Design and Analysis of Underground Reinforced-Concrete Arches; D-R-A-F-T

xiii, 46 , 29 Plates, A22, B17, C15, [2] pages. Figures. Formulae. Notations. Tables. References. Appendices. Stains on front page. There are areas of wear, soiling, and small edge tears and chips. Some corner creasing. Name of previous owner on front page. Some paperclip marks. CONFIDENTIAL marking crossed through and stamped UNCLASSIFIED with declassification stamp on front page. Tis study was conducted at the Waterways Experiment Station for the Office, Chief of Engineers, Department of the Army, as a task under Research and development Project 8S12-959002, "Nuclear Weapons effects on Structures, Terrain, and Waterways (U)." It was accomplished during the period August 1959 through November 1960 by personnel of the Special Investigations Section, Hydraulics Division, U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiments Station. This study was related to the buried, concrete-arch structures of Project 3.1 tested during Operation PLUMBOB in 1957. This rare surviving draft copy is valuable both for the information contained within it and also as a baseline to compare the final published version to, to identify what may have changed and to surmised as to why changes may have occurred. Operation Plumbbob was a series of nuclear tests that were conducted between May 28 and October 7, 1957, at the Nevada Test Site, following Project 57, and preceding Project 58/58A. The operation consisted of 29 explosions, of which only two did not produce any nuclear yield. Twenty-one laboratories and government agencies were involved. While most Operation Plumbbob tests contributed to the development of warheads for intercontinental and intermediate range missiles, they also tested air defense and anti-submarine warheads with smaller yields. They included 43 military effects tests on civil and military structures, radiation and bio-medical studies, and aircraft structural tests. Operation Plumbbob had the tallest tower tests to date in the U.S. nuclear testing program as well as high-altitude balloon tests. One nuclear test involved the largest troop maneuver ever associated with U.S. nuclear testing. Approximately 18,000 members of the U.S. Air Force, Army, Navy and Marines participated in exercises Desert Rock VII and VIII during Operation Plumbbob. The military was interested in knowing how the average foot-soldier would stand up, physically and psychologically, to the rigors of the tactical nuclear battlefield. Almost 1,200 pigs were subjected to bio-medical experiments and blast-effects studies during Operation Plumbbob. On shot Priscilla (37 kt), 719 pigs were used in various experiments on Frenchman Flat. Some pigs were placed in elevated cages and provided with suits made of different materials, to test which materials provided best protection from the thermal radiation. As shown and reported in the PBS documentary Dark Circle, the pigs survived, but with third-degree burns to 80% of their bodies.[2] Other pigs were placed in pens behind large sheets of glass at measured distances from the hypocenter to test the effects of flying debris on living targets. Studies were conducted of radioactive contamination and fallout from a simulated accidental detonation of a weapon, and projects concerning earth motion, blast loading and neutron output were carried out. Nuclear weapons safety experiments were conducted to study the possibility of a nuclear weapon detonation during an accident. On July 26, 1957, a safety experiment, Pascal-A, was detonated in an unstemmed hole at the Nevada Test Site, becoming the first underground shaft nuclear test. The knowledge gained provided data to prevent nuclear yields in case of accidental detonationsfor example, in a plane crash. The Rainier shot, conducted September 19, 1957, was the first fully contained underground nuclear test, meaning that no fission products were vented into the atmosphere. This test of 1.7 kt could be detected around the world by seismologists using ordinary seismic instruments. The Rainier tes.…