A Simulation of Barrier Motion Induced by the Explosion of an Ammunition Stack in a Magazine

In an effort to increase magazine storage limits, it has been suggested that the maximum credible event in an accident scenario may be significantly reduced if the munitions store is divided into two or more stacks of ammunition separated by barriers. Consideration must be given to the fact that the moving barrier may cause sufficient damage to the munitions in the acceptor stack to initiate the explosive they contain, thus defeating its intended purpose. A combined analytical and experimental investigation was proposed to assess this hazard and to determine whether such barriers can successfully be designed. The analytical study included numerical simulations of the magazine environment for use in developing the experimental configuration. It was determined that thin fast-moving barriers have the potential to do greater damage to ammunition in an acceptor stack than thick slow-moving barriers, that blast scaling laws might be useful as predictive tools and that barrier venting was ineffective in mitigating the hazard.