Tactical Wheeled Vehicle Survivability: Results of Experiments to Quantify Aboveground Impulse

: The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center conducted a series of carefully controlled field experiments to quantify the aboveground environments created by the detonation of surface and nearsurface bare-charge explosives in or on three very different soil backfills. The experiments provided blast pressure, soil stress, and impulse data for each soil type. To measure the aboveground impulse produced by the combined airblast and soil debris, an impulse measurement device was designed, fabricated, and calibrated for use in the field experiments. Results of these experiments are documented, along with initial conclusions regarding the complex loadings that would be applied to an aboveground structure.