The interaction of oblique blast waves with buildings

Assessment of the net load imparted to a building that is oriented at some angle to an incident blast wave is complicated by the difficulty of establishing the impulse delivered to each part of the building’s surfaces. Expansion waves originating from the edges and top of the building—where regions of different pressures meet—tend to reduce the (oblique) reflected impulses that would develop on an infinitely large surface. This process is referred to as oblique clearing. An investigation which considered a single, tall building aligned obliquely to an effectively uniform blast wave has been undertaken with the aim of demonstrating and describing the path of these expansion waves as the blast wave passes over the building. The investigation comprised a series of small-scale experiments supported by numerical simulations using the code ftt_air3d. The loads arising at two scaled stand-off distances were considered. It is shown that depending on the angle of the building to the blast and the length of the blast wave with respect to the size of the building, the effect of the expansion waves may vary considerably, hence altering the load experienced by the building.     

Blast Performance of Sandwich Composites with In-Plane Compressive Loading

An experimental investigation was conducted to evaluate the dynamic performance of E-glass Vinyl Ester composite face sheet / foam core sandwich panels when subjected to pre-compression and subsequent blast loading. The sandwich panels were subjected to 0 kN, 15 kN and 25 kN of in plane compression respectively, prior to transverse blast wave loading with peak incident pressure of 1 MPa and velocity of 3 Mach. The blast loading was generated using a shock tube facility. During the experiments, a high-speed photographic system utilizing three digital cameras was used to acquire the real-time 3-D deformation of the sandwich panels. The 3D Digital Image Correlation (DIC) technique was used to quantify the back face out-of-plane deflection and in-plane strain. The results showed that in-plane compressive loading facilitated buckling and failure in the front face sheet. This mechanism greatly reduced the blast resistance of sandwich composites.     

爆炸荷载在圆截面桥梁墩柱上的分布规律

墩柱是桥梁结构的主要承载构件,研究爆炸荷载在墩柱上的分布规律是分析爆炸荷载作用下桥梁结构动态响应的前提。以圆截面桥梁墩柱为研究对象,基于LS-DYNA软件建立了桥梁墩柱的有限元模型,综合考虑炸药当量、爆心高度、爆炸距离和墩柱直径等影响因素,基于数值模拟得到爆心高度低于0.3倍墩柱高度,比例距离为0.5～2.1 m/kg1/3和墩柱直径为0.15～1 m时,爆炸荷载冲量沿墩柱高度和横截面方向上的分布。结果表明:沿墩柱高度方向,地面爆炸或爆心高度为0.1倍柱高时,墩柱前表面冲量近似“单线性”分布,当爆心高度距地面0.2和0.3倍柱高时,墩柱前表面冲量近似“双线性”分布;沿横截面方向的平均净冲量与其前表面冲量之比为常数。基于上述爆炸荷载冲量分布规律,进一步提出了爆炸荷载作用在桥梁墩柱上总净冲量的计算方法,从而为桥梁墩柱抗爆响应分析与设计提供一定的理论基础。     

Wave propagation in porous media as a function of fluid saturation

An experimental investigation is conducted using dynamic photoelasticity and high speed photography to study the wave propagation due to blast loading in porous media as a function of fluid saturation. The porous media have been modeled as a continuous solid containing particular arrays of holes or voids. The study has focused mainly on the effect of the porous structure on transient pulse propagation as well as the effect of the moisture in the pores on wave propagation. A series of experiments have been conducted using a sheet of Homalite 100 with different geometry of the periodic array of holes. A small amount of explosive was used to generate the stress wave. Dynamic photoelastic photographs were taken with the high speed camera as the wave propagated across the holes. These data are analyzed to obtain the wave velocity as well as the stress-wave attenuation in the porous media.Paper was presented at the 1988 SEM Spring Conference on Experimental Mechanics held in Portland, OR on June 5–10.     

低温和低压环境下炸药爆炸冲击波的传播特性

针对高海拔或高空的低温、低压环境对炸药爆炸冲击波传播的影响,利用量纲分析理论和AUTODYN有限元软件,研究了低温、低压及海拔高度对炸药爆炸冲击波参量（峰值超压、比冲量和波阵面运动轨迹）的影响规律,建立了相应的计算公式,并通过数值模拟和实验数据进行了对比验证。结果表明,该计算公式可以有效预测低温和低压环境下炸药爆炸冲击波参量。环境压力降低,爆炸冲击波峰值超压和爆炸远场（比例距离Z>0.2 m/kg1/3）比冲量减小,冲击波传播速度增大。环境温度降低,冲击波比冲量增大,传播速度降低,峰值超压影响不大。海拔高度在0～9 000 m范围内,每升高1 000 m冲击波峰值超压和爆炸远场比冲量分别平均降低约3.9%和3.2%。海拔升高,爆炸近场冲击波传播速度升高,爆炸远场冲击波传播速度则降低。高海拔环境下低压对冲击波峰值超压和比冲量的影响大于低温,爆炸近场冲击波传播速度取决于低压的影响,爆炸远场冲击波传播速度取决于低温的影响。     

On hyperbolic heat conduction in solids: minimum mean free path of energy carriers and a method of estimating thermal diffusivity and heat propagation characteristics

The paper gives the analytical solution to the one dimensional hyperbolic heat conduction equation in an insulated slab-shaped sample that is heated uniformly on the front face with δ or laser impulse. The solution results in a formula that enables to estimate the minimum mean free path of energy carriers in the sample to detect the second sound (i.e. the thermal wave) at the sample rear face. A method of experimental data evaluation at the second sound effect is proposed, which gives the thermal diffusivity of the sample and the parameters of heat propagation.     

Evolution of blast wave profiles in simulated air blasts: experiment and computational modeling

Shock tubes have been extensively used in the study of blast traumatic brain injury due to increased incidence of blast-induced neurotrauma in Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. One of the important aspects in these studies is how to best replicate the field conditions in the laboratory which relies on reproducing blast wave profiles. Evolution of the blast wave profiles along the length of the compression-driven air shock tube is studied using experiments and numerical simulations with emphasis on the shape and magnitude of pressure time profiles. In order to measure dynamic pressures of the blast, a series of sensors are mounted on a cylindrical specimen normal to the flow direction. Our results indicate that the blast wave loading is significantly different for locations inside and outside of the shock tube. Pressure profiles inside the shock tube follow the Friedlander waveform fairly well. Upon approaching exit of the shock tube, an expansion wave released from the shock tube edges significantly degrades the pressure profiles. For tests outside the shock tube, peak pressure and total impulse reduce drastically as we move away from the exit and majority of loading is in the form of subsonic jet wind. In addition, the planarity of the blast wave degrades as blast wave evolves three dimensionally. Numerical results visually and quantitatively confirm the presence of vortices, jet wind and three-dimensional expansion of the planar blast wave near the exit. Pressure profiles at 90° orientation show flow separation. When cylinder is placed inside, this flow separation is not sustained, but when placed outside the shock tube this flow separation is sustained which causes tensile loading on the sides of the cylinder. Friedlander waves formed due to field explosives in the intermediate-to far-field ranges are replicated in a narrow test region located deep inside the shock tube.     

On the efficiency of semi-closed blast inhibitors

Numerical efficiency analysis of those blast inhibitors (BI) consisting of a vertical cylinder open at the top is presented and compared with the existing data from other authors. It was proven computationally that such low-height “semi-closed” BI do not provide blast wave suppression according to the minimum practical requirements (overpressure and pressure impulse reduction at several times) and, if one wishes to compare, other existing criteria (Bowen injury diagrams and similar guidelines adopted in different countries).     

Simulation of impulse effects from explosive charges containing metal particles

The propagation of an explosive blast wave containing inert metal particles is investigated numerically using a robust two-phase methodology with appropriate models to account for real gas behavior, inter-phase interactions, and inter-particle collisions to study the problem of interest. A new two-phase Eulerian–Lagrangian formulation is proposed that can handle the dense nature of the flow-field. The velocity and momentum profiles of the gas and particle phases are analyzed and used to elucidate the inter-phase momentum transfer, and its effect on the impulsive aspects of heterogeneous explosive charges. The particles are found to pick up significant amounts of momentum and kinetic energy from the gas, and by virtue of their inertia, are observed to sustain it for a longer time. The impulse characteristics of heterogeneous explosives are compared with a homogeneous explosive containing the same amount of high explosive, and it is observed that the addition of solid particles augments the impulsive loading significantly in the near-field, and to a smaller extent in the far-field. The total impulsive loading is found to be insensitive to the particle size added to the explosive charge above a certain cut-off radius, but the individual impulse components are found to be sensitive, and particles smaller than this cut-off size deliver about 8% higher total impulse than the larger ones. Overall, this study provides crucial insights to understand the impulsive loading characteristics of heterogeneous explosives.     

A Novel Fluid Structure Interaction Experiment to Investigate Deformation of Structural Elements Subjected to Impulsive Loading

This paper presents a novel experimental methodology for the study of dynamic deformation of structures under underwater impulsive loading. The experimental setup simulates fluid–structure interactions (FSI) encountered in various applications of interest. To generate impulsive loading similar to blast, a specially designed flyer plate impact experiment was designed and implemented. The design is based on scaling analysis to achieve a laboratory scale apparatus that can capture essential features in the deformation and failure of large scale naval structures. In the FSI setup, a water chamber made of a steel tube is incorporated into a gas gun apparatus. A scaled structure is fixed at one end of the steel tube and a water piston seals the other end. A flyer plate impacts the water piston and produces an exponentially decaying pressure history in lieu of explosive detonation. The pressure induced by the flyer plate propagates and imposes an impulse to the structure (panel specimen), which response elicits bubble formation and water cavitations. Calibration experiments and numerical simulations proved the experimental setup to be functional. A 304 stainless steel monolithic plate was tested and analyzed to assess its dynamic deformation behavior under impulsive loading. The experimental diagnostic included measurements of flyer impact velocity, pressure wave history in the water, and full deformation fields by means of shadow moiré and high speed photography.     

The elastic–plastic behaviour of foam under shock loading

An experimental investigation of the elastic–plastic nature of shock wave propagation in foams was undertaken. The study involved experimental blast wave and shock tube loading of three foams, two polyurethane open-cell foams and a low-density polyethylene closed-cell foam. Evidence of precursor waves was observed in all three foam samples under various compressive wave loadings. Experiments with an impermeable membrane are used to determine if the precursor wave in an open-cell foam is a result of gas filtration or an elastic response of the foam. The differences between quasi-static and shock compression of foams is discussed in terms of their compressive strain histories and the implications for the energy absorption capacity of foam in both loading scenarios. Through a comparison of shock tube and blast wave loading techniques, suggestions are made concerning the accurate measurements of the principal shock Hugoniot in foams.     

Strong explosion near a parallelepipedic structure

The purpose of this paper is to report the blast loading characteristics resulting from the detonation of a stoichiometric propane–oxygen mixture, and to validate the approach which relies on simulating TNT explosions at large scale by small-scale experiments of gaseous explosions. Several dimensionless correlations are obtained from experimental data. These relationships allow determination of the parameters of a blast wave interacting with a structure as a function of the positions of the explosive charge and the structure. Simulations carried out with the Autodyn code show good correlation with experimental results. The Hopkinson law is suggested to predict the blast wave’s parameters at large scale on the basis of small-scale experiments and simulations. This paper was based on work that was presented at the 20th International Colloquium on the Dynamics of Explosions and Reactive Systems, Montreal, Canada, July 31–August 5, 2005.     

Underwater blast loading of sandwich beams: Regimes of behaviour

Finite element (FE) calculations are used to develop a comprehensive understanding of the dynamic response of sandwich beams subjected to underwater blast loading, including the effects of fluid–structure interaction. Design maps are constructed to show the regimes of behaviour over a broad range of loading intensity, sandwich panel geometry and material strength. Over the entire range of parameters investigated, the time-scale associated with the initial fluid–structure interaction phase up to the instant of first cavitation in the fluid is much smaller than the time-scales associated with the core compression and the bending/stretching responses of the sandwich beam. Consequently, this initial fluid–structure interaction phase decouples from the subsequent phases of response. Four regimes of behaviour exist: the period of sandwich core compression either couples or decouples with the period of the beam bending, and the core either densifies partially or fully. These regimes of behaviour are charted on maps using axes of blast impulse and core strength. The simulations indicate that continued loading by the fluid during the core compression phase and the beam bending/stretching phase cannot be neglected. Consequently, analyses that neglect full fluid–structure interaction during the structural responses provide only estimates of performance metrics such as back face deflection and reaction forces at the supports. The calculations here also indicate that appropriately designed sandwich beams undergo significantly smaller back face deflections and exert smaller support forces than monolithic beams of equal mass. The optimum transverse core strength is determined for minimizing the back face deflection or support reactions at a given blast impulse. Typically, the transverse core strength that minimizes back face deflection is 40% below the value that minimizes the support reaction. Moreover, the optimal core strength depends upon the level of blast impulse, with higher strength cores required for higher intensity blasts.     

钢化玻璃冲击波毁伤效应测试结果分析

为研究爆炸冲击波对钢化玻璃的毁伤阈值,开展了钢化玻璃冲击波毁伤效应实验。对每一发实验进行了爆炸参数测试,获得了冲击波超压随时间变化历程的实验数据。通过对实验数据的处理与分析,得到了爆炸冲击波基本参数,包括正反射超压、冲击波到时、正压作用时间、正反射冲量、负反射超压、负压作用时间和负反射冲量等。将实验结果与CONWEP计算结果进行了比较,比较结果表明二者误差很小,证明冲击波测试结果准确可靠。对冲击波正负反射参数进行了比较,结果表明冲击波正反射参数明显高于冲击波负反射参数。     

Deformation and Failure Modes of I-Core Sandwich Structures Subjected to Underwater Impulsive Loads

This article reports an experimental study carried out with the aim of quantifying performance and failure modes of sandwich structures when subjected to impulsive blast loading. In particular, performance enhancement with respect to solid panels of equal mass per unit area is assessed. Likewise, the optimal distribution of the mass per unit area in the design of sandwich structures is investigated by comparing the behavior of sandwich structures with various distributions of face sheets thickness. By employing a previously developed FSI experiment, the study confirmed that usage of sandwich structures is beneficial and that performance enhancements, in terms of maximum panel deflection, as high as 68% are possible. The study also confirms theoretical and computational analyses suggesting that use of soft cores maximizes the benefits. Another interesting aspect revealed by this work is that the level of enhancement is highly related to the applied normalized impulse. The same distribution of mass per unit area between face sheets resulted in different normalized maximum deflection. A better performance enhancement was achieved at lower impulses. Here again, failure modes and their sequence seem to be the directly related to this finding. The work here reported clearly reveals a number of important features in the study of lightweight structures and points out to the synergies between structure geometry, materials, manufacturing methods, and threat levels as manifested by the strength of the impulse. Further theoretical and computational studies accounting for experimentally observed failure modes and its interdependence with the fabrication methods is needed to achieve additional predictive capabilities.     

轻质金属泡沫夹芯曲板的抗爆炸冲击响应研究

夹芯结构具有高比强度、高比刚度和优异的吸能能力,已经被广泛应用于工程结构用来抵御高强度的爆炸冲击载荷。本文采用有限元数值模拟方法研究了爆炸载荷作用下四边固支夹芯曲板的动力响应。比较了同等质量下夹芯曲板、夹芯平板、实体曲板和实体平板四种结构的抗爆炸冲击性能,讨论了不同曲率和非对称因子对结构动力响应的影响,得到了使得夹芯曲板抗爆炸性能最佳的非对称因子。研究结果表明：夹芯曲板的抗爆炸冲击性能优于等质量的夹芯平板、实体曲板和实体平板结构,增大夹芯曲板的曲率能够提高结构的抗爆炸冲击性能。     

Numerical simulation of blast wave interaction with structure columns

Accurate estimation of blast loads on structures is essential for reliable predictions of structural response and damage. Current practice in blast effect analysis and design estimates blast loads primarily based on empirical formulae obtained from field blast tests. Due to the limited availability of test data, those empirical formulae are usually applicable to the case that the reflection surface of the structure is big enough so that no wave diffraction around the structure exists. They will overestimate the blast loads on structure columns without infill walls around them, which are very common in the modern buildings, especially for the ground floor columns. For a standalone column, the initial reflected pressure may be quickly relieved at the edge of the column, and the column will be engulfed with the blast wave due to diffraction. Therefore, the interaction between the blast wave and structure is important for such columns. The blast loads on such columns will be different from those obtained in field blasting tests on walls. There is no method in the open literature to estimate blast loads on standalone columns. In the present study, interactions between blast waves and structure columns are simulated using AUTODYN 3D. The influence of the scaled distance of the blast, column stiffness, ratio of the supported mass to the column mass, and column dimension and geometry, on the blast wave–column interaction is investigated. Based on the numerical simulation results, some formulae are proposed to estimate the blast pressure, impulse, and the reflected pressure time history on standalone structure columns.      

Uniaxial crushing of sandwich plates under air blast: Influence of mass distribution

Motivated by recent efforts to mitigate blast loading using energy-absorbing materials, this paper uses analytical and computational modeling to investigate the influence of mass distribution on the uniaxial crushing of cellular sandwich plates under air blast loading. In the analytical model, the cellular core is represented using a rigid, perfectly-plastic, locking idealization, as in previous studies, and the front and back faces are modeled as rigid, with pressure loading applied to the front face and the back-face unrestrained. This model is also applicable to the crushing of cellular media in “blast pendulum” experiments. Fluid–structure interaction effects are treated using a recent result that accounts for nonlinear compressibility effects for intense air blasts. Predictions of the analytical model show excellent agreement with explicit finite element computations, and the model is used to investigate the response of the system for all possible distributions of mass between the front and back faces and the cellular core. Increasing the mass fraction in the front face is found to increase the impulse required for complete crushing of the cellular core but also to produce undesirable increases in back-face accelerations. Optimal mass distributions for mitigating shock transmission through the sandwich plate are investigated by maximizing the impulse capacity while limiting the back-face accelerations to a specified level.     

Measurement of effective blast energy for direct initiation of spherical gaseous detonations from high-voltage spark discharge

In this study, effective energy from spark discharge for direct blast initiation of spherical gaseous detonations is investigated. In the experiment, direct initiation of detonation is achieved via a spark discharge from a high-voltage and low-inductance capacitor bank and the spark energy is estimated from the analysis of the current output. To determine the blast wave energy from the powerful spark, the time-of-arrival of the blast wave in air is measured at different radii using a piezoelectric pressure transducer. Good agreement is found in the scaled blast trajectories, i.e., scaled time c _o·t/R _o where c _o is the ambient sound speed, as a function of blast radius R _s/R _o between the numerical simulation of a spherical blast wave from a point energy source and the experimental results where the explosion length scale R _o is computed using the equivalent spark energy from the first 1/4 current discharge cycle. Alternatively, by fitting the experimental trajectories data, the blast energy estimated from the numerical simulation appears also in good agreement with that obtained experimentally using the 1/4 cycle criterion. Using the 1/4 cycle of spark discharge for the effective energy, direct initiation experiments of spherical gaseous detonations are carried out to determine the critical initiation energy in C₂H₂–2.5O₂ mixtures with 70 and 0% argon dilution. The experimental results obtained from the 1/4 cycle of spark discharge agree well with the prediction from two initiation models, namely, the Lee’s surface energy model and a simplified work done model. The main source of discrepancy in the comparison can be explained by the uncertainty of cell size measurement which is needed for both the semi-empirical models.     

Production of periodically modulated laser-driven blast waves in a clustering gas

To study hydrodynamic behavior on thin shell high Mach number blast waves, experiments have been performed in which spatially tailored shock waves have been launched in a gas of clusters using an intense 35 fs laser pulse. The target medium was first modified by destroying clusters in specific locations using a spatially modulated laser focus. Under subsequent intense laser irradiation, the efficient absorption properties of the remaining clustered regions compared to those regions with no clusters led to a pattern of hot and cold plasma resulting in a cylindrical blast wave with a periodic modulation imprinted on the shock front. This technique may provide a method for studying thin shell instabilities in strongly radiative blast waves.