Non-dimensional analysis on blast wave propagation in foam concrete:Minimum thickness to avoid stress enhancement

Foam concrete is a prospective material in defense engineering to protect structures due to its high energy absorption capability resulted from the long plateau stage.However,stress enhancement rather than stress mitigation may happen when foam concrete is used as sacrificial claddings placed in the path of an incoming blast load.To investigate this interesting phenomenon,a one-dimensional difference model for blast wave propagation in foam concrete is firstly proposed and numerically solved by improving the second-order Godunov method.The difference model and numerical algorithm are validated against experimental results including both the stress mitigation and the stress enhancement.The difference model is then used to numerically analyze the blast wave propagation and deformation of material in which the effects of blast loads,stress-strain relation and length of foam concrete are considered.In particular,the concept of minimum thickness of foam concrete to avoid stress enhancement is proposed.Finally,non-dimensional analysis on the minimum thickness is conducted and an empirical formula is proposed by curve-fitting the numerical data,which can provide a reference for the application of foam concrete in defense engineering.

Peak Particle Velocity Predicting Equation Associated with the Propagation of Vibrations Induced by Blasting in a Mine and Impacts on the Physical Degradation of Houses: The Case of the Yaramoko Mine, Bagassi, Burkina Faso

This study utilizes empirical equations to describe the propagation of vibrations induced by blasting, with the goal of predicting the attenuation of Peak Particle Velocity (PPV) at the Yaramoko mine in Bagassi, Burkina Faso, a site characterized by granitoid rock. Four empirical PPV prediction equations were employed, so-called Duvall & Fogelson (or the United States Bureau of Mines “USBM”), Langefors and Kihlstrom, Ambressys-Hendron, and the Bureau of Indian Standard. The constant parameters for each of these equations, referred to as site constants, were derived from linear regression curves. The results show that the site constants k, a, and b of 4762, 0.869, and 1.737, respectively, derived from the general prediction equation by Davies, PPV = kQaD−b, based on Duvall & Fogelson, are in good agreement with values of 4690, 0.9, and 1.69, respectively, for similar rock types in Spain. Regarding the impacts of blasting on houses, the findings indicate that houses built from laterite-block bricks in the village of Bagassi are the most vulnerable to vibration waves, followed by those constructed with cinder-block bricks. In contrast, houses made of banco bricks are the most resilient. Additionally, it was determined that during blasting operations, adjusting the blasting parameters to ensure the PPV does not exceed 2 mm/s at the level of nearby dwellings can minimize the appearance of cracks in houses.

Mesh Size Effect in Numerical Simulation of Blast Wave Propagation and Interaction with Structures

Numerical method is popular in analysing the blast wave propagation and interaction with structures.However,because of the extremely short duration of blast wave and energy trans-mission between different grids,the numerical results are sensitive to the finite element mesh size.Previous numerical simulations show that a mesh size acceptable to one blast scenario might not be proper for another case,even though the difference between the two scenarios is very small,indicating a simple numerical mesh size convergence test might not be enough to guarantee accu-rate numerical results.Therefore,both coarse mesh and fine mesh were used in different blast scenarios to investigate the mesh size effect on numerical results of blast wave propagation and interaction with structures.Based on the numerical results and their comparison with field test re-sults and the design charts in TM5-1300,a numerical modification method was proposed to correct the influence of the mesh size on the simulated results.It can be easily used to improve the accu-racy of the numerical results of blast wave propagation and blast loads on structures.