Amplification of Shock Overpressure by Reflection within Concave Corners
Abstract
In this study, CTH, a production hydrodynamics code developed and provided by Sandia National Laboratories. modeled the interaction of a shock wave with tall V-shaped buildings with various wall lengths and vertex angles. The purpose of this study was to determine the degree to which the length and vertex angle affect the peak overpressure at the vertex. CTH performed two- dimensional Eulerian-Lagrangian computations to obtain solutions of this problem. The models were cast in two-dimensional rectangular geometry on a horizontal plane because of the computational costs of three-dimensional calculations. This geometry simulates tall buildings exposed to a tall Mach stem blast. The free-field shock increased sharply to a peak overpressure of 6.2 psi and returned to ambient conditions after about one second. This incident shock amplified significantly in the building vertices. Peak overpressures measured as high as 8.7 times the incident free-field overpressure of 6.2 psi, or 3.9 times the peak reflected overpressure of 14 psi due to reflection at normal incidence. The amplification was greatest with narrow vertex angles, but was significant (2.7 times that at normal incidence) even with right-angle vertices. The amplification of the peak overpressure due to reflection within concave corners is important in determining the vulnerability of structures to blast damage.... Blast, Blast Amplification, Blast damage, Blast reflection, Shock amplification and Shock reflection.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 1993
- Accession Number
- ADA262581
Entities
People
- John E. Loftis
Organizations
- Air Force Institute of Technology