cons iderable he ight due to the spa l land the mate r i a l was f r ac tured and d i sar ranged . I t appears ,however , that the broken m ate r ia l fel l back in approximate lythe sam e pos t ion hor izonta lly a s i t had pr i or to the de tonat ion .Th is phenomenon was probably due to the fact that g asacce lerat i on did not play an impor tant ro le in the Sulkydetonat ion and consequent ly the ejected m ate r ial did not havesignif icant outward hori zon tal velocity compon ents. It isfel t that the outer edge of the mound is the extent to which thespal l mechan i sm was effect ive in s ever e ly d i s turb ing the rock .Bas ed on the foregoing discussion, i t is r e a so n a b le t o a s s u m ethat the outer edge of the mound probably re pr es en ts the t ru ec r a t e r r ad i us .

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Figure 4.4 shows the mound ba se rad ius f o r Sulky and thetru e c ra te r radi i for a number of cr a ter in g exper iments p lottedve rs us the depth of burs t . The distance to the outer edge of theSulky mound fa l ls within the sca t ter of the t rue cr a t er radiu sDOB curve.

Verti cal displacement of the original ground surfa ce occ ur re dout to approximately 52 m e te r s f r o m s u r f a c e z e r o. T hedistance t o the edge of the upthrust is about twice th e ra di us ofth e ba se of th e rubble mound. Th e amount of ver tic al disp lac e-ment ave rag es one me ter at the edge of the rubble. The dis tanceto the ou ter edge of the upthrust ground su rfa ce for Sulkycom par ed well with Danny Boy and the Pre -Sc ho one r te st s,i. e. , i t was about twice the depth of bur st for all of thes e te st s.4. 4 MOUND VOLUME

The volume of the portion of rubble lying above the originalground s urfa ce i s 8,700 cubic meters . Since th is volume l i esentire ly above the preshot ground sur fac e, i t is apparent thatt h e basal t e x p e r i e n c e d c o n s i d e r a b l e bu l ki ng .

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DANNY BOY

A PRE-SCHOONER

10 15 20 25DEPTH OF BURST (meters)

Fig. 4.4. T r u e c r a t e r r a d i u s v e r s u s d e pt h of b u r s t in basa l t .

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CHAPTER 5SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

The Sulky experiment p rov ided da ta fo r a nuc lear c ra t e r i ngdetonation in hard, dry rock at a sca led depth of b ur st deepe rthan optimum. Although no apparent cr at er was produced,Sulky contributed g rea t ly to o ur knowledge of the eff ect ofdepth of bu rs t on the c re at er produced by a nuc lear detonation.The re su l t s of the Sulky experiment have le d to the followingconclusions:

1. Th e scale d depth of bur st at which no appa rent c r a te ris produced by a nuc lear detonation in hard , d r y rock i sappr oxima tely 56 m/kt1/3' 4. A high-explosive c har ge, on th eother hand, produces an apparent cra te r a t a sc aled depth ofbu rs t up to about 61 m/ kt 1/3'4. In the ra nge of sca led depthsof b u r s t of 50-60 m/ k t 3.4, t here fore , h igh explos ives a r emo re e f fec t ive fo r apparen t c r a t e r p roduc tion than a r enuclear explosives.

2. Analysis of the re la t ionships between apparent cr ate rdimensions and depth of burs t fo r nuclea r detonations inbas al t in dicate that the Danny Boy depth of b ur st (43.5 m/kt 113.4)is in the re gion of optimum depth of bu rs t fo r both apparen tc r a t e r rad ius and dep th . I t is recommended , therefore , t ha tDanny Boy be used fo r predict ing opt imum c ra te r dimensionsunti l addi tional nuclea r c ra ter ing data become avai lable .

-35-

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3 . Th e sc aled apparen t l ip height f or Sulky (mound height)was l ar ge r than that fo r Danny Boy. This inc reas ing apparen tl ip height with increa sing depth of bu rs t a ls o has been ob serv edfor h igh explosive cra t er s . In the r ange of depths of bu rs t forwhich data is available, the height of the apparent l ip appe arsto be independent of th e typ e of exp losi ve and can b e define din t e r m s of depth of bu rst .

4. Th e edge of th e rub ble mound which de fines the limi tof highly dist urbe d roc k due to spa11 probably al so defin es thetr ue cr a t er radius for Sulky. This conclusion is based on thefollowing cha rac ter ist ics of the Sulky detonation: (a) no r ay sof e jecta wer e formed; (b) the mound base was near ly c i rcu la r ;and (c) th er e was no significant crackin g and upthrust beyond theou ter edge of th e rubble.

5. Upthrust ass ocia ted with cr a t er s form ed by devicesbur ied i n th e region of opt imum depth of bu rs t can be expecte dto extend approximately twice the depth of b urs t f ro m su rfac ezero .

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REFERENCES1 . "C r a t e r T e s t s i n B asal t ," I s t hm ian C anal S t udi e s

Memorandum 284 -P , Pa na ma Canal Company, Jan uar y 1948.2. Vortman, L. J . , e t a l . , "P ro jec t Buckboard, 20-Ton

and l/2- on High Explosive Cra te r ing E xper im ent s in Basa l tRock, I ' Final Report SC4675 (RR), Th e Sandia Corpora t ion ,August 1962.

3 . Spruil l , J . L. and R. A . Pau l, "P ro j e c t P re -Schoone r ,A ppa ren t C ra t e r S t udi es , ' PN E 502F, U . S. A rm y EngineerNuclear Cra t e r in g Group , Decem ber 1964 .

4. Spruill , ,J. L. , "Pr o jec t Dugout, Apparen t Cr a t e r S tud ies , I tPN E 615F, U. S. A rm y Engineer Nuclear Cr a te r ing Group ,Law ren ce Radiation Labor atory , August 1965.

5. Nordyke, M . D, and W. W ary, "C ra ter ing andRadioac tiv ity Re su l t s f r o m a Nuclear Cra te r i ng Detonat ion inBasa l t , " UCRL -699 9 Rev. 11, Oc to be r 1963.

6. Banks, D. C. and R. T. Saucier, "Geology ofBuckboard Mesa , I t PNE-5001, Water ways Exper iment Stat ion,July 1964.

7 . Nugent, R. C. and C . C. Banks, " Pr oje ct Sulky,Pr es ho t Geologic Invest igations, I ' PNE- 7 19, U. S. ArmyEngin eer Water ways Experim ent Station, Mar ch 1965.

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DISTRIBUTIONL R L In t e rna l D i s tr i bu ti onMichael M. MayR. B at ze lJ . GofmanR. GoeckermannC. HaussmannG. WerthJ. RosengrenD. SewellC. Van AttaR. Herbst'C. McDonaldE. GoldbergG. HigginsJ. C a r o t h e r sS. F e r n b a c hJ. HadleyJ: KaneB. RubinJ . K u r yP. StevensonJ . B el lE. HulseW. D ecke rW. H ar fo rdM. NordykeF. HolzerH. TewesJ . KnoxR. K. Waker l ing , Berke leyE. T e l l e r , B e r k e l e yL ar ry C rooks , N evadaT ID F i l eExterna l Di s t r ibu t ionTID-4500, UC-35, Nuclear Explosion -Peacefu l Appl ica t ionsD. J . Convey, DirectorDepar tment of M ines and Technica l SurveysOttowa, Ontario, CanadaDr. G. W. GovierO i l and G a s C onse rva ti on B oa rdCalgary , Alber t a , Canada

No. of Copies

U . S. Ar my Engineer Div is ion , Lower Miss i ss ip p i Val l eyVicksburg , Miss i ss ipp i

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External (Continued)U. S. Ar my Engineer Dis t r ic tMemphis, TennU. S. Ar my Engineer Dis t r ic tNew Orl eans , LouisianaU. S. Ar my Engineer Dis t r ic tSt. Louis , MissouriU. S. Ar my Engineer Dis t r ic tVicksburg, Mississ ippiU. S. Ar my Engineer Division, M editerra neanAP O New Yo rkU. S. Ar my Liaison DetachmentNew York , N. Y.U. S. Arm y Engineer Dis t r ic t , GULFAP O New YorkU . S. Ar my Engineer Divis ion, Missour i RiverOmaha, NebraskaU. S. Ar my Engineer Dis t r ic tKans as City , Missour iU . S. Ar my Engineer Dis t r ic t ,Omaha, NebraskaU . S. Ar my Engin eer Division, New EnglandWaltham, Massachuset tsU. S. Ar my Engineer Divis ion, North Atlant icNew York, N. Y.U. S. Ar my Eng inee r D i s t r i c t .New York, New YorkU. S. Ar my Engineer Dis t r ic tNorfolk, VirginiaU. S. Ar my Eng ineer D i s t r i c tPhiladelphia, PennsylvaniaU. S. Ar my Engineer Division, North CentralChicago, IllinoisU. S. Arm y Engineer Dis t r ic tBuffalo, New Yor k

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Ext ern al (Continued)U. S. Arm y Eng ineer D i s t r i c tChicago, Il l inoisU. S. Ar my Engineer Distr ic tDetroit , MichiganU . S. Ar my Engineer Distr i c tRock Island, Il l ino isU. S. Ar my Engineer Distr ic tSt. Paul, MinnesotaU. S. Arm y Engineer Dis t r ic t , Lake SurveyDetroit, MichiganU. S. Ar my Engineer Divis ion, North Pacif i cPort land, OregonU . S. A rm y Engineer Dis t r ic tPort land, OregonU. S. Ar my Engineer Dis t r ic tAnchorage, AlaskaU. S. Ar my Engineer Distr ic tSeattle, WashingtonU. S. Ar my Engineer Dis t r ic tWalla Walla, WashingtonU. S. Ar my Engineer Divis ion, Ohio RiverCincinnati, OhioU. S. Ar my Engineer Dis t r ic tHuntington, We st Virgi niaU. S. Ar my Engineer Dis t r ic tLouisville, KentuckyU. S. Arm y Engineer Dis t r ic tNashville, TennesseeU. S. Ar my Engineer Dis t r ic tPi t t sburg, PennsylvaniaU . S. Ar my Engineer Divis ion, Pacif ic OceanHonolulu, HawaiiU. S. Arm y Enginee r D i s t r ic t , F a r Eas tAPO, San Fran cis co, Cal i fornia

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External (Continued)U. S. Arm y Engineer Dis t r ic tHonolulu, HawaiiU. S. Ar my Engineer Distr ic t , OkinawaAPO, San Fr anc is co, CaliforniaU. S. A r m y Engi neer Division, South AtlanticAtlanta, GeorgiaU . S. Ar my Engineer Distr ic t Canav eralMerr i t t I s land , F lor idaU. S. Ar my Engineer Distr ic t ,Charlest on, South CarolinaU. S. Ar my Engineer Distr ic tJacksonvil le , FloridaU. S. Ar my Engineer Distr ic tMobile, AlabamaU. S. Ar my Engineer Dis t r ic tSavannah, GeorgiaU . S. Arm y Engineer Distr ic tWilmingt on, North Caro linaU. S. Ar my Engineer Division, South Paci ficSan Franc isco , CaliforniaU . S. Ar my Engineer Distr ic tLos Angeles, CaliforniaU . S. A r i n y E n g i n e e r D i s t r i c tSacramento, CaliforniaU . S. Ar my Engineer Dis t r ic tSan Fran cisc o, CaliforniaU . S. Ar my Engineer Division, SouthwesternDallas, TexasU. S. Ar my Engineer Dis t r ic tAlbuquerque, New MexicoU. S. Ar my Engineer Dis t r ic tFo r t Worth , TexasU . S. Arm y Engineer Dis t r ic tGalveston, Texas

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External (Continued)U. S. Ar my Engineer Dis t r ic tLi t t le Rock, Ar kan sasU . S. Ar my Engineer Dis t r ic tTulsa, OklahomaU. S. Ar my Coas ta l Engineering Researc h BoardWashington, D. C.Mississ ippi River CommissionVicksburg, Mississ ippiRiv ers and Har bor s , Boa rds of Engin eersWashington, D. C.Cor ps of Engin eers Bal l is t ic Missi l e Construct ion OfficeNorton Air Fo rc e Base, Cal i forniaU . S. Arm y Engineer CenterFt. Belvoir, VirginiaU. S. Ar my Engineer SchoolFt. Belvoir, VirginiaU . S. Arm y Engineer Rea c tors GroupFt . Belvoir , VirginiaU. S. Ar my Engineer Tra in ing CenterFt . Leonard Wood, M issour iU. S. Ar my Engineer Nuclear Cra te r ing GroupLivermore , Cal i forn iaU . S. Ar my Engineer Dis t r ic tBal t imore, Maryland

LEGAL NOTILEl l i ~ sepolt w.lj prepared .& 81% ~ccorrnl of Governr~~cs lporrw~nl otk

Nc!l l le! l l le Ull~lel l lates, ! lor the Co al ~n ~s s~ ~r ~.101 any pet\o s actlr tg MI brl~.l l lol lhe Eonlmlssloll.

jh: l aA Makes any warrallly 01 reprcsenlal~o~~.xpressed at Imyltell, rllll

rrr vec l lo the ilccuracy. conlplelelless. or uselulrless 01 llle l~l lor mal ~onirs!?'t~ ed 111111sww rl or lhal Ihe use 01 any in:ar~~wltoo. ppardlas. ~nletl lol, rI ~ ~ O C C S S11scIoIed 111111se wl l nlay 1101 nllln ge prlval ely owtied r~ghts ; r

B Assumes any llab~l~tlesllh respecl lo the irse 01, or lor da~ aa~ eslesul llog lrotn llre (use of ally l nlorm al~on , pparatus. melllo l or process dbs-closed 11 l h ~ seporl