To address the needs laid out in the Air Force solicitation AF182-010 Selectable Cutting and Fragmentation of Damaged Runway Surfaces, Hyperion proposes the investigation and application of a promising technology originally developed for the National Air and Space Administration (NASA) based on Electro-Hydraulic Fracturing. These efforts focused on developing a highly efficient means to fracture lunar rock and highly compacted lunar regolith without the use of explosives or traditional energy and power intensive mechanical cutting or sawing techniques. This technique is based on the use of a high power electrical discharge through a dielectric medium, namely water, to create a plasma and resulting impulsive shockwave. This technique has been demonstrated with good experimental results in the literature, showing various power levels and modifications of the technique for industrial mining applications as well as the fracture of engineered concrete samples up to 36 inches in diameter and 30 inches thick with a single discharge. The Hyperion-Heffernan Associates team believes that with minor adaptations an EHF system coupled with a robotic waterjet from the Hydro-demolition industry would provide an ideal solution to allow the quick and selective removal of damaged runways without the need for abrasive sawing or explosives.Runway Repair,Electro Hydraulic Fracturing,Plasma Blasting,Demolition,Pulse power,Blasting,Hydrodemolition,waterjet
