Influence of Charge Shape and Point of Detonation on Blast-Resistant Design
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 142, Issue 2
Abstract
Charts in technical manuals and standards of practice can be used to compute incident and reflected peak overpressures and scaled impulses generated by a detonation of a high explosive. Design values are reported for spherical free-air bursts and hemispherical surface bursts as a function of scaled distance and angle of incidence, where the charges are detonated at the center of the sphere. This paper describes a numerical study with a verified and validated computational fluid dynamics code that characterizes the influence of charge shape, charge orientation, and the point of detonation within the charge on free-field incident overpressures and impulses. Analyses are performed with cylindrical charges of different aspect ratios and masses, and results are compared with those of a baseline analysis of a spherical charge. In the near field and midfield, charge shape and point of detonation affect the peak overpressure and impulse, providing values that are significantly different from those associated with a central detonation of a spherical charge of the same mass. The effect of charge shape and point of detonation can be ignored, for the purpose of a design based on impulse, at scaled distance greater than .
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Acknowledgments
The financial support for the studies described herein was provided by MCEER (www.mceer.buffalo.edu) under Thrust Area 3, Innovative Technologies, through a grant from the State of New York. This support is gratefully acknowledged. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this paper are the authors’ and do not necessarily reflect those of either MCEER or the State of New York.
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Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 142 • Issue 2 • February 2016
Copyright
© 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 8, 2014
Accepted: Jun 10, 2015
Published online: Jul 27, 2015
Discussion open until: Dec 27, 2015
Published in print: Feb 1, 2016
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