Influence of cylindrical charge orientation on the blast response of high strength concrete panels

•HSC panels were tested under cylindrical charge having two orientations.•Significant difference in the blast response of the panels was observed.•ALE modeling technique was used to verify the experimental blast wave parameters.•3D nonlinear FE model was developed to predict the blast responses of panels. Although a significant amount of research on the blast response of structural components has been conducted, scarce information is available on the effects of cylindrical charge orientation. Available literature mentioned that the orientation of a cylindrical charge with respect to the target structures can substantially influence blast wave parameters when compared to a spherical charge of same mass. Most standards and guidelines related to blast-resistant design are silent on this issue. Thus, an experimental study was conducted to investigate the effects of cylindrical charge orientation on the blast response of typical high strength concrete (HSC) flexural panels. Moreover, to obtain the reflected blast wave parameters, a steel plate with pressure sensors mounted on it was tested under the same blast loading conditions. The experimental results showed significant difference in the blast response of the panels (i.e., maximum mid-span displacement and failure mode) when the orientation of the cylindrical charge was changed from perpendicular to parallel with respect to the longitudinal axis of the test panels. Subsequently, the explosive as well as the air were modeled explicitly and in Arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian (ALE) air domain the blast wave propagated and impinged on a Lagrangian structure through fluid–structure interaction (FSI). After benchmarking the numerical reflected blast wave parameters against experimental results, three-dimensional nonlinear finite element (FE) model of the HSC panels was developed to predict the blast responses of HSC panels.