Numerical and experimental studies of blast loading

In the past decade, there has been an increasing demand from governments for high level protections for military vehicles against explosives. However, designing and validation of protection is a time consuming and expensive process, where previous experience plays an important role. Development time and weight are the driving factors, where the weight influences vehicle performance. Numerical simulations are used as a tool in the design process, in order to reduce development time and optimise the protection. The explosive load acting on a structure is sometimes described with analytical functions, with limitations to shape and type of the explosive, confinement conditions etc. An alternative way to describe the blast load is to use numerical simulations based on continuum mechanics. The blast load is determined by modelling the actual type and shape of the explosive in air or sand, where the explosive force transfers to the structure of interest. However, accuracy of the solution must be considered, were methods and models should be validated against reliable experimental data. Within this work, tests with explosive placed in air, sand or a steel pot has been performed. For all tests, the dynamic and residual deformation of steel plates was measured, while the impulse transfer was measured for some tests. This thesis focuses on continuum based numerical simulations for describing the blast load, with validation against data from the experiments. The main conclusion of this work is that numerical simulations of air blast loading in the near-field can be described with sufficient accuracy.Godkänd; 2010; 20100220 (bjozak); LICENTIATSEMINARIUM Ämnesområde: Hållfasthetslära/Solid Mechanics Examinator: Professor Hans-Åke Häggblad, Luleå tekniska universitet Tid: Fredag den 26 mars 2010 kl 13.00 Plats: E 231, Luleå tekniska universite