NSWC/WOL TR 77-90 



APPENDIX A 



MEAN KILL VOLUME 



An alternative measure of the fish-killing potential of an 

 explosion geometry is the Mean Kill Volume (or MKV) defined on the 

 basis of an assumed uniform spatial distribution of fish. Let D 

 be the assumed uniform spatial density for fish of a given species 

 and size. Assuming D, let N be the number of fish killed by a 

 given explosion geometry. We then define the mean kill volume by 



MKV = N/D (Al) 



Thus, the mean kill volume is the volume of water which multiplied 

 by the assumed uniform fish density results in the number of fish 

 killed by the explosion. 



Since N is generally computed by 



N = /p X D dV (A2) 



where p is the kill probability, we can also express the mean kill 

 volume directly in terms of the kill probability 



MKV = /p dV (A3) 



In this way we can avoid referencing the fish density distribution 

 which is generally unknown. 



Given an approximately random distribution of fish the MKV is an 

 appropriate parameter for comparing the fish-killing potential of 

 explosion test configurations.* 



*If one has specific knowledge of the fish density distribution, such as the 

 presence of only bottom-feeding or surface -feeding fish then this additional 

 knowledge should, of course, be used. 



A-1/2 



