Dependency of the Blast Wave Pressure on the Amount of Used Booster

Abstract

Most of the damage caused by an explosion is caused by a pressure effect. The magnitude of the pressure generated by the explosion is influenced by the external characteristics of the environment (surrounding objects, their arrangement, geometry, etc.) and internal characteristics (type of explosive, type of charge, booster and others). An effective combination of internal factors creates a symmetry that results in the highest possible value of pressure generated by the charge explosion. The paper focuses on the influence of the booster reaction on this symmetry. The scope of the paper is to understand the dependency of the blast wave pressure on the amount of used blaster to increase the efficacy of explosions on the environment and structures to increase the protection of affected structures. The open-air field tests were conducted using different types of explosives: trinitrotoluene and three different types of industrially made ANFO explosives (pure ammonium nitrate and fuel oil, ammonium nitrate and fuel oil plus aluminum powder, ammonium nitrate and fuel oil mixed with trinitrotoluene). The obtained data were compared with the analytical approach for setting the generated maximal pressure on the front of the blast wave.