In an environment of growing political tension, it is logical that all possible scenarios be analyzed. This is probably one of the reasons that has led the Chinese army to simulate a rather apocalyptic scenario: the consequences of launching three nuclear missiles in rapid succession at the same target. This shock scenario in a miniature laboratory experiment to see what kind of damage would occur, according to a study published in Explosion and Shock Waves.
The results showed that hitting a target with multiple nuclear munitions in rapid succession leaves a larger crater and causes much more destruction than a single detonation (a no-brainer), but the authors say the research is relevant because It is the first laboratory test to accurately simulate the damage of such a brutal attack.
But the real value of this test probably lies in the fact that the military could use the findings to build better bunkers that could withstand such an apocalyptic situation. an issue that is on everyone’s minds as China and the United States mutually evaluate their weapons arsenals amid growing geopolitical tension.
The team, led by Benju Shi, highlighted in particular the power of American and Russian weaponry, as a “new generation of low-power, earth-penetrating nuclear missile warheads”as a cause for concern.
For the simulation, Shi’s team made a large metal vacuum chamber with thick, heavy walls, but small enough to fit in a laboratory. Inside the chamber, they used pressurized gas to drill three glass spheres buried in quartz sand and simulate a rapid succession of nuclear explosions, while video cameras captured every second of these explosions.
They then performed calculations that referred to the American Palanquin test of 1965carried out to identify the impact of a nuclear detonation. In that old experiment, carried out in Nevada, the explosion left a crater with a radius of 36 meters and a depth of about 20 meters.
The authors recreated the Palanquin test in miniature to validate their laboratory setup and create a basis for comparisons. In the Chinese experiment, which used multiple impacts in rapid succession, they found that such a scenario It would generate a crater much larger than that of the Palanquin test: 114 meters in radius and 35 meters deep.
“The results show that multi-point explosions significantly increase surface radius, volume and projection area free of the crater compared to single-point events, dramatically expanding the damage zone, and the depth of burial of the explosion profoundly influences the effect,” the study states.
This is a decisive conclusion for anyone designing future nuclear bunkers: the entire design and architecture, along with the materials, must take into account the results of the study to provide the site with a solid structure. Much more solid.