INTRODUCTION TO THE TECHNOLOGY OF EXPLOSIVES
The course provides a thorough grounding in the various technologies used in the design and application of explosives and explosive systems.

The course is designed with two basic objectives in mind: (1) to provide the worker new to the field with sufficient background to understand problems that may arise and to facilitate interaction with specialists in the field; (2) to provide an awareness of the crucial importance of safety in dealing with explosives to be obtained through a combination of technical knowledge and an appreciation of the various laws, statutes, codes and common practices in this field.

The major topics covered are:
The Chemistry of Explosives
The Mechanics of Burning
Sound, Shock and Detonation
Initiation and Initiators
Scaling in Design and Analysis
Off-the-Shelf Explosive Devices
Classification, Transportation & Storage of Explosives
Explosive Facilities and Explosive Operations


LECTURER: PAUL W. COOPER


TEXT:
Workbook
P. W. Cooper, Explosives Engineering, Wiley, NY, 1996
Course Fee: $2795.
Please register 30 days before the start of the course




HOW TO INITIATE EXPLOSIVES: Initiation and Initiators
The course takes an engineering approach to the subject matter. Practicality and application of the material are stressed over theory. Problem solving is emphasized. The course is designed to help you understand, analyze and solve a broad range of problems involving initiation of burning and detonation, and transfer of detonation across interfaces.
Major topics covered in the course are:
Theories of Initiation
Initiation of Deflagration
Initiation of Detonation
Deflagration-to-Detonation Transition

Nonelectric Initiators
Flame or Spark Initiators
Friction-Initiated Devices
Stab Initiators
Percussion Initiators
Energy-Power Relationship

Hot-Wire Initiators
Electric Matches
Electric Blasting Caps
Short Lead and Connectorized Initiators
Energy-Power Relationship
Firing at Minimum Energy
Safety Considerations in Design
Quality Control Testing

Exploding Bridgewire Detonators
Construction of EBWs
Explosion of the Bridgewire
Detonation of Initial Pressing
Effects of Cables
Function Time
Series and Parallel Firing Considerations
Safety Considerations

FEE: $2795
TEXT: Cooper, P, W., EXPLOSIVES ENGINEERING, Wiley, NY, 1996


Available as an onsite course

SHOCK AND DETONATION: AN ENGINEERING APPROACH
The course is designed to help you understand, analyze and solve a broad range of problems involving shock waves and energetic materials. By way of background, you will need to have a facility with algebra and some familiarity with the fundamental principles of thermodynamics and chemistry that are typically presented in a first course at an undergraduate level.

Daily Schedule:
DAY 1 Morning
Qualitative description of pressure waves
Elastic waves; shock waves
Particle and wave velocities
Attenuation of waves
Bead model

Afternoon
Derivation of shock jump conditions

DAY 2 Morning
Interaction of shock waves

Afternoon
Rarefaction waves
Interactions of rarefaction waves

DAY 3 Morning
Detonation waves
ZND or "ideal" model
Estimating the C-J state
Estimating the detonation product Hugoniot

Afternoon
Interaction of detonation waves
Interactions with other materials

Real effects in detonations
Reaction zone
Effects of diameter, density

LECTURER: Paul W. Cooper
TEXTS: P. W. Cooper, EXPLOSIVES ENGINEERING, Wiley, NY, 1996; J. A. Zukas and W. P. Walters (eds.), EXPLOSIVE EFFECTS AND APPLICATIONS, Springer-Verlag, NY, 1998
FEE: $2795


SCALING THE EFFECTS OF EXPLOSIONS

This 3 day short course provides participants with a thorough
grounding in the engineering application of explosives.

Participants gain access to an outstanding scientist who is an active contributor to the field and author of several books on explosive technology. They get to spend a week with one of the top people in the field. They can listen, ask questions, and consult with him on problems at work. This is an unparalleled opportunity. The only way to fail to benefit from this course is to sit in a corner all week long and never say anything!

Participants will be exposed to the literature in your field and take home an extensive set of notes as well as the texts:

Explosives Engineering by Paul W. Cooper, VCH Publishers, NY, 1996
Explosive Effects and Applications, J. A. Zukas and W. P. Walters (Eds.), Springer-Verlag, NY,1998

After this week, they will have a much better understanding of explosive technology and know where to look up information (and whom to call) on future problems.

Participants will get hands-on experience solving problems in the accompanying workbook. They will learn first-hand the capabilities and limitations of analytical methods for modeling the behavior of energetic materials! The majority of problems in engineering applications can be solved with first-order "back-of-the-envelope" type calculations.
Participants will obtain the basic calculational skills needed to solve simple, first-order engineering design problems.

The major topics covered in the course are:

Theories of Scaling:
Scaling by Geometric Similarity
Scaling by Dimensional Analysis
Work Functions or Available Energy

Acceleration, Formation & Flight of Fragments:
The Gurney Model
Fragmentation of Cylinders
Flight of Fragments

Blast Effects:
Scaling Air Shock
Scaling Shocks in Water
Physiological Response to Air Blast

Scaling Craters:
Crater Formation Mechanisms
Surface Bursts
Above-Surface Bursts
Buried Bursts

Jetting, Shaped Charges and Explosive Welding
Shaped Charges
Explosive Welding


The cost of the course is $2795 (U.S.), payable in advance by credit card, check, purchase order or cash.


Instructor: Paul W. Cooper
PAUL COOPER is a consultant in the field of explosives engineering. He also teaches extensively on the subject in the form of short courses as well as at university graduate courses. Mr. Cooper is recently retired from 32 years at Sandia National Laboratories where he held the position of Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff in the Department of Explosives Applications. Prior to that, he worked at the Armour Research Foundation in Chicago and at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. He was an Adjunct Professor of Mechanical Engineering on the graduate faculty at the New Mexico State University (NMSU).

Paul Cooper has over 32 years' experience in basic research in explosives phenomena and in the design, development and testing of explosives and explosive devices and components for both conventional and nuclear weapons systems. His work has also included the use of explosives for seismic exploration for minerals and natural energy resources; explosive and propellant enhanced recovery techniques for oil and gas; and significant contributions in the areas of safeguards and security. His unique work utilizing scale models has significantly reduced costs and development time on a number of critical programs.

Mr. Cooper is recognized internationally as an expert in the explosives field. Examples of situations where his expertise was deemed essential include the following:

Mr. Cooper was a lead investigator of the Sandia National Laboratories Committee to review and reinvestigate the 1989 USS IOWA Gun Turret Explosion for the US Senate Armed Services Committee. He demonstrated through both theoretical models and full-scale experiments that the explosion was caused by an accidental over-ram of the gun.

He testified before the U. S. Senate Armed Services Committee on the subject of the explosion aboard the battleship USS IOWA.

Mr. Cooper was a special consultant to the United Nations and member of the UNSCOM/IAEA inspection team in Iraq concerned with uncovering that country's development of nuclear weapons.

He was an appointed member of the Treasury Department's Administrative Review of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms' actions at the Branch Davidian Compound at Waco, Texas.

He has served continuously since 1982 as a member of the Advisory Committee for the International Association of Bomb Technicians and Investigators, and has received the Distinguished Service Award from that organization

Mr. Cooper has published extensively in his field. In addition to numerous papers and reports, he has authored two engineering tutorial/reference textbooks, Introduction to the Technology of Explosives (co-authored with S. R. Kurowski) and Explosives Engineering, both published by John Wiley & Sons Publishers in 1996. Mr. Cooper has also authored an invited chapter on Detonation Physics for the reference text, Explosive Effects and Applications , edited by Jonas A. Zukas and William P. Walters, published in 1998 by Springer-Verlag. He is also the former American editor of the International Journal of Propellants, Explosives and Pyrotechnics.

Mr. Cooper has prepared and presented numerous technical, engineering, and safety courses and has acted as a general consultant in explosives technology, safety and security matters for various government departments and agencies. Much of his interagency activity involved investigation of accidents involving explosives and explosions. Consulting clients, present and former, include:

Sandia National Laboratories
U.S. Dept. of Energy/Idaho Operations Office
FBI Laboratory Division
U.S. DoD/Defense Science Board
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Waterways Experiment Station
Computational Mechanics Associates
Stone and Webster Engineering
ETA Consultants, Inc
SBR Technologies, Inc.
Ensign-Bickford Company, Inc.
Several law firms (accident investigation)



FUNDAMENTALS OF BALLISTICS
This 5 day short course is intended as a broad introduction to the field of ballistics. The course will cover all three major facets of ballistics: Interior, Exterior, and Terminal at a level where the student will gain an appreciation of the subject as a whole. The course provides a general background and outlines mathematical approaches to solution of ballistics problems. The topics covered are:

Interior Ballistics

Exterior Ballistics

Terminal Ballistics