Explosions in transport tunnels, coal mines and military bunkers have caused huge damage and cost countless lives. But now scientists may have found a way to limit the destruction.
In an initiative sponsored by NATO’s Science for Peace and Security Programme, Georgian and US scientists are developing a system to limit the damage caused by explosions in confined spaces. At the Mining Institute of Georgia, in an underground experimental base, the scientists demonstrate the new system where very high-speed sensors trigger the ejection of a high-pressure water absorber to suppress the blast from the explosion.
Footage includes interviews with scientists and NATO representatives as well as footage of the system being demonstrated.
SOUNDBITES
1. (00:00) VARIOUS EXTERNAL AND SET-UP SHOTS – THE MINING INSTITUTE OF GEORGIA INCLUDING SIGNS FROM THE UNDERGROUND EXPERIMENTAL BASE, NATO AND GEORGIAN FLAGS AND A TECHNICIAN WHO WORKS ON THE PROJECT
2. (00:20) VARIOUS SHOTS – SCIENTISTS AND TECHNICIANS SETTING UP AND PERFORMING EXPERIMENTS IN THE REPLICA TUNNEL BUILT AS PART OF THE NATO SCIENCE FOR PEACE AND SECURITY PROJECT
3. (01:15) VARIOUS SHOTS – THE 255-METRE TUNNEL SYSTEM AT THE UNDERGROUND EXPERIMENTAL BASE LOCATED AT THE MINING INSTITUTE OF GEORGIA
4. (01:26) VARIOUS SHOTS – DUMMY FITTED WITH SENSORS TO DETECT AND TEST THE EFFECT OF EXPLOSIONS ON HUMAN BODY
5. (01:37) VARIOUS SHOTS – SCIENTISTS PREPARE EXPLOSION IN BLAST CHAMBER AT UNDERGROUND EXPERIMENTAL BASE
6. (02:04) VARIOUS CLOSE-UP SHOTS – WATER ABSORBER THAT LIMITS DAMAGE CAUSED BY EXPLOSION
7. (02:11) VARIOUS SHOTS – DEMONSTRATION OF WATER ABSORBER AFTER EXPLOSIONS
8. (02:42) SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – MIKHEIL CHIKHRADZE, RESEARCH ENGINEER
“This tunnel is designed to replicate the motorway tunnels, railway tunnels, coal mines, any kind of confined space where the explosion can take place, underground storage for civilian applications, bunkers, anywhere where we have the risk of explosion in any confined space.”
9. (03:04) SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – DR THEODOR KRAUTHAMMER, SPS PROJECT CO-DIRECTOR
“When we have an explosion in open space, the detonation expands very quickly and dissipates. However, when we have a confined explosion, the same detonation that initially expands will reflect from the rigid surfaces and be contained in the space, remain longer and cause more damage.”
10. (03:34) SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – DR NIKOLOZ CHIKHRADZE, SPS PROJECT CO-DIRECTOR
“We are in the explosive chamber. This is the dummy. He’s equipped with different sensors to study the effect of explosions on a human, and after several explosions, he’s still alive.”
11. (03:48) SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – DR MICHAEL SWITKES, NATO SCIENCE FOR PEACE AND SECURITY PROGRAMME
“We develop all sorts of different technologies in the hope that they will be used both for military and for civilian purposes. Fuel trucks, for example, have exploded inside tunnels causing catastrophic accidents and if those civilian road tunnels were protected by systems like this one, those catastrophic failures could be contained and lives could be saved.”
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