O-215 A Better Use of IM-HC Test Results

September 2019

Christelle Collet (TSO Propulsion Technology), Martijn van der Voort (TSO Munition Safety Transport & Storage), Lucas Caylar (ENSTA Bretagne), Florian Djedis (ENSTA Bretagne)

During the 2018 MSIAC Improved Explosives and Munitions Risk Management (IEMRM) workshop, it was recognized by the community that low violence reaction types such as a burn on one side, and high violence reactions such as detonations on the other side, are relatively well understood. However, a number of insensitive munitions and energetic materials react in a sub-detonative regime when subjected to mechanical or thermal threats as defined in Insensitive Munition (IM) & Hazard Classification (HC) standardized tests. Based on recommendations from the 2018 IEMRM workshop, it was then proposed to revisit experimental data from IM & HC tests, and especially the ones that led to intermediate reaction types (Types II to IV). The aim is to make better use of the data recorded during these tests in order to better understand sub-detonative regimes and their effects.
In this context, MSIAC has started to work on two new projects in 2019 that are related to data collection during IM and HC tests:

Guidance on Instrumentation for IM and HC Tests. This project will review the use of existing instrumentation and will seek to share and develop best practice.
Collation and Analysis of IM and HC Test Data. This project will analyse existing IM blast, thermal and fragmentation test data to gain a better understanding of the explosive effects for sub-detonative munition responses.

Both projects rely on available information from the open literature but also from test centres and other organisations. A questionnaire was sent to the MSIAC member nations and the results received so far were analysed during the summer of 2019. This paper provides the first outputs from both projects and presents the steps forward for the next year on this topic.
The ultimate goal for this study is to provide recommendations for improved and harmonized test procedures as well as recommendations for the characterization of munition responses and their use for safety distances and risk analysis.