Atomic Weapons Research Establishment. Orford ... - English Heritage

Figure 33: Film stills from experiments carried out at AWRE Foulness, Essex, to prove the design
for the Orford Ness Vibration Test Buildings. TNA: PRO ES4/1282
Waltham Abbey, Essex, for the design of firing points with heavily armoured central
chambers and control rooms and camera positions to either side. No reference was
apparently made to these structures and in order to determine the best design for the
new buildings experiments were carried out at AWRE Foulness using small amounts
of explosives and 1/10 scale models (Figure 33) The initial design was for a monolithic
structure with a single entrance; a detonation in this structure completely destroyed
the model and produced large fragments. This was modified by replacing the roof with
laminated strawboard over the test cell and mounding its walls with gravel to add to the
mass of the structure. The design was further refined by supporting the roof on columns
and also by adding to its mass by placing gravel on its top. The roof also overhung the
test cell to contain the danger of lying debris being ejected from the building. When a
model of this design was tested the roof and mound rose up, with part of the force of
being vented through the gap between the top of the cell and the roof, the columns then
gave way allowing the roof to fall back into the cell.
The Vibration Test Buildings E2/136 and E3/135 are identical in design and the following
description of E2/136 is largely applicable to both structures (Figure 34). It comprises a
large reinforced concrete central cell 16.47m (54ft) by 7.30m (24ft) covered by a massive
reinforced concrete roof supported on sixteen reinforced concrete columns. To the
south and east of the main chambers are self-contained plant rooms. The main access to
the building is from the south through an entrance passage which was originally sealed by
a pair of outward opening metal covered wooden doors. On its western side, adjacent
to the main entrance passage is a blocked doorway that led to a small staff room and
toilet. Inside the building, on the eastern side of the passageway one set of stairs gives
access down to the main test cell and another up to a walkway around the top of the
chamber. At the end of the passageway is a lift pit, which allowed test pieces to be
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10 - 2009