Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Explosive Bolts
Message-ID: <1989Dec2.104842.22624@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <14459@boulder.Colorado.EDU>
Date: Sat, 2 Dec 89 10:48:42 GMT

In article <14459@boulder.Colorado.EDU> loughry@tramp.Colorado.EDU (J. Loughry) writes:
>How do "explosive bolts" actually work?  Do they contain an internal charge
>with a detonator (sounds like a recipe for a fragmentation grenade--not a good
>thing to have bouncing around the pad during a launch), or is it an external
>shaped charge (like a bolt cutter)?  How do they contain fragments?

Normally it's an internal charge, with detonator, that is large enough to
reliably crack the bolt when fired.  Blowing the thing to bits is not
necessary; it suffices to break it at a pre-supplied weak area.

Fragment containment depends on details of the situation.  In the case of
the shuttle, I made a mistake earlier:  the solid bolts are on the SRB
skirts, not the pad.  The explosive nuts are located in housings on the
pad, which tend to contain the fragments.
-- 
Mars can wait:  we've barely   |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
started exploring the Moon.    | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu