JRC108107

Abstract

Over the last decades improvised explosive devices (IEDs) have been used by terrorist groups that aim at producing infrastructure damage, victims and disruption in the community. The outcome of such attacks vary depending on a number of factors, such as the amount and type of the explosive, the distance of the detonation centre, the target etc. For the design of structural elements to resist blast-induced loads, the calculation of the blast parameters is essential and is commonly performed with the use of the Kingery-Bulmash technical manual. Even though the proposed parameters have proven adequate for medium and large scaled distances, there exist serious doubts concerning their validity for close-in explosions. As the supporting experimental data are scarce, numerical simulations will be employed, with the FE code EUROPLEXUS, for simulating the evolution of the spherical blast wave through the air. The analysis reveals that the widely utilized Friedlander equation cannot capture adequately the pressure-time history at small scaled distances due to the effect of the expanding detonation products. A new set of equations and corresponding diagrams in terms of scaled distance is proposed that update the Kingery-Bulmash relationships providing enhanced parameter accuracy for points located close to the detonation centre.

Authors

KARLOS Vasileios; SOLOMOS George; LARCHER Martin

Year

2017

Publisher

Elsevier

Citation

Karlos, V., Solomos, G. and Larcher, M., Validity of blast parameters in the near-field, In: 9th National Conference of Steel Structures, 05-07 October 2017, Medical School of University of Thessaly - Larisa, 9th National Conference of Steel Structures, 2017, JRC108107.

Identifiers

JRC

JRC108107

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