Cavity Radius Scaling for Chemical Explosions in Granite

Abstract:

It was long argued that the far-field seismic amplitudes from explosions are determined by the volume change in the source region, mainly due to a formation of the explosive cavities (e.g. Denny and Johnson, 1991). Weston Geophysical performed measurements of the cavities left by small chemical explosions in hard rock in New England. The comparison of the measured cavity sizes with historical data from nuclear and chemical explosions in hard rock (e.g. granite) shows that the cavity radii scale as W^1/3 and appear to be depth independent because the rock strength significantly exceeds the overburden pressure for all possible explosion depths. The cavity sizes produced by nuclear explosions in softer rock (e.g. alluvium) deviate from the cubic root scaling and depend on the confining pressure. Cavity size calculations as a function of yield using hydrodynamic simulations with GEODYN, an Eulerian hydrodynamic code developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, support these observations. We investigate the effects of the cavity size as well as the extent of the damage zones on seismic radiation.