ABSTRACT
Understanding the blast mitigation response of materials is essential to improve the blast-resistant design for the protection of structures subjected to explosions. Several numerical studies on impulsively loaded structures have been carried out in the past. A majority of these studies apply pressure as a pulse and carry out a completely Lagrangian simulation, thereby introducing uncertainty in the exactness of the blast load being modelled. In this study, a numerical methodology has been established wherein a coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian simulation is carried out using AUTODYN to simulate the fluid-structure interaction phenomena involved in the free-air explosion near a steel plate. We have attempted to quantify the blast energy-absorbing capability of the steel plate by capturing the deformation-time profile. Our numerical simulations are in quite close agreement with the experimental data available in the literature. Furthermore, mesh sensitivity studies have been carried out and an optimal mesh size has been established. Following this, various parametric studies such as the influence of plate geometry, the stand-off distance, the mass of the explosive, and the rate sensitivity of the steel plate have been investigated. This study is expected to be useful in developing a matrix of design parameters for developing blast-resistant structures.
