Author(s)

W. Schonberg, J. Baird, P. Worsey, A. Belarbi, R. LaBoube, B. Lusk, R. Flanagan, H. Burleson, R. Woodley & W. Noll

Abstract

Rubble piles created following the collapse of a building in a combat situation can significantly impact mission accomplishment, particularly in the area of movement and maneuver. Rubble characteristics must be known, for example, in order to predict the ability of a vehicle to override the collateral damage from weapon effects in urban areas. Two types of models are developed: a first-order model and a first-principles-based model. In both models, we assume complete rubblization of the building and develop a rubble profile model using the size and composition of the collapsed structure to predict the rubble volume. In both cases, this profile model includes the size of the footprint area surrounding the original building assuming that the rubble is free to expand horizontally as well as the resulting height of such a rubble pile. Empirical data is now needed to verify the predictive capabilities of these models. Keywords: building collapse, rubble pile. 1 Introduction This paper presents a rubble characterization model developed in support of the development of AmmoSIM, an agent-based urban tactical decision aid (UTDA) for weapon-target pairing. AmmoSIM will ultimately be able to provide a fielded graphical lethality and vulnerability analysis tool using a synthetic 3-D urban terrain environment. AmmoSIM is intended to be an \“on-the-fly” simulation tool to predict and/or validate weapons effects and employment against targets in an urban environment. As such, it needs to include rubble effects, breakout of fires, infrastructure degradation, and WMD/HAZMAT effluent patterns. Rubble impacts mission accomplishment, particularly in the area of movement and maneuver. As such, rubble characteristics must be known, for example, in order

Keywords

building collapse, rubble pile.