Improvements in the Blast-Mitigation Performance of Light-Tactical-Vehicle Side-Vent-Channel Solution

In the present work, an attempt is made to improve the blast-mitigation efficiency of our recently proposed light-tactical-vehicle side-vent-channel concept/solution. This concept/solution involves the use of side-vent-channels attached to the V-shaped vehicle underbody, and was motivated by the physical concepts and working principles of operation of the so-called “pulse detonation ” rocket engines. By proper shaping of the V-hull and side-vent-channels, venting of supersonically-expanding gaseous detonation products is promoted in order to generate a downward thrust on the targeted vehicle. This, in turn, helps mitigate the blast-loads resulting from a shallow-buried mine detonated underneath a light tactical vehicle. The utility and the blast-mitigation capacity of this concept were examined in our prior work using several computational and design-optimization methods and tools. The results obtained show that the side-vent-channel solution has a limited (but noteworthy) blast-mitigation capacity. In the present work, an attempt is made to improve the blast-mitigation capacity of the side-vent-channel solution by substituting side-vent-channels made of sandwich-structures (consisting of steel face-sheets and aluminum-foam core) for all-steel side-vent-channels. The results obtained revealed that the use of sandwich-structures can improve blast-mitigation performance of the side-vent-channel solution, and that this improvement can be further increased through proper grading o