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Accession Number:
ADA021890
Title:
An Expanded VARICOMP Method for Determining Detonation Transfer Probabilities
Descriptive Note:
Final rept. Jul 1971-Jul 1974
Corporate Author:
NAVAL WEAPONS CENTER CHINA LAKE CA
Report Date:
1975-12-01
Pagination or Media Count:
74.0
Abstract:
VARICOMP a term coined by J. N. Ayres for a method developed at the Naval Ordnance Laboratory, White Oak, in the 1950s and early 1960s is a method for evaluating the interface between fuze explosive components in which it can be determined by statistical analysis and testing that the reliability and safety of a fuze explosive train can be predicted at high-confidence levels with a small number of tests. This is done by varying the sensitivity of different explosives that are then substituted into the explosive train of interest to determine the safety and reliability limits under a penalty test situation. For reliability tests the acceptor design explosive is replaced by a less sensitive VARICOMP explosive, whereas for safety evaluation a more sensitive explosive PETN is used. A sensitivity calibration was made of various design explosives and two different series of VARICOMP explosives desensitized RDX. The work differed from earlier similar efforts in that each explosive was calibrated using donors of three diameters 50, 100, and 200 mils. One of the VARICOMP mixes has a sensitivity to initiation nearly independent of diameter the other has a sensitivity to initiation highly dependent upon diameter.
Distribution Statement:
APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE
