NUCLEAR EFFECTS SIMULATION

A NOVEL SET OF HIGHLY EXOTHERMIC AND ESSENTIALLY GASLESS (CONDENSED PHASE) REACTIONS WILL BE INVESTIGATED IN ORDER TO SELECT THE COMPOSITION WHICH PROVIDES THE MOST APPROPRIATE METHOD OF SIMULATING RADIANT FLUXES EQUIVALENT TO THOSE ENCOUNTERED IN NUCLEAR AIR BLASE ENVIRONMENTS. THE PROPOSED CONCEPT IS CAPABLE OF GENERATING PEAK TEMPERATURES IN EXCESS OF 3200 DEG K AND RADIATION FLUXES UP TO 200 CAL/SQ CM SEC OVER A PERIOD OF 1-2 SECONDS. THE CONCEPT ALLOWS FOR CONTROL IN TERMS OF RADIATION LEVEL, DURATION TIME, AND CAN BE SCALED INTO RADIATING PANELS WHOSE AREA THICKNESS AND SHAPE CAN BE CONTROLLEDTO MATCH TEST REQUIREMENTS IN EVALUATING COMPONENTS AND/OR MATERIAL TARGETS OF INTEREST. PRELIMINARY EXPERIMENTS WITH "OFF-THE-SHELF" CHEMICAL MIXTURE REFERRED TO AS "HI-THERM" PROVIDE CONVINCING EVIDENCEOF THE USEFULNESS OF THIS CONCEPT. SOME OF THESE RESULTS ARE PRESENTED TOGETHER WITH RECOMMENDATIONS TO PROCEED TOWARDS THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MOST COST EFFECTIVE THERMO-CHEMICAL HEAT SOURCE WHICH CAN EVENTUALLY PROVIDE THE REQUIRED NUCLEAR SIMULATION FOR (A) TESTING VULNERABLE COMPONENTS/TARGETS, (B) PRODUCING THE SOIL HEATING, THERMAL LAYER AND SUBSEQUENT PRECURSOR WAVE IN A FUTURE "MINOR SCALE" SIMULATION EVENT.