A Brief Summary of the Watusi Event, September, 2001

40,000 Lbs TNT Equivalent

The Watusi experiment was executed by a large team in response to a particular situation that needed to be mitigated in a timely and cost-effective manner. This was an intensive effort that lasted for approximately two years.

Many diagnostics suites were deployed, and excellent sets of unique data were recovered from the experiment. For example, an initial version of a new sensor, coined the Watusi Sensor, was developed and deployed, and a unique demonstration of dynamic InSAR was also successfully deployed; both provided data sets that were a first.

Watusi experiment installation and the remaining crater size 50x100 feet that was created by the blast.

Blast Effects Shot

The Watusi shot, fired at the Nevada Test Site, was a large scale experiment with the following design characteristics:

• The high explosives system:
  • A large, remotely constructed, non-ideal, (very sensitive) primary explosive system
  • A 2,500 lb PBX 9501 booster system
  • Designed specifically to activate a strong shear wave in the earth

• Deployed diagnostics systems included the following:
  • Fireball diagnostics.
  • Seismometry
  • Blast over pressure
  • Dynamic InSAR. Both the P- and S-waves were dynamically measured
  • The Watusi Sensor. A non- linear, three dimensional high-Q point sensor capable of measuring small to large amplitudes. The sensing element has six degrees of freedom.

Watusi Experiment Summary (pdf)