ABSTRACT
This paper presents the results of an experimental study to investigate the effect of incorporating objects into explosive to simulate an improvised explosive device (IED) and its subsequent influence on the response of a structure. The target structure was a fully confined cylindrical mild steel vessel and the charge consisted of plastic explosive (PE4) mixed with varying numbers of ball bearings arranged in different configurations. The mass of PE4 was kept constant at 22g and shaped in a cylinder with a diameter to length ratio of 1 (aspect ratio). The ball bearings were either packed around the cylindrical charge in row(s), or were randomly embedded into the charge. A baseline test was conducted with a bare charge (with no ball bearing) to evaluate the response of the confined vessels to the explosive load only. For the “mixed” charge, visible damage was observed on the cylinder wall, caused by the ball bearings impacting the container walls. The distribution patterns and depth of penetration of the different craters formed on the cylinder wall was mapped out and analysed for each specimen.
