Notes On A Nuclear Blast

[caption id="attachment_779" align="aligncenter" width="295" caption="h - Height of the burst; d - Distance above ground zero to which peak overpressure extends"][/caption]

The height of burst and the distance from ground zero above which a peak overpressure extends is given as:

d.h1 = h.d1 = W^(1/3)

where W is the yield of the explosion, in kilotons.

‘d’ and ‘h’ are the distance and height for a 1 kT yield.

Given any two of the yield W, burst h overpressure p, or distance d, proceed as follows:

[caption id="attachment_780" align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="h vs. d chart"][/caption]

1. Calculate scaled height of burst: h1 = h.W^(-1/3)


2. Given the scaled height h1 and the given overpressure p, calculate the distance d1 at which p is produced


3. Convert scaled distance d1 to actual distance: d = d1.W^(1/3)

For any other two parameters given, proceed in a similar way.

"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom."

- Thomas Carlyle