Accession Number:

ADA090399

Title:

Deliberate Air Pollution: The Art of Smoke Screening,

Descriptive Note:

Corporate Author:

ARMY ELECTRONICS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMAND WSMR NM ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES LAB

Personal Author(s):

• Hansen,Frank V.
• Pena,Ricardo
• Umstead,Robert K.

Report Date:

1980-06-01

Pagination or Media Count:

15.0

Abstract:

Smoke screening as a battlefield countermeasure is highly dependent upon a number of atmospheric parameters, not a function of munition expenditures alone. Consideration must be given to ambient atmospheric conditions, forecasts, and the aptly named fog of war and its affects upon the optical characteristics of the atmosphere. Determination of the optimum smoke density to render the atmosphere opaque to energy from the visible through the far infrared band of the electromagnetic spectrum can be accomplished by an algorithm based upon atmospheric optics and turbulent diffusion hypotheses. The algorithm KWIK was initially conceived as a munitions expenditures model but rendered versatile enough to be used for large area screening and the seeability on a battlefield. The philosophy behind the design and implementation of the algorithm was to keep it simple by using conventional, well-proven formulae and calculating variables within the program from regression fits to easily obtained or measured atmospheric parameters. The model was formatted in a modular sense such that as better experimental results became available changes could be made with minimum effort. Author

Descriptors:

• *SMOKE SCREENS
• *SMOKE MUNITIONS
• COMPUTER PROGRAMS
• MATHEMATICAL MODELS
• ALGORITHMS
• INPUT
• OPTICAL PROPERTIES
• OPTICS
• STABILITY
• PARAMETERS
• METEOROLOGICAL DATA
• CHLORIDES
• DIFFUSION
• EQUATIONS
• WHITE PHOSPHORUS
• ZINC COMPOUNDS

Subject Categories:

• Military Operations, Strategy and Tactics
• Pyrotechnics

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE