Modeling Blast Wave Propagation in a Generic Facility

Abstract : The blast environment inside a building resulting from an internal detonation is a coupled fluid and structural dynamics problem that depends on the extent of failure of the interior walls surrounding the blast. As the walls fail, the propagating airblast convects the wall debris to adjacent rooms, creating an hazardous environment. To improve our understanding of internal blast damage and fragment dispersion phenomena associated with transient and quasi-static loadings, the Defense Thread Reduction Agency (DTRA) has initiated a combined experimental and computational effort. The program investigated the response of interior walls made of various materials to blast loading. This paper will describes the numerical methodology, the application of the coupled computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and computational structural dynamics (CSD) methodology to the study of concrete masonry unit (CMU) walls response to a blast in the detonation (main) room, and prediction comparisons to experimental data.