Comments for Institute of Explosive Engineers

Comment on Felling Trees with Explosives by Robert Wharton

Robert Wharton — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 01:33:28 +0000

I did a job at Stowe School many years ago to remove some heavy branches from a Beech tree where the trunk had died and would eventually lose the ability to support the weight of said branches. As the gardens were designed by Capability Brown it was decided that a gap in the tree line from removal of the trunk would be unacceptably unsightly. There had also been some research at the time showing that the tree would be repopulated faster by the local flora and fauna if what remained was explosively split rather than clean cut. Trees (and stumps) have been explosively removed for years and I do have somewhere an old ICI pamphlet on the process, I would suggest that the practice has gone out of fashion due to increased safety legislation. Bottom line (IMHO) – Yes it can be done and, if it’s not critical where the tree falls then it doesn’t have to be prohibitively expensive.

Comment on Felling Trees with Explosives by Ed Pennington-Ridge

Ed Pennington-Ridge — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 10:59:37 +0000

HI There,

Clearly – felling the tree is the easy bit. Any solution would also have to look at control of the tree during its descent – and ensuring it didn’t hang up on anything – or that if it did – this eventuality had been planned for and mitigated. I fell trees in my own woodland, and also use energetic materials to solve problems – and so have some experience of both of the key areas here. I have to say that I’m far from convinced that there would be a cost effective solution to this problem, mainly because you would already have to have the equipment to control the descent in place – and use of explosives would necessitate strict and expensive access control procedures (one of a long list of issues). But perhaps I am missing something – or your particular use case could make use of explosives a sensible technique. Happy to bat ideas around if it would help – but on first sight of this problem I’m not overly optimistic. edpenningtonridge@gmail.com

Comment on Felling Trees with Explosives by David Marriott

David Marriott — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 10:54:09 +0000

I think you will have two problems:
1) The cost might make it uneconomical – You would need a specialist crew for safety reasons and of course the explosives. These would be more expensive than a person with a chainsaw.
2) Cutting the trunk in a way that forces the tree to fall in a given direction – You won’t be able to cut a wedge with a shape charge and if the wedge is pre-cut you might as well finish the job by saw.
3) The time to set it out would make this a slow process.

I am not a demolition expert but these are my practical thoughts on the matter and I happy to defer to anyone with better knowledge or experience

Comment on Felling Trees with Explosives by Clifford Wright

Clifford Wright — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 10:39:18 +0000

I would suggest speaking to Alford Technologies Ltd they have a range of user filled charges that could be used for your application.

Comment on Need a company to analyse the compound and source of a propellant by David Brooks

David Brooks — Wed, 08 Sep 2021 15:51:52 +0000

QinetiQ might be the ones to approach.

Comment on Blackpowder – Is it really an explosive? by bill strickland

bill strickland — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 02:09:19 +0000

i have read all of the above comments, and see where the definition of explosive is a convoluted mixture of guesses, regulation specifics, and wild opinions. If explosion is meant, then it must be from impact or pressure. All other is burning at different rates, started by an ignition source. Nowhere is there a clear definition of can black powder be impacted by a shock or pressure that results in an explosion throughout the whole of its volume. Anything else is a high speed reaction of a flame travel, burning. And the idea that 50lbs of black powder being excessive, thats a joke also. Lots of reloading clubs go through that much in 6 weeks time with the recent interest in muzzle loaders of all sorts.

Comment on Technical Data Required for possible Former Soviet Union B1 Depth Charge/Mine by Gareth Collett

Gareth Collett — Thu, 12 Dec 2019 18:34:01 +0000

Thank you for all the advice. The items in question were the B1 soviet depth charge with and without pistons. Those fitted with pistons were destroyed first, whilst the remainder go for demolition in early 2020. I have the technical data if anyone requires it.

Comment on Fireball Assessment for Type 3 Explosives by Jim Edwards

Jim Edwards — Tue, 12 Nov 2019 09:03:11 +0000

I have used the CBI published guidance before (link below). The equation for type 3 explosives is in annex F. This has the HSE logo on it so should hold some weight with them.

http://www.eig2.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/disposal_guide.pdf

Comment on Fireball Assessment for Type 3 Explosives by James Fleming

James Fleming — Thu, 07 Nov 2019 16:20:39 +0000

I was involved in gaining licensing approval for a propellant facility that required an assessment of the fireball size; following a review of the original literature from the 1940’s, a specific assessment of the fireball size propellant for the propellant web being processed was conducted – this showed that the standard Q/D relationships were too pessimistic. Although that particular analysis was conducted by Burgoyne & Partners, I believe that the methodology is relatively straightforward.

Comment on Fireball Assessment for Type 3 Explosives by Mark Herbert

Mark Herbert — Wed, 06 Nov 2019 10:52:02 +0000

Roland Wharton has done some useful work. Here’s a good article by him:
Roy Merrifield, Roland Wharton. Measurement of the Size, Duration and Thermal Output of Fireballs Produced by a Range of Propellants. Propellants, Explosives, Pyrotechnics. September 2000. Volume 25, Issue 4, Pages 179-185.

Comment on Fireball Assessment for Type 3 Explosives by Phil Pitcher

Phil Pitcher — Tue, 05 Nov 2019 11:49:30 +0000

Try approaching MSIAC. They are just in the process of updating the STANAGs for all IM test procedures and hold other useful data.

Comment on Fireball Assessment for Type 3 Explosives by Danny Kay

Danny Kay — Tue, 05 Nov 2019 10:08:46 +0000

I can suggest David Goode Associates
https://www.djgoode.co.uk/
We have used them previously on an HSE licence project relating to HT3 fireball projection and mitigation.