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Ground effects from underground explosions

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY, WASHINGTON 25, D. C.

Abstract

For equivalent TNT energy yields of 180 pounds to 19.2 kilotons at distances of 0.3 to 3200 kilofeet, a yield scaling law of W^0.75 is indicated. Maximum earth particle displacements satisfy an exponential attenuation function of the form:

where A is maximum earth particle displacements in centimeters, C is a constant, W is yield in tons, D is distance from detector to source in feet, n is a wave propagation constant, k is a constant and f is the visually dominant frequency in cps of the measured pulse on the seismogram.

For distance of 0.3 to 9.8 kilofeet, C is 10^4.57, n is 2, and k is 1.75 x 10^-6; from 9.8 to 525 kilofeet, C is 10^0.6, n is 1, and k is 1.83 x 10^-6; from 525 to 3200 kilofeet C is 10^-2.82, n is 0.5, and k is 7.6 x 10^-7. The frequency exponent in the 525 to 3200 kilofeet range is negligible since the maximum displacements were observed to occur near one cps. Stations on desert alluvium recorded displacements 2 to 4 times greater than indicated by the above scaling functions.

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