Underwater Blast Shield
Mitigates underwater blast effects for safer, lower-impact ordnance remediation
This encapsulating blast shield system for underwater unexploded ordnance (UXO) enables hazardous underwater munitions to be safely detonated in place while minimizing environmental damage and safety risks. The system combines a high-strength blast-resistant blanket, an air-filled chamber positioned over the explosive, and magnets around the blanket perimeter. When the ordnance is detonated, the air chamber ruptures and creates a low-resistance air space that absorbs and redirects explosive energy, reducing shock waves and blast pressure. At the same time, the explosion lifts the center of the blanket, causing the magnetic edges to close around the explosion and encapsulate shrapnel, debris, and chemical byproducts for easy retrieval.
By allowing UXO to be neutralized without requiring diver recovery operations or large exclusion zones, the blast shield provides a safer, lower cost, and more environmentally responsible alternative to conventional underwater remediation methods. It reduces risks to marine life, underwater infrastructure, and personnel while also simplifying post-detonation cleanup and disposal.
This blast shield also can be used in confined underwater blasting projects for civil works (e.g., dredging projects) as an alternative to current procedures that rely on acoustic deterrence systems and hard- or soft-unconfined bubble curtain sound attenuation systems to reduce underwater noise and overpressure effects.
Benefits:
- Reduces blast impacts: Uses air to reduce initial shock and redirect blast energy
- Protects assets: Reduces damage to marine life and infrastructure
- Contains debris: Captures shrapnel and byproducts for retrieval
- Improves safety: Enables safer remediation with minimal diver risk
- Adapts to threats: Customizable for varying ordnance sizes and yields
- Lowers costs: Simplifies remediation, containment, and recovery
Applications:
- Underwater ordnance disposal
- Blow-in-place (BIP) operations
- Naval mine and UXO clearance
- Navigation improvement dredging projects
- Harbor and waterway clearing
- Infrastructure protection
- Environmental protection
Patents
- 18/797,095 (Copy & search patent)