Mitigation of blast loadings on structures by an anti-blast plastic water wall

Abstract

Seven in-situ tests were carried out in far field to study the blast mitigation effect of a kind of water filled plastic wall. Test results show that the mitigation effect of water filled plastic wall is remarkable. The maximum reduction of peak reflected overpressure reaches up to 94.53%, as well as 36.3% of the minimum peak reflected overpressure reduction in the scaled distance ranging from 1.71 m/kg^1/3 to 3.42 m/kg^1/3. Parametric studies were also carried out. The effects of the scaled gauge height, water/charge scaled distance (the distance between the explosive charge and the water wall), water wall scaled height and water/structure scaled distance (the distance between the water wall and the structure) were systematically investigated and compared with the usual rigid anti-blast wall. It is concluded that these parameters affect the mitigation effects of plastic water wall on blast loadings significantly, which is basically consistent to the trend of usual rigid anti-blast wall. Some formulae are also derived based on the numerical and test results, providing a simple but reliable prediction model to evaluate the peak overpressure of mitigated blast loadings on the structures.

Keywords

water wall / blast mitigating effect / protective technique / prediction model

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