Blast waveform tailoring using controlled venting in blast simulators and shock tubes

A critical challenge of any blast simulation facility is in producing the widest possible pressure-impulse range for matching against equivalent high-explosive events.Shock tubes and blast simulators are often constrained with the lack of effective ways to control blast wave profiles and as a result have a limited performance range.Some wave shaping techniques employed in some facilities are reviewed but often necessitate extensive geometric modifications,inadvertently cause flow anomalies,and/or are only applicable under very specific configurations.This paper investigates controlled venting as an expedient way for waveforms to be tuned without requiring extensive modifications to the driver or existing geometry and could be widely applied by existing and future blast simulation and shock tube facilities.The use of controlled venting is demonstrated experimentally using the Advanced Blast Simulator(shock tube)at the Australian National Facility of Physical Blast Simulation and via numerical flow simulations with Computational Fluid Dynamics.Controlled venting is determined as an effective method for mitigating the impact of re-reflected waves within the blast simulator.This control method also allows for the adjustment of parameters such as tuning the peak overpressure,the positive phase duration,and modifying the magnitude of the negative phase and the secondary shock of the blast waves.This paper is concluded with an illustration of the potential expanded performance range of the Australian blast simulation facility when controlled venting for blast waveform tailoring as presented in this paper is applied.

Experimental and numerical study on protective effect of RC blast wall against air shock wave

Prototype experiments were carried out on the explosion-proof performance of the RC blast wall.The mass of TNT detonated in the experiments is 5 kg and 20 kg respectively.The shock wave overpressure was tested in different regions.The above experiments were numerically simulated,and the simulated shock wave overpressure waveforms were compared with that tested and given by CONWEP program.The results show that the numerically simulated waveform is slightly different from the test waveform,but similar to CONWEP waveform.Through dimensional analysis and numerical simulation under different working conditions,the equation for the attenuation rate of the diffraction overpressure behind the blast wall was obtained.According to the corresponding standards,the degree of casualties and the damage degree of the brick concrete building at a certain distance behind the wall can be determined when parameters are set.The above results can provide a reference for the design and construction of the reinforced concrete blast wall.

Reduction of epinephrine in the lumbar spinal cord following repetitive blast-induced traumatic brain injury in rats

Traumatic brain inju ry-induced unfavorable outcomes in human patients have independently been associated with dysregulated levels of monoamines,especially epinephrine,although few preclinical studies have examined the epinephrine level in the central nervous system after traumatic brain injury.Epinephrine has been shown to regulate the activities of spinal motoneurons as well as increase the heart rate,blood pressure,and blood flow to the hindlimb muscles.Therefore,the purpose of the present study was to determine the impact of repeated blast-induced traumatic brain injury on the epinephrine levels in seve ral function-s pecific central nervous system regions in rats.Following three repeated blast injuries at 3-day intervals,the hippocampus,motor cortex,locus coeruleus,vestibular nuclei,and lumbar spinal cord were harvested at post-injury day eight and processed for epinephrine assays using a high-sensitive electrochemical detector cou pled with high-performance liquid chromatography.Our results showed that the epinephrine levels were significantly decreased in the lumbar spinal cord tissues of blast-induced traumatic brain injury animals compared to the levels detected in age-and sex-matched sham controls.In other function-specific central nervous system regions,although the epinephrine levels were slightly altered following blast-induced tra u matic brain injury,they were not statistically significant.These results suggest that blast injury-induced significant downregulation of epinephrine in the lumbar spinal cord could negatively impact the motor and cardiovascular function.This is the first repo rt to show altered epinephrine levels in the spinal cord following repetitive mild blast-induced traumatic brain injury.

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.

Effect of Blasting Stress Wave on Dynamic Crack Propagation

Stress waves affect the stress field at the crack tip and dominate the dynamic crack propagation.Therefore,evaluating the influence of blasting stress waves on the crack propagation behavior and the mechanical characteristics of crack propagation is of great significance for engineering blasting.In this study,ANSYS/LS-DYNA was used for blasting numerical simulation,in which the propagation characteristics of blasting stress waves and stress field distribution at the crack tip were closely observed.Moreover,ABAQUS was applied for simulating the crack propagation path and calculating dynamic stress intensity factors(DSIFs).The universal function was calculated by the fractalmethod.The results show that:the compressive wave causes the crack to close and the reflected tensile wave drives the crack to initiate and propagate,and failure mode is mainly tensile failure.The crack propagation velocity varies with time,which increases at first and then decreases,and the crack arrest occurs due to the attenuation of stress waves and dissipation of the blasting energy.In addition,crack arrest toughness is smaller than the crack initiation toughness,applied pressure waveforms(such as the peak pressure,duration,waveforms,wavelengths and loading rates)have a great influence on DSIFs.It is conducive to our deep understanding or the study of blasting stress waves dominated fracture,suggesting a broad reference for the further development of rock blasting in engineering practice.

Development of an experimental method for well-controlled blast induced traumatic limb fracture in rats

Heterotopic ossification(HO)is a consequence of traumatic bone and tissue damage,which occurs in 65%of military casualties with blast-associated amputations.However,the mechanisms behind blast-induced HO remain unclear.Animal models are used to study blast-induced HO,but developing such models is challenging,particularly in how to use a pure blast wave(primary blast)to induce limb fracture that then requires an amputation.Several studies,including our recent study,have developed platforms to induce limb fractures in rats with blast loading or a mixture of blast and impact loading.However,these models are limited by the survivability of the animal and repeatability of the model.In this study,we developed an improved platform,aiming to improve the animal's survivability and injury repeatability as well as focusing on primary blast only.The platform exposed only one limb of the rat to a blast wave while providing proper protection to the rest of the rat's body.We obtained very consistent fracture outcome in the tibia(location and pattern)in cadaveric rats with a large range of size and weight.Importantly,the rats did not obviously move during the test,where movement is a potential cause of uncontrolled injury.We further conducted parametric studies by varying the features of the design of the platform.These factors,such as how the limb is fixed and how the cavity through which the limb is placed is sealed,significantly affect the resulting injury.This platform and test setups enable well-controlled limb fracture induced directly by pure blast wave,which is the fundamental step towards a complete in vivo animal model for blast-induced HO induced by primary blast alone,excluding secondary and tertiary blast injury.In addition,the platform design and the findings presented here,particularly regarding the proper protection of the animal,have implications for future studies investigating localized blast injuries,such as blast induced brain and lung injuries.

Energy and blast performance of beryllium in a model thermobaric composition in comparison with aluminum and magnesium

A direct comparison is made between the effectiveness of Al,Mg,and Be powders as additional fuels in model thermobaric compositions containing 20%fuel,20%ammonium perchlorate,and 60%RDX(1,3,5-Trinitro-1,3,5-triazacyclohexane)passivated with wax.Experimentally determined calorimetric measurements of the heat of detonation,along with the overpressure histories in an explosion chamber filled with nitrogen,were used to determine the quasi-static pressure(QSP)under anaerobic conditions.Overpressure measurements were also performed in a semi-closed bunker,and all blast wave parameters generated after the detonation of 500 g charges of the tested explosives were determined.Detonation calorimetry results,QSP values,and blast wave parameters(pressure amplitude,specific and total impulses)clearly indicate that Be is much more effective as an additional fuel than either Al or Mg in both anaerobic post-detonation reactions as well as the subsequent aerobic combustion.The heat of detonation of the RDXwax/AP/Be explosive mixture is over 40%and 50%higher than that of the mixture containing aluminum and magnesium instead of beryllium,respectively.Moreover,the TNT equivalent of the Be-containing composition due to the overpressure in the nitrogen-filled explosion chamber is 1.66,while the equivalent calculated using an air shock wave-specific impulse at a distance of 2.5 m is equal to 1.69.The high values of these parameters confirm the high reactivity of beryllium in both the anaerobic and aerobic stages of the thermobaric explosion.

A case study of blasting vibration attenuation based on wave component characteristics

A typical blasting vibration wave is a composite wave,and its attenuation law is affected by the type of dominant wave component.The purpose of the present study is to establish an attenuation equation of the peak particle velocity(PPV),taking into account the attenuation characteristics of P-,S-and R-waves in the blasting vibration wave.Field blasting tests were carried out as a case to specifically apply the proposed equation.In view of the fact that the discrete properties of rock mass will inevitably cause the uncertainty of blasting vibration,we also carried out a probability analysis of PPV uncertainty,and introduced the concept of reliability to evaluate blasting vibration.The results showed that the established attenuation equation had a higher prediction accuracy,and can be considered as a promising equation implemented on more complex sites.The adopted uncertainty analysis method can comprehensively take account of the attenuation law of blasting vibration measured on site and discrete properties of rock masses.The obtained distribution of the PPV uncertainty factor can quantitatively evaluate the reliability of blasting vibration,which is a powerful and necessary supplement to the PPV attenuation equation.

Blast wave characteristics of multi-layer composite charge:Theoretical analysis,numerical simulation,and experimental validation

This article investigates the characteristics of shock wave overpressure generated by multi-layer composite charge under different detonation modes.Combining dimensional analysis and the explosion mechanism of the charge,a peak overpressure prediction model for the composite charge under singlepoint detonation and simultaneous detonation was established.The effects of the charge structure and initiation method on the overpressure field characteristics were investigated in AUTODYN simulation.The accuracy of the prediction model and the reliability of the numerical simulation method were subsequently verified in a series of static explosion experiments.The results reveal that the mass of the inner charge was the key factor determining the peak overpressure of the composite charge under single-point detonation.The peak overpressure in the radial direction improved apparently with an increase in the aspect ratio of the charge.The overpressure curves in the axial direction exhibited a multi-peak phenomenon,and the secondary peak overpressure even exceeded the primary peak at distances of 30D and 40D(where D is the charge diameter).The difference in peak overpressure among azimuth angles of 0-90°gradually decreased with an increase in the propagation distance of the shock wave.The coupled effect of the detonation energy of the inner and outer charge under simultaneous detonation improved the overpressure in both radial and axial directions.The difference in peak overpressure obtained from model prediction and experimental measurements was less than 16.4%.

Damage assessment of aircraft wing subjected to blast wave with finite element method and artificial neural network tool

Damage assessment of the wing under blast wave is essential to the vulnerability reduction design of aircraft. This paper introduces a critical relative distance prediction method of aircraft wing damage based on the back-propagation artificial neural network(BP-ANN), which is trained by finite element simulation results. Moreover, the finite element method(FEM) for wing blast damage simulation has been validated by ground explosion tests and further used for damage mode determination and damage characteristics analysis. The analysis results indicate that the wing is more likely to be damaged when the root is struck from vertical directions than others for a small charge. With the increase of TNT equivalent charge, the main damage mode of the wing gradually changes from the local skin tearing to overall structural deformation and the overpressure threshold of wing damage decreases rapidly. Compared to the FEM-based damage assessment, the BP-ANN-based method can predict the wing damage under a random blast wave with an average relative error of 4.78%. The proposed method and conclusions can be used as a reference for damage assessment under blast wave and low-vulnerability design of aircraft structures.

Effects of Blast Wave-induced Biomechanical Changes on Lung Injury in Rats

Objective To observe the dynamic impacts of shock waves on the severity of lung injury in rats with different injury distances.Methods Simulate open-field shock waves;detect the biomechanical effects of explosion sources at distances of 40,44,and 48 cm from rats;and examine the changes in the gross anatomy of the lungs,lung wet/dry weight ratio,hemoglobin concentration,blood gas analysis,and pathology.Results Biomechanical parameters such as the overpressure peak and impulse were gradually attenuated with an increase in the injury distance.The lung tissue hemorrhage,edema,oxygenation index,and pathology changed more significantly for the 40 cm group than for the 44 and 48 cm groups.The overpressure peak and impulse were significantly higher for the 40 cm group than for the 44 and 48 cm groups(P<0.05 or P<0.01).The animal mortality was significantly higher for the 40 cm group than for the other two groups(41.2%vs.17.8%and 10.0%,P<0.05).The healing time of injured lung tissues for the 40 cm group was longer than those for the 44 and 48 cm groups.Conclusions The effects of simulated open-field shock waves on the severity of lung injuries in rats were correlated with the injury distances,the peak overpressure,and the overpressure impulse.

Experimental Research on Amplitude Change of Blasting Seismic Wave with Topography

The propagation characteristics of the amplitude of the blasting seismic wave under the conditions of various topographies are approached by means of experiments. Some factors affecting the effects of quake insulation groove, such as the size, the depth and the position of the quake insulation groove, are studied. The amplitudes of the blasting seismic waves under the conditions of the different sizes of the quake insulation groove are measured. According to the experiments, the effects of the quake insulation groove are related to the position, the distance, the energy of the explosion source and the size of the quake insulation groove itself. The farther it is from the explosion source, the smaller the energy is. The lower its position is and the larger its size is, the more remarkable the effects of the quake insulation groove are.

Impact of orientation of blast initiation on ground vibrations

The blast-induced ground vibrations can be significantly controlled by varying the location and orien-tation of point of interest from blast site.The blast waves generated due to individual holes get super-imposed and resultant peak particle velocity(PPV)generates.With the orientation sequence of holes blasts on site,the superimposition angle of wave changes and hence results in significant variation in resultant PPV.The orientation with respect to the initiation of blasts resulting in lowest PPV needs to be identified for any site.By knowing the PPV contour of vibration waves in mine sites,it is possible to reduce the vibration on the structures by changing the initiation sequence.In this paper,experimental blasts were conducted at two different mine sites and the PPV values were recorded at different ori-entations from the blast site and its initiation sequence.The PPV contours were drawn to identify the orientation with least and highest PPV generation line.It was found that by merely changing the initi-ation sequence of blasts with respect to the sensitive structure or point of interest,the PPV values can be reduced significantly up to 76.9%.

Discussion on “Impact of orientation of blast initiation on ground vibrations” [J Rock Mech Geotech Eng 15 (2022) 255e261]

Recently,Garai et al.(2022)published a paper on the impact of orientation of blast initiation on ground vibrations.However,some of the claims are not supported by the results of the given tests.In Fig.1(see Fig.8 in Garai et al.,2022),there are contours of measured vibration velocities in 4 directions(every 90?)and an incorrect interpretation between them.By placing all measured vibration velocity values(Gerai et al.,2022)at well-defined points on a single figure,it was not possible to precisely determine the type of vibration velocity,such as radial,tangential and vertical vibration velocities,with their different shapes.An incorrect conclusion was also drawn about the direction of the highest vibration velocity.The paper by Garai et al.(2022)measured the vibrational velocity of the medium through which the seismic wave passed,but used the incorrect term shock wave.The shock wave would have destroyed the seismic measuring instruments.A superposition of the vibrational velocity was considered,but not combined with the vibrational frequency of the seismic wave.This paper presents a method for selecting the time delay between successively initiated explosive charges to the measured frequency of the seismic wave,so that the direction of initiation of the explosive charges does not affect the vibration velocity of the ground through which the seismic wave passes.The theoretical and measured shapes and waveforms of radial velocity and tangential velocity in an opencast lignite mine are then presented.Moreover,the conditions for the formation of shock wave,transition wave and seismic waves are presented.

Effect of minocycline and its nano-formulation on central auditory system in blast-induced hearing loss rat model

Blast injuries are common among the military service members and veterans.One of the devastating effects of blast wave induced TBI is either temporary or permanent hearing loss.Treating hearing loss using minocycline is restricted by optimal drug concentration,route of administration,and its half-life.Therefore,therapeutic approach using novel therapeutic delivery method is in great need.Among the different delivery methods,nanotechnology-based drug delivery is desirable,which can achieve longer systemic circulation,pass through some biological barriers and specifically targets desired sites.The current study aimed to examine therapeutic effect of minocycline and its nanoparticle formulation in moderate blast induced hearing loss rat model through central auditory system.The I.v.administered nanoparticle at reduced dose and frequency than regularly administered toxic dose.After moderate blast exposure,rats had hearing impairment as determined by ABR at 7-and 30-days post exposure.In chronic condition,free minocycline also showed the significant reduction in ABR threshold.In central auditory system,it is found in this study that minocycline nanoparticles ameliorate excitation in inferior colliculus;and astrocytes and microglia activation after the blast exposure is reduced by minocycline nanoparticles administration.The study demonstrated that in moderate blast induced hearing loss,minocycline and its nanoparticle formulation exhibited the optimal therapeutic effect on the recovery of the ABR impairment and a protective effect through central auditory system.In conclusion,targeted and non-targeted nanoparticle formulation have therapeutic effect on blast induced hearing loss.

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.

Numerical study on the fracturing mechanism of shock wave interactions between two adjacent blast holes in deep rock blasting

With the application of electronic detonators, millisecond blasting is regarded as a signifi cant promising approach to improve the rock fragmentation in deep rock blasting. Thus, it is necessary to investigate the fracturing mechanisms of short-delay blasting. In this work, a rectangle model with two circle boreholes is modeled as a particles assembly based on the discrete element method to simulate the shock wave interactions induced by millisecond blasting. The rectangle model has a size of 12 × 6 m (L × W) and two blast holes have the same diameter of 12 cm. The shock waves are simplifi ed as time-varying forces applied at the particles of walls of the two boreholes. Among a series of numerical tests in this study, the spacing between two adjacent boreholes and delay time of millisecond blasting are considered as two primary variables, and the decoupling charge with a coeffi cient of 1.5 is taken into account in each case. The results show that stress superposition is not a key factor for improving rock fragmentation (tensile stress interactions rather than compressive stress superposition could aff ect the generation of cracks), whereas collision actions from isolated particles or particles with weakened constraints play a crucial role in creating the fracture network. The delay time has an infl uence on causing cracks in rock blasting, however, whether it works heavily depends on the distance between the two holes.

Numerical simulation of the blast wave of a multilayer composite charge

The numerical simulation of a blast wave of a multilayer composite charge is investigated.A calculation model of the near-field explosion and far-field propagation of the shock wave of a composite charge is established using the AUTODYN finite element program.Results of the near-field and far-field calculations of the shock wave respectively converge at cell sizes of 0.25-0.5 cm and 1-3 cm.The Euler--fluxcorrected transport solver is found to be suitable for the far-field calculation after mapping.A numerical simulation is conducted to study the formation,propagation,and interaction of the shock wave of the composite charge for different initiation modes.It is found that the initiation mode obviously affects the shock-wave waveform and pressure distribution of the composite charge.Additionally,it is found that the area of the overpressure distribution is greatest for internal and external simultaneous initiation,and the peak pressure of the shock wave exponentially decays,fitting the calculation formula of the peak overpressure attenuation under different initiation modes,which is obtained and verified by experiment.The difference between numerical and experimental results is less than 10%,and the peak overpressure of both internal and external initiation is 56.12% higher than that of central single-point initiation.

Numerical simulation on radiation and energy of blast-induced seismic waves in deep rock masses

With regard to blasting in deep rock masses,it is commonly thought that an increase in the in-situ stress will change the blast-induced rock crack propagation and ultimately affect rock fragmentation.However,little attention has been given to the change in seismic wave radiation when the fractured zone changes with the in-situ stress.In this study,the influences of in-situ stress on blast-induced rock fracture and seismic wave radiation are numerically investigated by a coupled SPH-FEM simulation method.The results show that the change in blast-induced rock fracture with in-situ stress has a considerable effect on the seismic wave energy and composition.As the in-situ stress level increases,the size of the fractured zone is significantly reduced,and more explosion energy is transformed into seismic energy.A reduction in the size of the fractured zone(seismic wave source zone)results in a higher frequency content of the seismic waves.In a nonhydrostatic in-situ stress field,blast-induced cracks are most suppressed in the direction of the minimum in-situ stress,and thus the seismic waves generated in this direction have the highest energy density.In addition to P-waves,Swaves are also generated when a circular explosive is detonated in a nonhydrostatic in-situ stress field.The S-waves result from the asymmetrical release of rock strain energy due to the anisotropic blast-induced fracture pattern.

Disaster preparedness, pediatric considerations in primary blast injury, chemical, and biological terrorism

Both domestic and foreign terror incidents are an unfortunate outgrowth of our modern times from the Oklahoma City bombings, Sarin gas attacks in Japan, the Madrid train bombing, anthrax spores in the mail, to the World Trade Center on September 11 th, 2001. The modalities used to perpetrate these terrorist acts range from conventional weapons to high explosives, chemical weapons, and biological weapons all of which have been used in the recent past. While these weapons platforms can cause significant injury requiring critical care the mechanism of injury, pathophysiology and treatment of these injuries are unfamiliar to many critical care providers. Additionally the pediatric population is particularly vulnerable to these types of attacks. In the event of a mass casualty incident both adult and pediatric critical care practitioners will likely be called upon to care for children and adults alike. We will review the presentation, pathophysiology, and treatment of victims of blast injury, chemical weapons, and biological weapons. The focus will be on those injuries not commonly encountered in critical care practice, primary blast injuries, category A pathogens likely to be used in terrorist incidents, and chemical weapons including nerve agents, vesicants, pulmonary agents, cyanide, and riot control agents with special attention paid to pediatric specific considerations.