Validation of underwater explosion response analysis for airbag inflator using a fluid-structure interaction algorithm

Abstract

Air gun shock systems are commonly used as alternative explosion energy sources for underwater explosion (UNDEX) shock tests owing to their low cost and environmental impact. The airbag inflator of automotive airbag systems is also very useful to generate extremely rapid underwater gas release in lab-scale tests. To overcome the restrictions on the very small computational time step owing to the very fine fluid mesh around the nozzle hole in the explicit integration algorithm, and also the absence of a commercial solver and software for gas UNDEX of airbag inflator, an idealized airbag inflator and fluid mesh modeling technique was developed using nozzle holes of relatively large size and several small TNT charges instead of gas inside the airbag inflator. The objective of this study is to validate the results of an UNDEX response analysis of one and two idealized airbag inflators by comparison with the results of shock tests in a small water tank. This comparison was performed using the multi-material Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian formulation and fluid-structure interaction algorithm. The number, size, vertical distance from the nozzle outlet, detonation velocity, and lighting times of small TNT charges were determined. Through mesh size convergence tests, the UNDEX response analysis and idealized airbag inflator modeling were validated.