From this point of view, one might simply expect that both the depth and width of the crater

near Ground Zero. At the same time, the cra-

crater would be-proporfional to the energy
transferred to the ground. In the absence of
detailed studies involving many yields at many
different pressure ratios and soil characteris-

flatness to the crater occasioned by the relative
propagation velocities for the shock in air and
soil from which one would expect the crater
profile to be concave upward, as in Fig. 1.1. On

tics, the results of Fig. 8 of LA-1529 are some

the other hand, the presence of fissuring in the

should scale like W'%; thus the volume of the

- assurance, if meager, that in a homogeneous
soil similarity scaling might be expected to
hold.
We might reasonably expect the crater ra-

ter represents a compromise between other
competing mechanisms. Thereis a general

Atoll structure suggests that the shape of the
crater could be concave downward near the

center if a sink hole develops. Superimposed on

sort of threshold below which no deformation

these competitive mechanisms is the final downward movement of material in the crater toward
the center, as in reaching a stable angle of repose. This leads to the expectation that at Eni-

the ground shock is principally controlled by the
air shock, then the samevalue of pressure oc-

reasonable as any for a general description.

dius té scale like W™ for the following reasons.
The soil displacement probably involves some
takes place. If, as in the case of strong shocks,

curs at distances like W'?.

The crater depth presents a different aspect.
At these high pressures it is believed possible
for the soil to movein plastic flow, which probably implies that the movementof the soil is not
simply a function of the peak pressure but is

probably a strong function of the pressure duration as well. The Atoll structure suggests that
such flow is possible at Eniwetok, and one could
therefore expect relatively deeper craters than

those which would be indicated by similarity
scaling alone. Near Ground Zero then, even

though the depth to which a given pressure will

occur scales as W", this pressure exists for a
time which is W‘5 times longer on the larger
bomb. This suggests that the depth of the crater near Ground Zero might behave more

readily like W™ rather than W'?. On tower shots

there is some jetting down the tower legs, which
constitutes a preferential transmission of energy in the region immediately surrounding the
tower, and suggests a somewhat deeper crater

wetok the model of the crater as a conical section (straight-line profile) is probably as
From the foregoing considerations, we as-

sume that the crater is a conical sectionof

radius proportional to W’? and depth proportional to W%; thus the volumeis

vena Raw
where R is the radius of the crater and d is the
maximum depth at Ground Zero. We also recognize this as a crude description at best.
REFERENCES
1, F. B. Porzel, Soil Pressures and Energy Transfer
on Mike Shot, Los AlamosScientific Laboratory
Report LA~1529, October 1952.

2. B. Suydam et al., Greenhouse Handbook of Nuclear
Explosions, Greenhouse Report, Vol. II, WT-103,
p. 29, March 1951.
3. F. B. Porzel, Thermodynamic Properties of Air,
J-Division, Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory,
fertember 1951.

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