A Fast-Running Tool to Characterize Shock Damage on Enclosed Structures

Successful analysis of structural failures due to shock loading typically employs detailed three-dimensional codes that require excessive computational resources. Our interest is in developing more efficient approaches to evaluating the effects of damage on structures and personnel after a dynamic shock event. While several methods are currently available for a general analysis of structural failures under dynamic shock loads at a distance, we have developed a statistics based tool to predict the extent of damage for loads in close proximity to structures and quantify uncertainties. This tool is coupled with a fast-running, physics-based code that predicts the blast propagation in a tunnel of arbitrary complexity in order to form a single, user-friendly architecture to estimate the effects of blasts in tunnels. Use of such a fast-running tool facilitates scoping and planning of subsequent simulations using detailed, computationally expensive, models and provides a way to address parametric sensitivity.