overburden
To wit: "overburden" is defined ...
So, there are two ways to use it: First, as a verb. And secondly, as a noun. I don't want to overburden myself trying to think of an example of how to use "overburden" as a verb, so ... I am going to offer an example of how to use "overburden" as a noun ... right here! And it starts with a question:
Is Natanz so deep that a nuclear bunker buster is necessary?
You mean one of these ..?
Iranian officials claim Natanz is more than 18 meters underground. Hersh suggests 23 meters. Anyway, this is the bottom line: Natanz is about 20 meters underground ...
Depth, though, is less important than the ... "concrete overburden equivalent" of a Hard and Deeply Buried Target (HDBT). Natanz was constructed using the "cut and cover" method: First, dig a hole; then build a reinforced concrete roof; cover with rock and soil; and repeat. It’s a Persian mille-feuilles, with dirt, rebar and concrete.
Persian mille-feuilles: Select ("click") image to enlarge. I'm not sure I can tell which layers are the dirt, which are the rebar and which are just concrete - but the whole thing looks scrumptious.
"Concrete overburden equivalent" measures the combined strength of the concrete, rock, and soil [as if it were all just] concrete. In other words, how [many meters] would an equally strong structure of reinforced concrete amount to? The "concrete overburden equivalent" at Natanz is probably considerably less than the actual meters of structure, rock, and soil above the facility. Generally speaking, shallow cut and cover facilities are thought to be vulnerable to the current suite of earth penetrating munitions ...
"Cut and cover" ..? I thought it was supposed to be "duck and cover" ... I could sure use a coffee (black) with that extraordinary looking Persian mille-feuilles ... ummm ... can't we do better than this?
Currently, two basic types of construction methods are used to create an underground complex, "cut and cover" and tunneling. Cut and cover facilities are created by digging deep trenches in the ground, constructing a steel-reinforced concrete bunker deep in the trench, and back filling the excavated earth over it. The amount of earth and/or rock on top of the buried facility is called "overburden" and typically, the greater the amount of overburden, the [more protected] the facility is against aerial assault from bunker busters; i.e. bombs designed to burrow deeply into the earth before detonating ...
Now that's more like it ... but we still need a picture!
An artist’s concept of an underground facility with ventilation shafts and an entrance more than a mile-and-a-half from the main facility. The overburden is the amount of material (soil; rock; concrete; etc.) covering the roof of the buried facility.
I mean a real picture.
Select ("click") image to enlarge.
Additional layers of reinforced concrete and fill dirt create a multi-layer sandwich (i.e. overburden) designed to defeat conventional earth-penetrating precision munitions. Date: 8 June 2003. Image Source: DigitalGlobe.
Fantastic!
Countdown Iran
High profile OptiBoard poster rinselberg reports on the Pentagon's latest plans ...
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