Unexploded military ordnance located underwater pose a significant risk to human safety, aquatic life and marine infrastructure. Better methods are needed to help those tasked with their disposal to safely locate and remove these dangerous munitions.
In response, ERDC researchers invented a patented blast shield that can enable safe detonation while mitigating harmful blast pressures and containing toxic byproducts.
We discuss this innovative apparatus with its inventors – Taylor Rycroft, a research environmental engineer with ERDC’s Environmental Laboratory, and Griffin Donohue, a technical engineer with ERDC’s Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory.
Topics include the challenges presented by underwater UXO (1:25), what initiated this effort (4:19), and the blast shield’s unique design and how it works (8:12). We also discuss how the blast shield improves on existing methodologies (15:18), next steps (20:19), and how the team will test and evaluate this technology using unique ERDC capabilities to simulate underwater explosions (24:53).
Read more about the Underwater UXO Blast Shield at https://www.erdc.usace.army.mil/Media/News-Stories/Article/4548190/erdc-researchers-granted-patent-for-novel-underwater-uxo-blast-shield-invention.
Watch a video of this episode at PowerofERDCPodcast.org/81-underwater-uxo-blast-shield_video.
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