- Author
-
Diaz, J. C.
- Title
- Minuteman III: Stage 3 Propellant Fire Characterization. Final Report.
- Coporate
- Lawrence Livermore Lab., CA
- Report
-
UCRL-ID-117701,
June 20, 1994,
122 p.
- Distribution
- Available from National Technical Information Service
- Keywords
-
rocket propellants
|
risk assessment
|
heat flux
|
regression rate
- Identifiers
- thermal environment; ambient atmospheric conditions; Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA); diagnostics development; fire environment; layouts for propellant fire tests; photographic records of characterization tests; characteristics al alumina deposits
- Abstract
- We have completed an experimental program to diagnose and characterize the thermal environment of a solid rocket propellant fire burning in ambient atmospheric conditions. This work has been conducted as part of the Defense Nuclear Agency's probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) of the Minuteman II (MMIII) weapon system. The goals of this study are two-fold: 1) to provide a description of a propellant fire in sufficient detail so as to allow system response models to predict the outcome of various hypothetical accident scenarios and 2) to identify diagnostics that could be used in a large-scale test fire of MMIII stage 3 motor. The study has been performed burning SRAM II and MMIII stage 3 propellant (ANB-3006), in chimnyes ranging in size from 18 cm (seven inches) to 53 cm (twenty-one inches) in diameter. Several methods have been used to determine and confirm temperature measurements including thermometry, radiometry, and ultrasonic thermal sensing. Temperature profiles with peaks in excess of 2300 deg C have been measured. Temperature measurements have been used in conjunction with inverse modeling to determine heat flux characteristics. The regression rate for ANB-3066 (under ambient conditions) has also been determined. Finally, at a very cursory level, we have studied the characteristics of aluminum oxide deposits as well as some materials responses to these fires. We have also addressed the initial efforts on development of diagnostics, problems encountered in controlling the burning of propellants, in taking radiometric measurements, and the survivability of materials in the fire.