Abstract
The accumulation of high explosive mass residue from the detonation of military munitions on training ranges is of environmental concern because of its potential to contaminate the soil, surface water, and groundwater. The US Department of Defense wants to quantify, understand, and remediate high explosive mass residue loadings that might be observed on active firing ranges. Previously, efforts using various sampling methods and techniques have resulted in limited success, due in part to the complicated dispersion pattern of the explosive particle residues upon detonation. In our efforts to simulate particle dispersal for high- and low-order explosions on hypothetical firing ranges, we use experimental particle data from detonations of munitions from a 155-mm howitzer, which are common military munitions. The mass loadings resulting from these simulations provide a previously unattained level of detail to quantify the explosive residue source-term for use in soil and water transport models. In addition, the resulting particle placements can be used to test, validate, and optimize particle sampling methods and statistical models as applied to firing ranges. Although the presented results are for a hypothetical 155-mm howitzer firing range, the method can be used for other munition types once the explosive particle characteristics are known.
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Acknowledgments
We would like to acknowledge the funding support of the Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP) and the guidance of Andrea Leeson, the Environmental Restoration program manager of ESTCP. Additionally, we thank the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for their resource support.
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Hathaway, J.E., Rishel, J.P., Walsh, M.E. et al. Explosive particle soil surface dispersion model for detonated military munitions. Environ Monit Assess 187, 415 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-015-4652-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-015-4652-x