Numerical investigation of a new structural configuration of a concrete barrier wall under the effect of blast loads

M. S. Zahran,Dahai Huang,Zhengguo Gao,Ahmed K. Taha

doi:10.1007/s40091-019-00252-8

Abstract

In this study, a non-linear three-dimensional hydrocode numerical simulation was carried out using AUTODYN-3D, which is an extensive code dealing with explosion problems. A high explosive material (comp-B) is blasted against several concrete wall barriers. The model was first validated using referenced experimental tests and has shown good results. Several numerical models were carried out to study the effect of changing the shape of wall barrier from flat to convex curve and concave curve, and also investigated the effect of changing the angle of curvature. The results showed that changing the shape of a wall barrier from flat to convex curve has the best performance in mitigating the effect of blast waves. It is also concluded that convex walls with 60° angle of curvature have the best performance compared to other barrier walls.

Highlights

The current study investigates the response of different geometrical configurations of concrete wall barrier against blast waves and a non-linear 3d numerical model is used to model the proposed configuration
After comparing the different structural configurations proposed in our study, the best configuration for mitigation of blast hazards is using convex barrier walls facing the pressure wave as shown by model curved convex wall (CCXW)-60 which gave the best performance for the protection of the area behind the wall barrier where the pressure for gauge 7 behind the barrier wall for the model CCXW-60 was lower by 23.4% than the pressure measured for the concave wall (CCVW-60) with the same angle of curvature and was lower by 56% than the pressure measured for the flat wall (TFBW). 3
The convex barrier walls have the best performance in lowering the pressure affecting the wall which will affect the fragments ejecting from the wall as the pressure measured on the front face in the convex walls is lower than the concave walls with an average percentage of 63.2% and lower than the flat wall with an average percentage of 66.25%

Summary

Introduction

With the increasing threat of terrorism and the rapid development of technology, the probability of accidental explosions such as incident blasts, mine explosions, and terrorist attacks has increased; protecting important structures against explosive impacts has become a great concern (Goel and Matsagar 2013; Hetherington and Smith 2014; Hinman and Engineers 2011; Li et al 2009; Remennikov and Rose 2007; Wang et al 2013; Wu 2012; Wu et al 2010; Zhou and Hao 2008). The effect of the geometrical shape of a wall barrier is studied as a comparison is made between flat and curved wall with different angles of curvature to achieve the best performance in the mitigation of the blast wave resulting from the detonation. For the sake of validation, we have compared the results of a free-field blast of 10 kg TNT at a distance of 2 m from our numerical model where the pressure was 956 kPa, the result of the same blast conditions calculated from TM5 was 930 kPa, while the result calculated from CONWEP was 1102 kPa. The dimensions of the proposed configuration are as shown in Fig. 9 where three geometrical shapes are proposed: traditional flat barrier wall (TFBW), curved concave wall (CCVW), and curved convex wall (CCXW).

Discussion

Conclusion