Simulation of the Effects of an Air Blast Wave

European Commission Joint Research Centre, Institute for the Protection and Security of the Citizen, 2007. — 88 p.This work is being conducted in the framework of the project RAILPROTECT, which deals with the security and safety of rail transport against terrorist attacks. The bombing threat is only considered, and focus is placed on predicting the effects of explosions in railway and metro stations and rolling stock and on assessing the vulnerability of such structures. As the aim of this project is to calculate the behaviour of structures under a loading produced by air blast waves, an indispensable starting point in this study is the ability to simulate the generation of such waves from a given quantity of explosive, and to follow their propagation through 3D spaces as they finally impinge onto the structures under consideration. The results of such numerical tests of free air blasts are presented in this report and are compared to experimental data available in the literature. This analysis is preceded by an exposition of some basic concepts on blast wave characteristics, explosives, and a
description of the equation of state adopted herein for the modelling of the detonation of a solid explosive.