A total of 308 guinea pigs were exposed to air blast in 4 close-fitting, shallow, rectangular chambers mounted on the top, bottom and sides of an air-driven shock tube. With a reflecting plate at the downstream edge of the chambers, the animals were exposed to long-duration shock overpressures that initially rose in a single step. The LD50-24-hr reflected pressure calculated from grouping all positions was 36.2! 0.8 psi. By moving the reflecting plate to various distances downstream of the chambers, shock overpressures that initially rose in two steps were applied. The results were that the animals' tolerances to overpressure rose as the time between pressure steps was increased. Comparison of the LD50's obtained with animals in each chamber revealed that there was not a significant statistical difference in their tolerances, whether they were loaded initially with the single-step pulse from their right, left, dorsal or ventral surfaces. (Author).

A theoretical model was developed for the purpose of predicting the motion of objects translated by winds associated with 'classical' blast waves produced by explosions. Among the factors omitted from the model for the sake of simplicity were gravity and the friction that may occur between the displaced object and the surface upon which it initially rested. Numerical solutions were obtained (up to the time when maximum missile velocity occurs) in terms of dimensionless quantities to facilitate application to specific blast situations. The results were computed within arbitrarily chosen limits for blast waves with shock strengths from 0.068 to 1.7 atm (1 to 25 psi at sea level) for displaced objects with aerodynamic characteristics ranging from those of a human being to those of 10-mg stones and for weapon yields at least as small as 1 kt or as large as 20 Mt.

Fourteen dogs were exposed on the lee side of planted gravel, of a concrete-block wall, and of glass mounted in the open and in houses to the environmental variations associated with full-scale nuclear detonations. Aluminum foil was used to protect the animals from thermal effects. The feasibility of utilizing missile data, along with other available information from the literature, as a means of quantitatively assessing biologic hazard was established by the close correspondence between observed and predicted dangerous wounds.