- Author
- Back, G. G., III | Burns, R. E. | Ouellette, R. J. | Darwin, R. L. | Williams, F. W. | Leonard, J. T.
- Title
- Thermal Insult Produced by the Residual Liquid Fuel in a Missile Hit Scenario.
- Coporate
- Hughes Associates, Inc., Baltimore, MD Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC GEO Centers, Inc., Rockville, MD
- Sponsor
- Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, DC Naval Sea Systems Command, Arlington, VA
- Report
- NRL/MR/6180-99-8423, December 23, 1999, 42 p.
- Keywords
- missile systems | liquid fuels | shipboard fires | penetration | ships
- Identifiers
- missile propellant; Class A material; thermal pulse
- Abstract
- Shipboard fires that result from residual liquid missile propellant were studied in this collaborative work with the Italian Navy. Penetration of a ship compartment by a shaped charge jet by itself, i.e., in the absence of entrained missile propellant, will not cause ignition of Class A materials due to the extremely short duration of the thermal pulse. However, hot fragments generated by the warhead could result in ignition if the fragments happened to land on easily ignited Class A material. If the shaped charge jet entrains missile propellant, there is a potential for a serious fire or explosion depending on the quantity of propellant ingested into the compartment and the volume of air available.