Publications Details

US Naval Academy: Internship After-Action Report (AAR)

Meegan, Allison

DTRA and NNSA need to understand certain energetic products in order to define requirements for ongoing nuclear weapon enterprise programs. By characterizing shaped charges, for example, we can proactively protect our existing nuclear stockpile. Being able to effectively and accurately model these characteristics allows us to more efficiently utilize time, money, and resources so that we can best protect our assets. I was partnered with another midshipman to work on this project with our advisor, along with a team of explosives technicians, and several specialists in computational simulations. In order to determine the pressure field created by the jet and the jet velocity, I worked with and modified simulations using CTH, a code developed at Sandia. I compared values from the simulation to what was determined experimentally.