Response of Containment Vessels to Explosive Blast Loading

Abstract

The response of steel containment vessels to the blast loading produced by the detonation of high explosives is investigated by experiments, computations, and analysis. The vessels are thin-wall shell structures that are nearly spherical. All explosive charges are solid spheres, centrally initiated and centrally positioned within the vessels. Most of the work concerns vessels that contain, in addition to the explosive charge, air at ambient or reduced pressures. One-dimensional, Lagrangian, finite-difference calculations are used to study the blast phenomenon and the details of the loading pulse applied to the vessel wall. The results are verified by comparisons with pressure gage records. In addition, vessel response to the pressure loading is calculated by both finite-difference and finite-element computer codes. The two-dimensional motion, which occurs after significant wave interactions have taken place in the test vessels, can be simulated, with reasonable accuracy, by finite-element calculations.