Blast Wave Mitigation by Water

Abstract : Safety systems designed to mitigate blast wave effects are absolutely vital in the explosives industry. As a general rule, barricades made of soil, sand or concrete are used, but these systems cannot be moved once they have been constructed. Since plants or installations are frequently required to change location the concept of a mobile barricade is of considerable interest. The effect of a water wall on blast wave mitigation was studied in scale model tests. The influence of different parameters such as the thickness of the wall and the distance between the explosive charge and the water barricade was also calculated. This methodology enabled the use of nomographs giving excess pressure (overpressure) as a function of wall thickness, charge/wall distance and charge/location distance. The results showed the effectiveness of the water wall and confirmed its interest. This study was carried out by performing tests in a reduced scale model plant. The purpose of the tests was to: 1. Confirm the effect of the weight of the water wall on far-field blast mitigation. 2. Measure the effect of the water wall with regard to reflected pressures on rigid walls. In these cases water walls were created in front of the rigid walls.