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A numerical investigation of blast-structure interaction effects on primary blast injury risk and the suitability of existing injury prediction methods

A numerical investigation of blast-structure interaction effects on primary blast injury risk and the suitability of existing injury prediction methods
A numerical investigation of blast-structure interaction effects on primary blast injury risk and the suitability of existing injury prediction methods
Explosions increasingly occur in densely populated, urban locations. Primary blast injuries (PBIs), caused by exposure to blast wave overpressure, can be predicted using injury criteria, although many are based on idealised loading scenarios that do not necessarily reflect real life situations. At present, there is limited understanding of how, and to what extent, blast-structure interaction influences injury risk, and the suitability of injury criteria that assume idealised loading. This work employed computational fluid dynamics to investigate the influence of blast interaction effects such as shielding and channelling on blast load characteristics and predicted PBIs. The validated modelling showed that blast interaction with common urban features like walls and corners resulted in complex waveforms featuring multiple peaks and less clearly defined durations, and that these alter potential injury risk maps. For example, blast shielding due to corners reduced peak overpressures by 43%-60% at locations behind the corner. However, when the urban layout included a corner and a wall structure, higher pressures and impulse due to channelling were observed. The channelling significantly increased the injury risk at the exposed location and reduced the shielding effects behind the corner. In these cases, the application and interpretation of existing injury criteria had several limitations and reduced reliability. This demonstrates that structural-blast interaction from common urban layouts has a significant effect on PBI risk. Specific challenges and further work to develop understanding and reliability of injury prediction for urban blast scenarios are discussed.
2041-4196
Denny, Jack
7bd3e650-6c4e-4149-b408-2166e377b216
Langdon, Genevieve
bfdfdec0-401c-4839-8a68-8c8c46ddf667
Rigby, Sam
e571d216-3bb1-4de7-b837-67b84cfe84ed
Dickinson, Alex
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Batchelor, James
e53c36c7-aa7f-4fae-8113-30bfbb9b36ee
Denny, Jack
7bd3e650-6c4e-4149-b408-2166e377b216
Langdon, Genevieve
bfdfdec0-401c-4839-8a68-8c8c46ddf667
Rigby, Sam
e571d216-3bb1-4de7-b837-67b84cfe84ed
Dickinson, Alex
10151972-c1b5-4f7d-bc12-6482b5870cad
Batchelor, James
e53c36c7-aa7f-4fae-8113-30bfbb9b36ee

Denny, Jack, Langdon, Genevieve, Rigby, Sam, Dickinson, Alex and Batchelor, James (2022) A numerical investigation of blast-structure interaction effects on primary blast injury risk and the suitability of existing injury prediction methods. International Journal of Protective Structures.

Record type: Article

Abstract

Explosions increasingly occur in densely populated, urban locations. Primary blast injuries (PBIs), caused by exposure to blast wave overpressure, can be predicted using injury criteria, although many are based on idealised loading scenarios that do not necessarily reflect real life situations. At present, there is limited understanding of how, and to what extent, blast-structure interaction influences injury risk, and the suitability of injury criteria that assume idealised loading. This work employed computational fluid dynamics to investigate the influence of blast interaction effects such as shielding and channelling on blast load characteristics and predicted PBIs. The validated modelling showed that blast interaction with common urban features like walls and corners resulted in complex waveforms featuring multiple peaks and less clearly defined durations, and that these alter potential injury risk maps. For example, blast shielding due to corners reduced peak overpressures by 43%-60% at locations behind the corner. However, when the urban layout included a corner and a wall structure, higher pressures and impulse due to channelling were observed. The channelling significantly increased the injury risk at the exposed location and reduced the shielding effects behind the corner. In these cases, the application and interpretation of existing injury criteria had several limitations and reduced reliability. This demonstrates that structural-blast interaction from common urban layouts has a significant effect on PBI risk. Specific challenges and further work to develop understanding and reliability of injury prediction for urban blast scenarios are discussed.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 14 October 2022
e-pub ahead of print date: 28 October 2022
Published date: 28 October 2022

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 471629
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/471629
ISSN: 2041-4196
PURE UUID: 1110339a-38a9-449f-897d-eef9f62309b8
ORCID for Jack Denny: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-3181-4747
ORCID for Alex Dickinson: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-9647-1944
ORCID for James Batchelor: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-5307-552X

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Date deposited: 15 Nov 2022 17:41
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:52

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Contributors

Author: Jack Denny ORCID iD
Author: Genevieve Langdon
Author: Sam Rigby
Author: Alex Dickinson ORCID iD
Author: James Batchelor ORCID iD

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