Example Validation of Numerical Modeling of Blast Loading

This paper reports a follow-up feasibility study on different approaches for numerical modeling of blast loads, implemented recently in a few commercial programs based on finite element method and explicit time integration. Four approaches have been considered including: explicit blast wave representation using fluid-structure interaction (FSI) with 2D and 3D multi-material arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) formulations, direct application of empirical explosive blast loads on structures, and the most recent, combined method, in which direct empirical loading is applied to a reduced ALE domain. Each of these approaches has its own strengths and weaknesses, although the last one seems to be the most universal. Based on the published experimental data, a benchmark problem was selected, which considers a pressure loading exerted by explosion of near field hemispherical charges on a rigid steel plate. The comparison is done in terms of pressure peaks (overpressure) and time histories of reflected pressure, and reflected specific impulses.