Homemade explosives in the subsurface as intermediate electrical conductivity materials: a new physical principle for their detection

Steven A. Grant; Benjamin E. Barrowes; Fridon Shubitidze; Steven A. Arcone

doi:10.1117/12.2050430

29 May 2014 Homemade explosives in the subsurface as intermediate electrical conductivity materials: a new physical principle for their detection

Steven A. Grant, Benjamin E. Barrowes, Fridon Shubitidze, Steven A. Arcone

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 9072, Detection and Sensing of Mines, Explosive Objects, and Obscured Targets XIX; 90720A (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2050430
Event: SPIE Defense + Security, 2014, Baltimore, MD, United States

Abstract

Detection of homemade explosive (HME) containing ammonium nitrate (AN) in the subsurface is of great interest to the US military and its coalition partners. Due to the hygroscopy of AN, this HME is expected to be an intermediate electrical conductivity material (IECM), defined here as one having electrical conductivity greater than soils, which have conductivities 0.1 to 1000 mS•m⁻¹ but less than metals, which have electrical conductivities on the order of 10 MS•m⁻¹. Our preliminary experimental and numerical modeling have established that AN-containing HME in the subsurface can, in all likelihood, be detected by electromagnetic exploration geophysics techniques, specifically by ground penetrating radar (GPR) and by electromagnetic induction (EMI). The electromagnetic induction signatures of HME for these techniques are distinctive. For example, in the case of EMI, the maximum quadrature response frequencies for IECM targets have been found to be greater than 100 kHz.

Citation Download Citation

Steven A. Grant, Benjamin E. Barrowes, Fridon Shubitidze, and Steven A. Arcone "Homemade explosives in the subsurface as intermediate electrical conductivity materials: a new physical principle for their detection", Proc. SPIE 9072, Detection and Sensing of Mines, Explosive Objects, and Obscured Targets XIX, 90720A (29 May 2014); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2050430

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