Review of Data from Shock Physics Experiments SPE-1, SPE-2 and SPE-3: Data Corrections and Phenomenology Analysis
The NNSA is conducting a series of high explosive (HE) tests – the Source Physics Experiments – at the National Nuclear Security Site (NNSS). These experiments are intended to investigate the generation of geophysical signals from controlled sources. These signals will aid in the development of physics-based models to aid in the discrimination of signals emitted from these and other possible sources, such as earthquakes and clandestine nuclear events. The SPE events include an array of accelerometers near to the source intended to provide measurements of the strong ground motion, or “near field,” regime. LANL performed an extensive review of the near field measurements from the first two events (SPE-1 and SPE-2) in this series. This review revealed that the near field gauges likely rotated during installation, causing measurement uncertainty. 2 This conclusion led to the installation of new gauges for the third experiment, SPE-3, utilizing new physical design and improved installation practices to achieve better quality control on their orientation. A subsequent analysis of SPE-3 data confirmed that rotations occurred and provided the basis for corrections to those data where the amount of rotation could be credibly determined. The corrected data supports a more confident analysis of the entire near field data set. This report summarizes the data errors and provides results of the analysis of the corrected dataset.