Blast Effects on Structures

house

This photo sequence shows a wood-frame house exposed to a nuclear blast at the Nevada Test Site. The test was Upshot-Knothole Annie, a 16 Kt tower shot, on March 17, 1953. The house is 1,100 meters from ground zero.

The exposure to thermal radiation was 25 cal/cm2, about one-quarter of that experienced at ground zero in Hiroshima.

The blast overpressure was 5 psi, and the blast wave created surface winds of 160 mph (257 kpm).