LA-7833-MS

Informal Report
C.3
Cl C- l 4 REPORT COLLECTI ON
REPRODUCTION
COPY
Fireball Shape as a Height-of-Burst Diagnostic
,1
i
cd
.-
C
5
>
-1
LOSALAMOSSCIENTIFIC LABORATORY
PostOf f i ceBox 1663 Los Al amos, New Mexi co87545
An Affirmative ActIon/Equal Opportunity Employs
This report was not edited by the Technical
Information staff.
Work supported by the Defense Nuclear
Agency.
Th,s rewtt was prw.rrd Gs an ac c ount of work spwwumd
by the Untted States Govrmment. Nc Ither the Umled Stiles
nor the U.iled SU1es De!mriment of En. rgv. nor any of their
Gmployees. not any of them c .ntmc wws. subc ontr.c to:s. or
their Gmployers, makes any warrantY. Gxvreis or Implied. or
assumes M-Y 1,ss1 h.bilmy 0, re=vonxtbd, tv fo, the dCCUCY.
c ompleteneu, ?r usefulness of an. mfonnauo?. appdratus,
nroduc t. or DIC.CeU dswlowd. or raaresents that m usc would
not in ftlnsc pnv.t.ly owned nshls.
UNITED STATICS
DEPARTMENT OF lc Nc IRGV
CONTRACT W-740 B-ZNG. 36
LA- 7833- MS
I nf ormal Report
Swcial Distribution
Issued: June 1979
Fireball Shape as a Height-of-Burst Diagnostic
Eric M. Jones
Jeffrey D. Colvin*

,
GEG&G, Inc., P.O. Box 809, Los Alamos, NM 87544.
i
FI REBALL SHAPE AS A HEI GHT- OF- BURST DI AGNOSTI C
by
Eri c M. J ones and J ef f rey D. Colvin
ABSTRACT
The shock wave produced by an atmospheri c nucl ear
f i rebal l ref l ects f rom the ground and stri kes the
bottom of the gl owi ng f i rebal l at the ti me when the sum
of the f i rebal l radi us and the shock radi us equal s
twi ce the burst hei ght. RADFLO cal cul ati ons have been
used to def i ne the f uncti on R( f i rebal l ) + R( shock) =
f ( Y, t) . Fi rebal l shape i nf ormati on i s used to
determi ne the ti me when shock/ f i rebal l i nteracti on
occurs and to deri ve the hei ght- of - burst.
I . I NTRODUCTI ON
The evol uti on of an atmospheri c nucl ear f i rebal l i s governed by the weapon
mass, yi el d and conf i gurati on, the pressure and temperature of the atmosphere,
and the hei ght- of - burst. I n many mi l i tary appl i cati ons hei ghts- of - burst are l ow
enough that i nteracti on between the gl owi ng f i rebal l and the shock wave
ref l ected f rom the ground surf ace occurs l ong bef ore buoyancy f orces become
i mportant. I n many of these appl i cati ons, the desi red ef f ect i s a sensi ti ve
f uncti on of burst hei ght. Real - ti me hei ght- of - burst data may be of potenti al
val ue, parti cul arl y i f the data can be determi ned f rom a si ngl e observi ng
stati on.
Let us suppose that an atmospheri c nucl ear burst of unspeci f i ed y-
occurs at an unknown range f rom a properl y i nstrumented observi ng stati on.
parameters to be determi ned are yi el d, range, azi muth, and hei ght- of - burst.
propose that al l f our parameters can be determi ned wi th two pri mary i nstrum[
el d
The
We
nts
and a smal l computer or processor. The two i nstruments are a bhangmeter and a
f ast read- out, real - ti me i magi ng array. The bhangmeter i s used to determi ne
mi ni mum ti me and, hence, the yi el d whi l e real - ti me f i rebal l shape i nf ormati on
provi des the three remai ni ng parameters.
II. METHOD
We presume that bursts of i nterest wi l l be l ow- mass ai rbursts. The
assumpti on of l ow mass assures that we wi l l be deal i ng wi th weapons wi th hi gh
radi ati ng temperatures and that the earl y f i rebal l growth wi l l be vi rtual l y
spheri cal . U. S. atmospheri c tests of weapons i n massi ve towers or suspended
f rom bal l oons show consi derabl e asymmetri es and bri ghtness i rregul ari ti es even
at very l ate ti mes. Ai r drops of l ow mass- to- yi el d rati os al l produce very
spheri cal f i rebal l s.
The yi el d i s determi ned f romti me- of - mi ni mum measured wi th a bhangmeter.
Duri ng the bl ast wave phase of expansi on the radi us i s cl osel y
approxi mated by
R= 301 ( Y/ P) l / 5 t*/ 5, ( 1)
where R i s the radi us i n meters; Y the yi el d i n ki l otons; p the ambi ent
atmospheri c densi ty i n mi l l i grams per cubi c centi meter; and t the ti me i n
seconds. Because the
acceptabl e to assume a
as yet to be determi ned
I magi ng data can
radi us i s so i nsensi ti ve to densi ty i t wi l l probabl y be
val ue f or the densi ty. An i terati ve scheme based on the
burst hei ght coul d be adopted i f deemed necessary.
be used to deri ve the ti me hi stori es of the verti cal and
hori zontal angul ar di ameters. Knowl edge of the yi el d and the hori zontal angul ar
di ameter l eads di rectl y to the range and, f rom the posi ti on of the i mage on the
detector, azi muthal data i s obtai ned.
.
i
The f i nal pi ece of data, the hei ght- of - burst, can be obtai ned f rom
compari son of the two angul ar di ameters.
The f i rebal l expansi on wi l l be tspheri cal unti l the ref l ected shock wave
stri kes the gl owi ng f i rebal l . Shortl y af ter shock/ f i rebal l i nteracti on the
bottom surf ace of the f i rebal l i s severel y f l attened. Bef ore the i nteracti on,
the rati o of the verti cal di ameter to the hori zontal di ameter i s approxi matel y
equal one but as the i nteracti on proceeds the rati o drops sharpl y. Anal ysi s of
the ti me hi story of the di ameter rati o provi des a ti me- of - i nteracti on whi ch can
then be used to deri ve the hei ght- of - burst.
I
III. HEI GHT- OF- BURST SCALI NG DATA
The LASL one- di mensi onal , spheri cal , radi ati on transport/ hydrodynami cs
program RADFLO has been very successf ul i n cal cul ati ng atmospheri c nucl ear
f i rebal l evol uti on. Fi rebal l and shock radi i produced by the program are i n
good agreement wi th data.
We assume wi th some conf i dence that the shock/ f i rebal l i nteracti on occurs
I
when
SH
= 2H- RFB (2)
where RSH i s the shock radi us, RFB i s the f i rebal l radi us and H i s the burst
hei ght ( Fi gure 1) . We recogni ze that the ref l ected shock traverses sl i ghtl y
heated ai r bef ore stri ki ng the f i rebal l and that the i nteracti on actual l y occurs
sl i ghtl y bef ore the ti me gi ven by equati on ( 2) . However, we expect that the
ef f ect i s smal l compared to l i kel y yi el d uncertai nti es.
A seri es of RADFLO cal cul ati ons have been made f or bursts of vari ous
yi el ds at sea- l evel densi ty ( 1. 2x10- 3 gcm- 3) . The f i rebal l radi us was chosen as
the 0. 2 eV temperature contour whi l e the shock radi us was chosen as the l ocati on
of maxi mum densi ty i n the computed shock prof i l e. Posi ti onal uncertai nti es are
about one cel l wi dth or about one percent of the radi us. These data were used
to compute ti me hi stori es of RSH + RFB. The resul ts are presented i n f i gure 2.
I
3
I
UNCLASSI FI ED
Fig. 1
Determi nati on of the ti me of f i rebal l / shock
i nteracti on permi ts deri vati on of burst hei ght.
1(?
BLAST WAVE
~
REGIME
f
a
102
,:2 ,~-1
d
TI ME ( see)
Fig. 2
The f i rebal l radi us ( RFB) and shock radi us ( RsH)
are cal cul ated wi th RADFLO. Knowi ng the yi el d
and ti me of f i rebal l / shock i nteracti on gi ves
2H = RFB+RSH f romthe graph. See the text f or a
f urther di scussi on of thi s f i gure.
UNCLASSI FI ED
.
&
The curves i n f i gure 2 are l abel ed wi th the parameter 301 ( Y/ P) l / 5. The
curves, i n ascendi ng order, correspond to sea- l evel bursts wi th yi el ds of 1,
3. 5, 12, 32, 75, 200, 800, and 1600 ki l otons.
The pl ane of f i gure 2 i s di vi ded i nto three phenomenol ogi cal regi ons.
Duri ng the earl y f i rebal l expansi on the ai r i mmedi atel y behi nd the shock has
been heated to greater than 0. 2 eV and the shock and f i rebal l radi i are
i denti cal . Duri ng thi s bl ast wave phase both radi i are cl osel y approxi mated by
I
equati on 1. At a ti me gi ven by the l ef tmost dashed l i ne, the weakened
no l onger capabl e of heati ng ai r above 0. 2 eV and the shock detaches
f i rebal l .
shock i s I
f rom the
At very l ate ti me, f i rebal l s whi ch have not yet undergone shock i nter-
acti on are def ormed by buoyancy f orces. The verti cal def ormati on i s
approxi matel y gi ven by
AR = gtz ( 3)
where g = 9. 8 m S- 2 i s the gravi tati onal accel erati on. Duri ng the l ate f i rebal l
evol uti on the f i rebal l radi us reaches a maxi mum and sl owl y decl i nes thereaf ter
whi l e the shock wave vel oci ty approaches the sound speed.
( The upward curvature
of the RFB + RSH l i nes i s a resul t of thi s behavi or. ) The maxi mum f i rebal l
radi us i s desi gnated as RM. I f the buoyant def ormati on exceeds a f ew percent,
the hei ght- of - burst anal ysi s suddenl y becomes more compl ex. Thi s buoyancy
regi me has been del i neated by the AR = 0.02 RM l i ne at the ri ght of f i gure 2.
The graph
determi ned f rom
di ameters. The
the burst hei ght
Iv. TEST DATA
i s used as f ol l ows: the ti me of shock/ f i rebal l i nteracti on i s
the hi story of the rati o of the verti cal to hori zontal
known yi el d i s then used to i nterpol ate between the curves and
i s read as hal f the sumof the two radi i .
We have anal ysed photographi c
tests conducted i n Nevada f or whi ch
data f or seven U. S. atmospheri c
uncl assi f i ed yi el ds are avai l abl e
nucl ear
and one
Paci f i c test. Al l were l ow mass ai r drops. The rel evant data for the seven
events wi th the uncl assi f i ed yi el ds are gi ven i n Tabl e I . Al l had p= 1.OX1O-3
5 I
gcm- 3. The hi stori es of the rati o of the verti cal and hori zontal di ameters are
gi ven i n f i gures 3 through 9. For the purpose of thi s paper we have m&rel y
esti mated the i nteracti on ti me as the ti me of a si gni f i cant, sustai ned drop of
the di ameter rati o. The range of the esti mated i nteracti on ti me ( ti ) f or each
event i s gi ven i n Tabl e 1,
The deri ved burst hei ghts ( HD) are pl otted agai nst the actual hei ghts i n
f i gure 10. Cl earl y, the errors are l ess than 50 meters i n al l cases. The
rel ati ve errors are gi ven i n Tabl e I f or the seven uncl assi f i ed events. Al 1
ei ght events have errors l ess than 20 percent.
TABLE I
THE SEVEN NTS AIR DROP EVENTS EXAMI NED I N THI S STUDY
NAME
GRABLE
FI ZEAU
CLI MAX
TS-DOG
BJ-EASY
BJ-CHARLIE
WASP-PRIME
T&-
15
11.4
62.8
19
31
14
3
7%
160
152
407
317
401
345
222
65
68
102
119
128
143
157
t
it
s
. 075- . 1
. 08- . 1
. 3- . 45
. 4- . 5
. 3- . 5
. 45- . 5
. 4- . 5
518
490
689
543
599
511
375
180
180
415
350
368
328
224
HD- H
T
. 13
. 18
. 02
.10
-.08
-.05
-.01
v. REFI NEMENTS
Thi s si mpl i sti c di scussi on of shock/ f i rebal l i nteracti ons has l ed to
f ai rl y accurate burst hei ght esti mati on f or ei ght nucl ear tests. Some f i ne
tuni ng of the model may i mprove the resul ts and/ or i ndi cate presentl y
uni denti f i ed l i mi tati ons.
1) For bursts whi ch suf f er ground i nteracti on bef ore mi ni mum ti me, ~l N i s
a f uncti on of burst hei ght. Cal cul ati onal work has been done to def i ne the
vari ati on wi th hei ght f or a seri es of bursts wi th the I VY- KI NG yi el d ( 540 kt) .
These resul ts are pl otted i n Fi gure 11. The anal ysi s routi nes f or determi ni ng
burst hei ght shoul d i ncl ude an i terati ve scheme to account f or modi f i ed yi el d
esti mates at l ow burst hei ghts.
2) Numeri cal tests of exi sti ng photographi c data must be made to determi ne
the ef f ects of f i ni te resol uti on el ements and threshol d sensi ti vi ti es on the
resul ts. We i magi ne that there i s a tradeof f between f i ne resol uti on and
accurate di ameter rati o measurements on the one hand and reduced i ntegrati on
ti mes wi th coarse gri ds on the other. We i ntend to perf orm computer si mul ati ons
of sel ected data f rames to quanti f y these ef f ects, and to determi ne the
l i mi tati ons i mposed by the f rame ti me resol uti on of typi cal i magi ng devi ces ( RJ
1/ 30 s) .
3) Si mi l arl y, atmospheri c attenuati on and decreasi ng i ntensi ti es wi th
i ncreasi ng range may i ntroduce errors. Fi rebal l s whi ch suf f er i nteracti on af ter
a f ew ti mes second- maxi mum do not have parti cul arl y wel l def i ned edges. Unl ess
properl y treated, range and hei ght- of - burst errors may be i ntroduced whi ch are,
themsel ves, f uncti ons of range.
4) The speed of def ormati on duri ng the earl y stages of the i nteracti on i s
a f uncti on of yi el d and hei ght- of - burst. Anal ysi s of thi s moti on may provi de an
i ndependent burst hei ght i ndi cator al though we anti ci pate that i t wi l l not be
parti cul arl y sensi ti ve. Def i ni ti on of scal i ng l aws wi l l requi re anal ysi s of
two- di mensi onal cal cul ati ons.
Fi gure 12 represents the anal ysi s f l ow i n a hypotheti cal system i ncl udi ng
an i terati ve consi derati on of the ef f ects of hei ght- of - burst on ~l N. We are
currentl y i mpl ementi ng such an anal ysi s scheme to test the val i di ty of thi s
hei ght- of - burst determi nati on techni que.
7
141
1
I I 1 8 1 I I 1 I 1 1 I I I I 1 I I
I
I .3
1.2
11
uPSHOT-KNOTHOLE /GRABLE
Record 1798 I (Original)
1.1
1.0
0. 9 :
0. 8 ~
G
A 0. 7 .
, , G
G *
G *9
0. 6
G
b. ~
0. 5
t
t
0. 4 ,
t
18/ 2
2m0a
0. 3
tB/ 5
0. 2
0.1
t
0.0
I 1 I 1 1 I 1 1 1 1 I 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
00 0. 2 0. 4 Of i 0. 8
1.0 1. 2 1. 4 1. 6 1. 8 2. o
TIME (StlC)
Fi g. 3
Rati o of the verti cal to the hori zontal di ameter
as a f uncti on of ti me f or GRABLE. GRABLE was a 15 kt
expl osi on 160 mabove the ground surf ace at the Nevada
Test Si te (NTS). t2~X i s the cal cul ated ti me of
second thermal maxi mumwhi l e tB, the buoyancy ti me, i s
given by R( t2AX) = g t?.
R
Exami nati on of the GRABLE
photographs s ows i ni ti al i nteracti on at about 0. 07 s
al though no substanti al def ormati on occurs unti l about
0. 1 s.
: v~q
1
1.0 *:.
.
0.9 :
0.8 :
A 0.7
t
tR
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
I
.
. .
G
G
G
.. . G G
9
G
?
tfj /2
0.1
0.0
1 I I I I I 1 1 1 1 t I 1 1 1 1 1 I I 1
0.0 0.2 04 06 O.% I .0 1.2 1.4 16 1.8 20
TIME (see)
Fi g. 4
FI ZEAU was a 11. 4 kt expl osi on at 152 meters. tR
i s the ti me of i ni ti al i nteracti on determi ned f rom
vi sual i nspecti on of the photographi c records.
8
1.4
I I 1 I 1 1 I I I I I I I I I I f I I
1.3
J
1.2
t
UPSHOT-KNOTHOLE/CLIMAX
1.1 Record 171081 (Originol)
1.0 &*.
~
0.91 , ..
-1
0.8
I
t= .
A 0.7
G
G
.
. .
0.6
.
.*
.*
0.5
.**.
.
G
04
1
0.3
0.2
[
f
t~/5
o. I
t
tB/2
0.01
I I I t I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 1
0.0 04 0s
I
1.2 1.6 2.0 2.4 2B 3.2
3.6 40
TIME [see)
Fig. 5
CLIMAXwas a 63 kt explosion at 407 m burst height.
14
I I I I I t
1 I 1 I r I r I I I I I I
1.3
-1
A
I.2 -
1.1-
1.0-
0.9 -
0.8 -
0.7 -
0.6 -
0.5 -
04 -
0.3
t
0.2
t
TUMBLER-SNAPPER /OOG
Record 13382 (Print)
.
.
.
G

.
I
.
. .
O.c.. J
1 1 1 I
2.4 2B
J
3.2 3.6 4.0
TIME (WC)
Fi g. 6
TS- DOG was 19 kt expl osi on at 317 m burst height.
9
1.31
1
1.2
1
EUSTER-JANGLE /EASY
I .1
Record 10942 (Print)
1
I .0 -9.
G
0.9 -
G8
G
0.8 -
.
G ***-
G
A 0.7 -
G*
G
G*.m .*
Q6 -
G .
G - G
.**
0.3 -
G
0.4 -
0.3 -
0.2 -
0.1 -
0.0
I 1 a I 1 1 1 I t 1 I I I 1 1 I 1 1 1
0.0 (14 OB 1.2 1.6 20 2.4 2.8 3.2 36 4.0
TIME (MC)
Fi g. 7
BJ-EASY was a 31 kt expl osi on at 401 m.
~
1 I I I I
I
1.3
1.2
1.1
1
1.0 G
. .**
0.9
G
A o.8
G*
BUSTER- JANGLE/CHARLIE
Record 10742 (OrlgimIl)
1
0.7
I
G G **
G
0.6
t **** *=-- G G G
0.5
tR
0.4
!
tB/5
?
0.3
t812
1
0.2 F
1
0.1
I 1 1 1 I 1
0.0
1 1 f 1 1 1 I I 1 1 1 I 1 1
0.0 0.4 OB I .2 1.6 20 2.4 2.8 3.2 3.6 40
TIME (see)
Fi g. 8
BJ - CHARLI E was a 14 kt expl osi on at 345 meters
burst hei ght.
,
4
10
1.4
I 1 I I I I 1 I I I i 1 I I 1 1 I I 1
1.3 -
1.2 -
TEAPOT/ WASP-PRIME
1.I -
Record 29339 (Print)
1.0 - .
0.9 -
G***
G
0.8 -
G .
G
9 .
9 .
.
A 0.7 -
G
.
G **.
G* . .
.
G G=**
06 - 9.
0.5 -
0.4 -
0.3 -
0.2-
0.1-
0.0
1 t 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 I I 1 1 1 I I I 1 t
o 0.4 0.8 I .2 1.6 2.0 2.4 2B 3.2 36 40
TIME (StiC)
Fi g. 9
WASP PRI ME was a 3 kt expl osi on at 222 mburst hei ght.
DERIVEO
HEIGHT
900.
I I I I
800 -
700 -
600 -
500 -
400 -
1
300 -
200 -=
100 -
0
0 100200300400500600700 60090JJ
BURST HEIGHT
Fi g. 10
For each of the seven Nevada test studi ed and one
Paci f i c Test ( DOMI NI C AZTEC) the deri ved hei ghts
agree wel l wi th the actual hei ghts. The range f or
each test i ndi cated the hei ght uncertai nty produced
by the uncertai nty i n the ti me of i nteracti on.
11
,.
[
ed 12 A3900- woo A
Bdll k1600-5600~
9d 10 A5600- 6800 ~
Bd9 A8800-a240a
9d 8 A8240- I oooo~
Bd 12
II
10
9
8
0 I 00 200 m 400 500
Burst Hei ght ( m]
Fi g. 11
Ti me of thermal mi ni mum ( tMI N) i n Vi3riOUS
wavel ength bands cal cul ated f or 540 ki l oton
expl osi ons at vari ous al ti tudes.
12
?
DIAMETER
RATlO
4
I_
YIELD
- DIAMETER
d-
RANGE
A si mpl i f i ed
~
Fig. 12
bl ock di agram of an anal ysi s
routi ne to determi ne burst hei ght. The top
three boxes contai n data i nput i nto the anal ysi s
routi ne. Mi ni mum ti me provi des an i ni ti al yi el d
esti mate whi ch may requi re modi f i cati on due to
burst hei ght ef f ects.