Mitigation effects on the reflected overpressure of blast shock with water surrounding an explosive in a confined space

The mitigation of blast shock with water has broad application prospects. Understanding the mitigation effects on the reflected overpressure of the explosion shock with water surrounding an explosive in a confined space is of great significance for military explosives safety applications. To estimate the effects of the parameters on the reflected overpressure of blasted shock wave, a series of experiments were carried out in confined containers with spherical explosives immersed in a certain thickness of water,and numerical simulations were conducted to explore the corresponding mechanisms. The results reveal that the reflected overpressure is abnormally aggravated at a small scaled distance. This aggravation is due to the high impulse of the bulk accelerated water shell converted from the explosion. With increasing scaled distance, the energy will be gradually dissipated. The mitigation effects will appear with the dispersed water phase front impacting at a larger scaled distance, except in the case of a dense water phase state. A critical scaled distance range of 0.7-0.8 m/kg^(1/3) for effective mitigation was found. It is suggested that the scaled distance of space walls should be larger than the critical value for a certain water-to-explosive weight ratio range(5-20).

New correlations for evaluating the equivalent bare charge mass for a cased charge

Munitions contain casings that consume explosive energy.The blast load(e.g.,peak overpressure and maximum impulse)intensity generated by ammunition explosion will be lower than that generated by a bare charge with equal mass.To evaluate the blast load of a cased charge under different conditions,the equivalent bare mass needs to be calculated.However,the accuracy of existing correlations strongly depends on the empirical determination of relevant controlling parameters and lacks theoretical clarification.In this paper,new correlations are proposed based on a more rigorous theoretical derivation,considering both the mechanical behaviors of the casing’s material and the change of the polytropic exponent during the expansion process of the explosion products.The controlling parameters are attributed to the rupture radius ratio and the polytropic exponent of detonation products expansion to casing rupture state.The reasonability is validated by both comprehensive numerical simulations with dynamic mechanical constitutive model and theoretical derivations.The results calculated by the new correlation show better agreement with the experimental results than those calculated by previous correlations,and the results difference is explained in more consistency with the thermos-physical properties of the charge and mechanical behaviors of casing material.Furthermore,the correlation of the cased-to-bare impulse ratio is also theoretically improved,providing a more accurate theoretical basis for both the equivalent bare mass and impulse evaluation for a cased charge.