Camouflets and their effect on runway support

A numerical simulation of the effect of the detonation of a chemical explosive in a subgrade, such that a camouflet is formed beneath an apparently undisturbed cement concrete runway, is described and discussed. The runway, the subgrade variations, and an applied uniform pressure loading to the runway are modelled. The computer output shows that for some subgrade variations the camouflet location and size can be determined from runway surface displacement measurements. However, some subgrade variations make camouflets difficult to detect, while other subgrade variations give misleading runway support information. The inherent instabilities of camouflets are described by reference to the stress results. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.