Design of advanced materials for blast protection of civil structures

Structural retrofit using metallic cellular materials is of special interest to engineering communities and government agencies against possible impact and blast threats. The superior microstructure of metallic cellular materials endows them with the ability to undergo large deformation at nearly constant nominal stress. In compression they can absorb remarkable energy by plastic deformation, in addition to the advantage of their ultra-light and nonflammable characteristics. It is expected that they can be used as sacrificial claddings in the retrofit of structures against impacts and blast loads. The mechanical properties of cellular materials vary in a wide range, depending on their base material composition, relative bulk density and production method. Although some basic data for cellular materials are provided by the suppliers, the deformation and failure mechanism of these materials under high-strain-rate loading, such as impact and blast loading, are still not fully understood. The implementation of cellular materials in blast mitigation still struggles in the premature stage. Limited theoretical and experimental research work has been done on a cellular material under blast loading. Guidelines are currently not available for the design of blast mitigating structures based on cellular materials. Some recent reports stated that sacrificial foam layer intended to mitigate blast loading may work unexpectedly to aggravate the damage of the protected structure, if the sacrificial cladding was not properly designed. Thus, it is of importance to study the dynamic behavior of cellular materials under high velocity impact and blast loading and to optimize the design of sacrificial claddings for structure protection.SUG 25/0