On the safety and reliability of high dynamic hydrocode simulations

The numerical simulation of concrete subjected to high dynamic loadings, e.g. explosive charges, is a subject of current research. This kind of loading produces extremely high pressures in the megabar region and strain rates up to 108(1/s). It is obvious that one will not succeed by only using the classical field of structural dynamics. Hydrocode simulations have been carried out considering the interaction between explosive loading and the structure by coupling the Lagrangian with the Eulerian methodology. To use the hydrocode simulation for comparisons with test results and in order to improve the method as well as material laws, the typical methodical inherent aspects, like discretization errors and mesh sensitivity problems etc., have to be discussed and evaluated with respect to different levels of modelling. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.