<p> The use of explosives brings countless benefits to our everyday lives in areas such as mining, oil and gas exploration, demolition, and avalanche control. However, because of the potential destructive power of explosives, strict safety procedures must be an integral part of any explosives operation. </p><p> The goal of this work is to provide a solution to protect against the hazards that accompany the general use of explosives, specifically in avalanche control. For this reason, a blast shield was designed and tested to protect the Colorado Department of Transportation personnel against these unpredictable effects. This document will develop a complete analysis to answer the following questions: what are the potential hazards from the detonation of high explosives, what are their effects, and how can we protect ourselves against them. To answer these questions theoretical, analytical, and numerical calculations were performed. Finally, a full blast shield prototype was tested under different simulated operational environments proving its effectiveness as safety device. The Colorado Department of Transportation currently owns more than fifteen shields that are used during every operation involving explosive materials.</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:10157345 |
| Date | 09 November 2016 |
| Creators | Lozano, Eduardo |
| Publisher | Colorado School of Mines |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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