Test of Hesco shelters November 2010

To investigate the protective properties of Hesco Concertainer gabions, charges have been detonated against gabions of different sizes. The experiments simulated direct hits of weapons according to threat levels specified in STANAG 2280. Charges were fired against open Hesco units with different fill materials. The materials were frozen. The units were not destroyed by the ordinary charges simulating 120 mm and 155 mm shells, but the shaped charges simulating RPG-7 penetrated the walls. The amount of debris increased with the grain size of the fill material and was largest with the shaped charges. Still the amounts were quite small. Ordinary shell charges were also detonated against a shelter with walls made of Hesco units and a roof of piled steel covered with Hesco cells. The charges produced craters, which did not perforate the wall or the roof. The peak pressures of the first blast wave inside the shelter were measured to between 3 and 5 kPa. A 420 kg TNT charge simulating a car bomb was detonated 20 m from a Hesco wall. The wall consisted of two parts, with one buried 0.5 m below the ground. The pressure was measured 3 m behind the middle of each of the two parts, 1 m above ground level. The peak pressure was 40 kPa behind the highest part and 34 kPa behind the lowest. As these values are the result of reflections, the uneven terrain may explain that the highest pressure is behind the highest part. The positive phase impulse at the two gauges was 520 and 530 Pas. After a second test series is completed, all the test data will be interpreted more thoroughly.