Duality of energy absorption and inertial effects: Optimized structural design for blast loading

Abstract

This article provides insights into the dynamic response and protection capacity of sacrificial structures mounted on a structural member and subjected to close standoff blast loading. The three main objectives of this study are: (a) exploration of key parameters governing the failure modes of a structural member protected by a sacrificial structure; (b) quantification of blast resistance and protection capacity of the sacrificial structure and underlying structure; and (c) conducting comparative single-degree-of-freedom system analysis and high-resolution explicit finite element analysis aiming at improving current single-degree-of-freedom analysis approaches. Energy absorption and momentum resistance are identified and quantified as the main contributing mechanisms controlling the dynamic response of structural members subjected to high-speed dynamic loading. The displacement of the structural member in the blast direction, the mass per length of the structural member, and the maximum impulse are found to be parameters governing the nonlinear response. The article also presents a response surface approach which might have value for time-efficient optimized structural member design and prediction of nonlinear structural member response to blast loading. This study includes validation of the numerical data through free-air blast test data from the literature.