Method and apparatus for containing and suppressing explosive detonations

[A method and apparatus for enclosing, controlling and suppressing the detonation of explosives in an explosion chamber is disclosed. The device comprises an elongate double-walled steel explosion chamber anchored to a concrete foundation, and having a double-walled access door for charging new workpieces, and a double-walled vent door for discharging the products of the explosion. The double walls of the chamber, access door and vent door are filled with granular shock damping material such as silica sand, and the floor of the chamber is covered with granular shock-damping bed such as pea gravel. Along the outside of the chamber are steel manifolds from which a linear array of vent pipes penetrates the double walls of the chamber, with each pipe terminating in a hardened steel orifice through which the explosion combustion products pass. Within the chamber, plastic polymer film bags containing water are suspended from steel wires over the explosive material, and at each end of the chamber.] A method and apparatus for containing and suppressing the detonation of explosives utilizing a sealable double-walled chamber having a floor, an access door and a vent door. The chamber walls are filled, and the floor is covered, with granular shock-damping material. Orificed vent pipes penetrate the chamber walls to vent explosion products into one or more exhaust manifolds. Water-filled bags are positioned around the explosive to absorb energy from the detonation.