- Author
- Goodale, T.
- Title
- Ignition Hazard to Urban Interiors During Nuclear Attack Due to Burning Curtain Fragments Transported by Blast. Summary Report.
- Coporate
- URS Research Co., San Mateo, CA
- Sponsor
- Office of Civil Defense, Washington, DC
- Report
- URS 7030-5; Modification P616-1; Summary Report, December 1971, 29 p.
- Contract
- DAHC-20-71-C-0223
- Keywords
- nuclear warfare | blast effects | curtains | ignition hazards | civil defense | kindling fuels | windows
- Abstract
- There exists some uncertainty at present, in the formulation of civil defense doctrine, as to whether it is advisable for window curtains to be closed or open during nuclear attack. Closed curtains would be in position to intercept some major portion, or all, of the thermal radiation pulse that would otherwise enter through the window and ignite kindling fuels within the room. But because they did so they would probably ignite and the flaming curtains, propelled into the room by the blast wave, could represent an even more serious ignition hazard than would occur if the window remained uncovered, and the curtains uninvolved. Because of this uncertainty, limited investigation, was undertaken to gain information concerning the ignition hazard represented by burning curtain fragments carriedon a blast wave into typical urban interiors. The specific objective of the research described in this report was to investigate the propensity of burning curtains, carried into typical urban interiors by blast waves, to cause ignitions within the interiors capable of leading to flashover.