1. Use the softest to counter the hardest.We dared to do others
not keen to do.
29/06/2005 STimes Page: H2
Headline: It's true, water can absorb power of big blast
By: David Boey
DEFENCE engineers here made an explosive breakthrough recently
that could radically change the design of military bunkers and
civilian bomb shelters.
After experiments showed that water-filled containers could help
absorb the
destructive power of a bomb blast, engineers from the Defence
Science and
Technology Agency (DSTA) held a full-scale trial with their
counterparts in
Sweden, blowing up 10 tonnes of explosives.
Packed around the 10 one-tonne lots of explosives - each capable of
punching a 3m-wide crater in the ground - were containers filled
with two tonnes of water each.
On detonation, the containers were wrecked. But the energy from
the
explosion vapourised the water, reducing the effect of the
blast by 60 per
cent.
Hailing the results as a major breakthrough,
DSTA chief executive Richard
Lim said yesterday that defence engineers worldwide had considered
using water barriers to reduce the effect of an explosion.
But none had tested the idea on the scale of the experiment
conducted in
Sweden last month. He added that the experiments are important as
water
barriers can potentially reduce the amount of land needed as a
safety buffer
around ammunition bunkers.
Mr Lim updated the media on research developments at DSTA when he
unveiled a 60-page book to mark five years of DSTA's
achievements.
The book will be distributed to organisations such as government
bodies,
tertiary institutions and public libraries.
DSTA was formed five years ago from several Ministry of Defence
departments to serve as the national authority on weapons
procurements and military technology.
Mr Lim added that another area his engineers are working on is to
help
national security planners assess the impact of a bomb blast,
similar to the
car bomb detonated outside the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta. The
August 2003
terror attack killed 12 people.
'One of the scenarios that we are looking into is the extent of
building
damage and casualties in the event of a car bomb exploding near or
at the
entrance of a hotel, similar to the attack at the Marriott,' he
said.
From its analysis, using computer modelling and other tools, DSTA
will
recommend measures to minimise casualties and damages, if
not prevent an attack.
2. More than 6 years of effort to confirm water as
buffer
In undertaking this project, MINDEF achieved a number of
ground-breaking results in R&D. Significant achievements have
been made in water mitigation and ground shock
studies. Water mitigation makes use of water to absorb the energy
of an accidental explosion. This greatly reduces the safety buffer
zone, freeing up land for productive use. Ground shock studies
enables our engineers to formulate structural engineering codes for
the safe construction of buildings in areas affected by ground
shock effects. This also reduces land wastage.
fr Speech by Mr David Lim, Minister of State for Defence and
Information & the Arts, at the Ground-Breaking Ceremony for the
Underground Ammunition Facilty Email Article Dd: 12 Aug 1999,
fr
http://www.mindef.gov.sg/imindef/news_and_events/nr/1999/aug/12aug99_nr.html
Pl note Sg rewrite ammo storage code for NATO.
