Technical Approach

A search will be made of the literature and of the engineering, scientific, and Department of Defense (DoD) communities for quantitative field and laboratory data on the mobility, burial, and re-exposure of objects that are large relative to the surrounding sediment (including natural objects such as cobbles and rock fragments, and man-made objects such as UXO and other artifacts). These data will be utilized to further develop and constrain simple, rational, parameterized models for UXO mobility, burial, and re-exposure. It is anticipated that both the surrounding sediment and individual object forms of the Shields parameter will play central roles in developing robust predictive relationships, although the resulting relationships are likely to be nonlinear. Additional parameters that more explicitly incorporate object size and shape are also likely to be important and thus will be identified and constrained. Results of parameterized modeling will be passed on to those constructing a more systematic Expert Modeling System, as well as to the larger DoD, scientific, and engineering communities.