From: gt4458c@prism.gatech.edu (John Stephens Cronin)
Newsgroups: rec.guns
Subject: Re: explosives question
Date: 12 Nov 92 14:56:33 GMT
Organization: Common Container Liberation Front


In article <199211111646.AA15274@ns2.CC.Lehigh.EDU> cdl0@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu (CONRAD DANIEL LLOYD-KNIGHT) writes:
#1) What kind of surface blast (assuming a direct hit with eg. a missile) would
#be required to destroy an underground bunker? I mean an actual military
#bunker, not a shelter. I need to know the minimum to put it out of commision,
#not necessarily kill everyone inside.

Well, that would depend entirely on what kind of bunker it was (ie
method of construction).  How deep is it?  Is it timber reinforced or
reinforced concrete or ?  For a good reinforced concrete bunker buried
a few feet underground, it would probably take some sort of small nuke,
or at the very least one of those 15,000 pound things they push out of
the back of a C-130 cargo plane.  That is why they tend to use armor
penetrators (heavy steel outside core, delayed fuze), or even some sort
of dual explosive design (first blast goes though the dirt to the concrete,
second one blasts through that).  Really, without the exact composition of
the bunker (detailed plans would help) and method of delivery (ie a dumptruck
full of explosives - 20 tons or so - might do it).

There is no generic "actual military bunker".

#2) Same question, but for a large building complex (about 4 or 5 city blocks
#of large buildings).
#
Definitely going to take a small nuke to do this, no question about it.
A back pack or tactical artillery nuke ought to be able to do it (ie even
one kiloton might be enough).

#3) Exactly what energy (in Joules) corresponds to a ton of TNT (since
#explosive forces always seem to be given in terms of pounds, tons and megatons
#of TNT). While I'm at it - how many pounds are there in a ton of TNT (quite a
#lot I should imagine, but are we talking metric tons and pounds or silly
#imperial units?)?
#
I don't know how many joules result from the explosion of a ton of TNT.  I
will leave that to the wizards who like math more than I do, and have some
sort of data on TNT explosions.

I believe we are talking the normal 2000 pound ton, since we (USA) invented
the term for the Nukes we developed.  The thing to remember about nukes is
that they are rated in kilotons.  That is 200,000 pounds of TNT, or as we
say here at a technically oriented school, a shitload.  This would be at
least 2 to 4 tractor trailer loads of TNT, for ONE kiloton.

#Don't worry, I'm not planning to actually blow someone up! I just need to find
#out for a friend who's writing a book.

Don't take my tone to be obnoxious, please.  I definitely prefer it when
an author makes some attempt to research before writing.  Nothing annoys
me more than to be reading a spy novel and get to the passage about our
hero's gun, an automatic revolver or some such nonsense.  Even if I have
not fully answered your questions, hopefully it will add to the discussion.

-- 
John Cronin	Internet: gt4458c@prism.gatech.edu	Phone: (404) 876-1419
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Live each day as if it's your last.  One day you'll be right.  -- me
Lighten up, you're gonna die whether you have fun or not.      -- me again