scholarly journals Review of Blast Loading Models, Masonry Response, and Mitigation

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eid Badshah ◽  
Amjad Naseer ◽  
Muhammad Ashraf ◽  
Feroz Shah ◽  
Kareem Akhtar
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Conditions ◽  
Urban Environment ◽  
Blast Wave ◽  
Material Properties ◽  
Free Field ◽  
Blast Loading ◽  
Masonry Structure ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Masonry Buildings ◽  
Wave Parameters

Different models for prediction of blast loading, response of masonry structure against blast load, and various mitigation strategies are discussed. Variation of peak positive incident pressure with scale distance in free field spherical burst and surface burst scenarios, proposed by different researchers, is presented and compared. The variation is found significant in the region of small scaled distances. Blast wave parameters in urban environment have been found different from the free field scenario. Effects of geometry, boundary conditions, and material properties on response of masonry buildings were found significant. Different mitigation strategies such as blast wall, landscaping, architecture, and retrofitting techniques are presented.

Blast Wall Shielding Effectiveness

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jihui Geng ◽  
J. Kelly Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Blast Wave ◽  
High Explosive ◽  
Blast Loading ◽  
Blast Waves ◽  
Shielding Effectiveness ◽  
Wave Shape ◽  
Mitigation Option ◽  
Blast Damage ◽  
Wave Parameters ◽  
Vapor Cloud

Blast walls are frequently considered as a potential mitigation option to reduce the applied blast loading on a building or structure in cases where unacceptably high levels of blast damage are predicted. There are three general explosion types of interest with respect to blast loading: High Explosive (HE), Pressure Vessel Burst (PVB), and Vapor Cloud Explosion (VCE). The blast waves resulting from these explosion types can differ significantly in terms of blast wave shape and duration. The effectiveness of a blast wall depends on these blast wave parameters (shape and duration), as well as the blast wall parameters (e.g., height, width and standoff distance from the protected structure). The effectiveness of a blast wall in terms of mitigating the blast loading on a protected structure depends on the combination of the blast wave and blast wall parameters. However, little guidance is available on the effectiveness of blast walls as a mitigation option for non-HE explosion sources. The purpose of this paper is to characterize the effect of blast wave parameters on the effectiveness of a blast wall and to provide guidance on how to determine whether a blast wall is an effective and practical blast damage mitigation option for a given blast loading.

Development and validation of a biofidelic head form model to assess blast-induced traumatic brain injury

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 257-267
Author(s):  
Devon Downes ◽  
Amal Bouamoul ◽  
Simon Ouellet ◽  
Manouchehr Nejad Ensan
Keyword(s):  
Finite Element ◽  
Brain Injury ◽  
Blast Wave ◽  
Skull Fracture ◽  
Free Field ◽  
Blast Loading ◽  
Human Head ◽  
Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian ◽  
Element Analysis ◽  
Head Form

Traumatic Blast Injury (TBI) associated with the human head is caused by exposure to a blast loading, resulting in decreased level of consciousness, skull fracture, lesions, or death. This paper presents the simulation of blast loading of a human head form from a free-field blast with the end goal of providing insight into how TBI develops in the human head. The developed numerical model contains all the major components of the human head, the skull, and brain, including the tentorium, cerebral falx, and gray and white matter. A nonlinear finite element analysis was employed to perform the simulation using the Arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian finite element method. The simulation captures the propagation of the blast wave through the air, its interaction with the skull, and its transition into the brain matter. The model quantifies the pressure histories of the blast wave from the explosive source to the overpressure on the skull and the intracranial pressure. This paper discusses the technical approach used to model the head, the outcome from the analysis, and the implication of the results on brain injury.

Modeling Articulated Human Body Dynamics Under a Representative Blast Loading

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
X. G. Tan ◽  
Andrzej J. Przekwas ◽  
Gregory Rule ◽  
Kaushik Iyer ◽  
Kyle Ott ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Blast Wave ◽  
Human Body ◽  
Fluid Dynamic ◽  
Free Field ◽  
Time History ◽  
Blast Loading ◽  
Blast Waves ◽  
Time Step ◽  
Time Step Size ◽  
Body Dynamics

Blast waves resulting from both industrial explosions and terrorist attacks cause devastating effects to exposed humans and structures. Blast related injuries are frequently reported in the international news and are of great interest to agencies involved in military and civilian protection. Mathematical models of explosion blast interaction with structures and humans can provide valuable input in the design of protective structures and practices, in injury diagnostics and forensics. Accurate simulation of blast wave interaction with a human body and the human body biodynamic response to the blast loading is very challenging and to the best of our knowledge has not been reported yet. A high-fidelity computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model is required to capture the reflections, diffractions, areas of stagnation, and other effects when the shock and blast waves respond to an object placed in the field. In this effort we simulated a representative free field blast event with a standing human exposed to the threat using the Second Order Hydrodynamic Automatic Mesh Refinement Code (SHAMRC). During the CFD analysis the pressure time history around the human body is calculated, along with the fragment loads. Subsequently these blast loads are applied to a fully articulated human body using the multi-physics code CoBi. In CoBi we developed a novel computational model for the articulated human body dynamics by utilizing the anatomical geometry of human body. The articulated human body dynamics are computed by an implicit multi-body solver which ensures the unconditional stability and guarantees the quadratic rate of convergence. The developed solver enforces the kinematic constraints well while imposing no limitation on the time step size. The main advantage of the model is the anatomical surface representation of a human body which can accurately account for both the surface loading and the surface interaction. The inertial properties are calculated using a finite element method. We also developed an efficient interface to apply the blast wave loading on the human body surface. The numerical results show that the developed model is capable of reasonably predicting the human body dynamics and can be used to study the primary injury mechanism. We also demonstrate that the human body response is affected by many factors such as human inertia properties, contact damping and the coefficient of friction between the human body and the environment. By comparing the computational results with the real scenario, we can calibrate these input parameters to improve the accuracy of articulated human body model.

A Computational Approach to Assessing Blast Damage in Urban Centers Using AUTODYN

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malcolm S. Cowler ◽  
Xiangyang Quan ◽  
Greg E. Fairlie
Keyword(s):  
Shock Front ◽  
Urban Environment ◽  
Blast Wave ◽  
Structural Damage ◽  
Free Field ◽  
Impulsive Loading ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Blast Waves ◽  
Urban Centers ◽  
Military Organizations

Recent terrorist attacks have prompted considerable interest in predicting damage to structures that could result from explosive blasts in densely populated urban environments. This is a particular concern for government and military organizations wishing to improve the safety of facilities and insurance providers who want to quantify risks. Blast waves from explosions are characterized by a shock front propagating into the surrounding air, followed by an exponential decay in pressure. Structural damage can be caused by either the magnitude of the peak pressure or the impulsive loading over time. Thus, any assessment of damage requires accurate computation of the entire pressure history on the structure. Semi-empirical approaches, such as CONWEP, although able to predict free-field and single-reflected pressures accurately, are unable to account for the effect that the urban environment has on amplifying, dissipating or focusing the blast wave. This paper describes a numerical finite difference approach, using the non-linear dynamics program AUTODYN, which allows an accurate prediction of the pressure fields that develop as a blast wave propagates through an urban environment by recursively remapping the solution through numerical regions that expand to track the evolving shock front. Data for specific urban layouts can be imported into AUTODYN from geographic information system (GIS) services.

scholarly journals A methodology for hygrothermal modelling of imperfect masonry interfaces

2021 ◽  
pp. 174425912198938
Author(s):  
Michael Gutland ◽  
Scott Bucking ◽  
Mario Santana Quintero
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Conditions ◽  
Material Properties ◽  
Structural Integrity ◽  
Bulk Material ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Masonry Wall ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Liquid Transport ◽  
Imperfect Contact ◽  
Moisture Contents

Hygrothermal models are important tools for assessing the risk of moisture-related decay mechanisms which can compromise structural integrity, loss of architectural features and material. There are several sources of uncertainty when modelling masonry, related to material properties, boundary conditions, quality of construction and two-dimensional interactions between mortar and unit. This paper examines the uncertainty at the mortar-unit interface with imperfections such as hairline cracks or imperfect contact conditions. These imperfections will alter the rate of liquid transport into and out of the wall and impede the liquid transport between mortar and masonry unit. This means that the effective liquid transport of the wall system will be different then if only properties of the bulk material were modelled. A detailed methodology for modelling this interface as a fracture is presented including definition of material properties for the fracture. The modelling methodology considers the combined effect of both the interface resistance across the mortar-unit interface and increase liquid transport in parallel to the interface, and is generalisable to various combinations of materials, geometries and fracture apertures. Two-dimensional DELPHIN models of a clay brick/cement-mortar masonry wall were created to simulate this interaction. The models were exposed to different boundary conditions to simulate wetting, drying and natural cyclic weather conditions. The results of these simulations were compared to a baseline model where the fracture model was not included. The presence of fractures increased the rate of absorption in the wetting phase and an increased rate of desorption in the drying phase. Under cyclic conditions, the result was higher peak moisture contents after rain events compared to baseline and lower moisture contents after long periods of drying. This demonstrated that detailed modelling of imperfections at the mortar-unit interface can have a definitive influence on results and conclusions from hygrothermal simulations.

Mitigation strategies of underground tunnels against blast loading

2021 ◽  
pp. 204141962110380
Author(s):  
Senthil Kasilingam ◽  
Muskaan Sethi ◽  
Loizos Pelecanos ◽  
Narinder K Gupta
Keyword(s):  
Blast Loading ◽  
Plain Concrete ◽  
Fiber Reinforced Concrete ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Critical Parameters ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Burial Depth ◽  
Inelastic Behavior ◽  
Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete ◽  
Finite Element Software

An evaluation of mitigation strategies of underground tunnels against explosions is important to the society. Therefore, a small scale tunnel was modeled against blast loading using finite element software ABAQUS. The inelastic behavior of concrete and steel bar has been incorporated through concrete damage plasticity model and Johnson-cook models respectively, available in ABAQUS. The Drucker-Prager model as well as acoustic infinite medium have been used to model the damage behavior of soil and tunnel respectively. The simulated results thus obtained from the present study were compared with the experimental results available in the literature and found in good agreement. Further, the simulations were carried to predict the damage intensity in tunnel in terms of acceleration, impulse velocity, displacement, and Mises stresses. There are many parameters which were taken into consideration to assess the mitigation strategies for the underground tunnels. The critical parameters include the influence of tunnel shapes, lining materials, lining thickness, burial depth of the tunnels, inclusion of a barrier in between the blast source-the tunnel and layered configuration of tunnel lining, and were considered to evaluate the mitigation strategy. It was concluded that the square shape of tunnel was most vulnerable as compared to circular and U-shaped tunnels. It was also concluded that plain concrete monolithic lining as well as layered configuration consisting of Dytherm foam layer between Steel Fiber reinforced Concrete layers, was found to be more vulnerable among the chosen lining materials. Also, the thickness of lining and burial depth of the tunnel found to be a significant role against blast loading.

Numerical Study of the Effect of Geometry and Boundary Conditions on the Collapse Behaviour of Stocky Stiffened Panels

2012 ◽  
Vol 154 (A2) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Finite Element ◽  
Boundary Conditions ◽  
Ultimate Strength ◽  
Material Properties ◽  
Finite Element Modelling ◽  
Numerical Study ◽  
Fe Analysis ◽  
Stiffened Panels ◽  
Element Modelling ◽  
Geometric Configurations

This study aims at studying different configurations of the stiffened panels in order to identify robust configurations that would not be much sensitive to the imprecision in boundary conditions that can exist in experimental set ups. A numerical study is conducted to analyze the influence of the stiffener’s geometry and boundary conditions on the ultimate strength of stiffened panels under uniaxial compression. The stiffened panels with different combinations of mechanical material properties and geometric configurations are considered. The four types of stiffened panels analysed are made of mild or high tensile steel and have bar, ‘L’ and ‘U’ stiffeners. To understand the effect of finite element modelling on the ultimate strength of the stiffened panels, four types of FE models are investigated in FE analysis including 3 bays, 1/2+1+1/2 bays, 1+1 bays and 1 bay with different boundary conditions.

scholarly journals Comparison of multiphase models for computing shock-induced bubble collapse

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (8) ◽  
pp. 3845-3877 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Goncalves Da Silva ◽  
Philippe Parnaudeau
Keyword(s):  
Blast Wave ◽  
Cavitation Erosion ◽  
Volume Fraction ◽  
Free Field ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Strong Shock ◽  
Bubble Collapse ◽  
Multiphase Model ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Multiphase Models

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to quantify the relative importance of the multiphase model for the simulation of a gas bubble impacted by a normal shock wave in water. Both the free-field case and the collapse near a wall are investigated. Simulations are performed on both two- and three-dimensional configurations. The main phenomena involved in the bubble collapse are illustrated. A focus on the maximum pressure reached during the collapse is proposed. Design/methodology/approach Simulations are performed using an inviscid compressible homogeneous solver based on different systems of equations. It consists in solving different mixture or phasic conservation laws and a transport-equation for the gas volume fraction. Three-dimensional configurations are considered for which an efficient massively parallel strategy was developed. The code is based on a finite volume discretization for which numerical fluxes are computed with a Harten, Lax, Van Leer, Contact (HLLC) scheme. Findings The comparison of three multiphase models is proposed. It is shown that a simple four-equation model is well-suited to simulate such strong shock-bubble interaction. The three-dimensional collapse near a wall is investigated. It is shown that the intensity of pressure peaks on the wall is drastically increased (more than 200 per cent) in comparison with the cylindrical case. Research limitations/implications The study of bubble collapse is a key point to understand the physical mechanism involved in cavitation erosion. The bubble collapse close to the wall has been addressed as the fundamental mechanism producing damage. Its general behavior is characterized by the formation of a water jet that penetrates through the bubble and the generation of a blast wave during the induced collapse. Both the jet and the blast wave are possible damaging mechanisms. However, the high-speed dynamics, the small spatio-temporal scales and the complicated physics involved in these processes make any theoretical and experimental approach a challenge. Practical implications Cavitation erosion is a major problem for hydraulic and marine applications. It is a limiting point for the conception and design of such components. Originality/value Such a comparison of multiphase models in the case of a strong shock-induced bubble collapse is clearly original. Usually models are tested separately leading to a large dispersion of results. Moreover, simulations of a three-dimensional bubble collapse are scarce in the literature using such fine grids.

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