The influence of the height of burial of buried charges – Some experimental observations

•Rigid plates are subject to 15 g PE4 charges buried in dry sand.•The height of burial (amount of sand underneath the charge) is investigated.•Semi-infinite conditions are observed for select height of burial values.•The optimal depth of burial for impulse transfer is identified.

This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation to determine the effect of the height of burial (the amount of sand beneath the buried charge) on a buried charge in terms of impulses imparted onto a rigid steel target plate (suspended from a vertical pendulum). The 40 mm rigid target plate of exposed area 400 mm × 400 mm is located at a constant stand-off distance of 47 mm above the surface of the sand. Tests conducted at a height of burial of 0 mm (placed flush on a steel base plate) resulted in the largest impulse transfer for all depth of burial (amount of sand above the buried charge) values tested. The optimal depth of burial for impulse transfer was observed to occur within 50–70 mm irrespective of the height of burial (0–110 mm). Semi-infinite height of burial conditions are attained when any further increase in the height of burial does not influence the impulse transfer to the target plate. The height of burial representing semi-infinite conditions observed in the experiments is a function of the depth of burial.