scope:

Purpose of Document

The purpose of this document is to provide a NATO standard reference on methods and procedures for nuclear blast and thermal testing. It is intended for use by system designers and simulator managers. The eventual aim is to set a formal standard for testing, but in the interim NATO countries should work towards the guidelines given here as soon as reasonably practicable.

The reasons for moving towards standards in hardness testing include:

• assurance of uniform survivability levels for all equipment

• The desire for fair and direct comparison of equipment from each country - allowing procurement with confidence.

• Ease of collaboration between NATO countries

• Assurance against equipment inadequacies

Nuclear hardening can be a complex and specialised task and system developers should consider nuclear hardness requirements at an early stage in the development cycle and seek advice if necessary from appropriate national points of contact.

This document, AEP-25, describes currently available non-nuclear, i.e. simulator, techniques for performing blast, thermal and combined blast/thermal trials. It should be used in conjunction with AEP - 4 which sets out the Nuclear Hardening Criteria for Land, Navy and Air forces and with AEP - 9 Volumes 2 and 3 the manuals for simulators of nuclear blast and thermal effects. NATO AEPs are available from the national points of contact.

Chapters 1 and 2 are aimed at system managers, and Chapters 3 through 7 at system engineers or developers. Following this introduction Chapter 2 gives advice on simulator selection and trials planning. The main methods of blast testing, shock tubes, blast tunnels and high explosives, are described in Chapter 3. The various methods of thermal simulation are described in Chapter 4 and combined blast/thermal trials are covered in Chapter 5, Chapters 6 and 7 cover blast and thermal instrumentation in use at the various simulators.