Simulated rainfall-driven dissolution of TNT, Tritonal, Comp B and Octol particles

Abstract

a b s t r a c tLive-fire military training can deposit millimeter-sized particles of high explosives (HE) on surface soils when rounds do not explode as intended. Rainfall-driven dissolution of the particles then begins a process whereby aqueous HE solutions can enter the soil and groundwater as contaminants. We dripped water onto individual particles of TNT, Tritonal, Comp B and Octol to simulate how surface-deposited HE particles might dissolve under the action of rainfall and to use the data to verify a model that predicts HE dissolution as a function of particle size, particle composition and rainfall rate. Particle masses ranged from 1.1 to 17 mg and drip rates corresponded to nominal rainfall rates of 6 and 12 mm h À1. For the TNT and Tritonal particles, TNT solubility governed dissolution time scales, whereas the lower-solubility of RDX controlled the dissolution time of both RDX and TNT in Comp B. The large, low-solubility crystals of HMX slowed but did not control the dissolution of TNT in Octol. Predictions from a drop-impingement dissolution model agree well with dissolved-mass timeseries for TNT, Tritonal and Comp B, providing some confidence that the model will also work well when applied to the rainfall-driven, outdoor dissolution of these HE particles.Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Dissolution of a new explosive formulation containing TNT and HMX: Comparison with octol

“…However, after 35 days the fragile octol particle disintegrated in small pieces, which resulted in a higher surface area and an increased dissolution of both TNT and HMX. Similar disintegration of octol particles into smaller pieces under water flow has been recently observed by other researchers [13]. TNT was entirely dissolved after 80 days and only 5.5% of HMX remained to be dissolved after 238 days.…”

“…Dissolution of explosives by precipitation is the departure point and one of the controlling factors for the transport, fate, and impact of explosives [8,9]. Moreover, few studies suggested that the dissolution rate of individual explosives was decreased when present in formulations compared to the pure explosives [10][11][12][13]. The primary goal of the present study was therefore to study the dissolution of GIM particles in aqueous media and compare results with the pure explosives, HMX and TNT, as well as octol (HMX/TNT: 70/30) in order to understand the effect of the binder and the interdependence of both explosives on their dissolution rates.…”

Desorption of nitramine and nitroaromatic explosive residues from soils detonated under controlled conditions

“…3). Other studies have provided similar Composition B dissolution information [9,13,14,18]. However, because the RDX:TNT:HMX ratios in Composition B vary, we wanted to determine the formulation of Composition B that was used to detonate our samples.…”

“…This may be attributable to enhanced electron-reduction transformation in the presence of fresh, reactive mineral particle surfaces and/or to the presence of an active microbiological regime on fresh soil particle surfaces. The dissolution of Composition B (RDX and TNT with minor HMX) particles, and the desorption and dissolution of explosive detonation residuals, has been quantified and modeled based on particle sizes and the effect of rainfall to better simulate the temporal fate of explosive residues in training range ecosystems [17,18].…”

Projectiles Impact Assessment of Aircraft Wing Structures with Real Dynamic Load

“…The material and equation of state models of projectiles shell are the same as wing structure. Comp B [11] is selected as the internal explosive due to its efficient killing effect. As mentioned in section 2, the material model of the explosive is *ELASTIC-PLASTIC-HYDRO and the equation of state is *IGNITION-GROWTH-OF-REACTION-IN-HE.…”