Doctoral Dissertations

Keywords and Phrases

Angle of incidence; Explosives; Mach stem; Scaled blasts; Small-scale testing; Tall targets

Abstract

Blast resistant structural design continues to be a major research area for governments around the world due to explosive threats from both state and non-state actors. Many of the typical targets of explosive attacks, such as government buildings, commercial high rise office buildings, and apartment complexes are mid to high-occupancy buildings that present a tall profile relative to the charge size and are often clad in curtain walls. In blast resistant structural design, the origin of a shock wave is typically assumed to be in the far-field, creating a wave that is nearly planar and parallel to at least one face of the target. Shock is applied evenly and immediately across the entire impacted surface. However, the source of real-life blasts is often very close to the target structure and the assumption of far-field planar shock does not always apply. Empirical data from historical tests forms the basis for analysis, but that data was gathered from large multi-ton tests and may not accurately predict blast parameters from scaled tests. This research examines scaled “mid-field” blasts which exhibit characteristics different from those assumed about far-field shocks from large scale detonations, specifically a hemispherical shock that produces different peak pressures, impulse curves, oblique reflections, and Mach stems across a target. Results will be compared to theoretical blast parameter equations and empirical data used by the industry. Further refinements to blast parameter estimation will be suggested.

Advisor(s)

Perry, Kyle A.

Committee Member(s)

Johnson, Carol
Salim, Hani
Worsey, Paul Nicholas
Mulligan, Phillip R.

Department(s)

Mining Engineering

Degree Name

Ph. D. in Explosives Engineering

Publisher

Missouri University of Science and Technology

Publication Date

Summer 2025

Pagination

xi, 131 pages

Note about bibliography

Includes_bibliographical_references_(pages 119-128)

Rights

© 2025 Ethan Allan Steward , All Rights Reserved

Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

File Type

text

Language

English

Thesis Number

T 12521

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