Analysis of the blast wave – structure interface phenomenon in case of explosive events

Several structures need their response to blast loads to be investigated to grant an acceptable survivability level. To this purpose, experimental campaigns are complex, but some numerical methods are commonly exploited. The explosion pressure-time history is typically estimated characterizing the detonation of an energetically equivalent explosion involving the detonation of a specific amount of TNT. The pressure-time history at a point, fixed in space, involved by the blast wave is described by the Friedlander equation. A specific approach to modelling the complex blast wave-target structure coupling is reported in the UFC 3-340-02. This method, although consolidated and valid for aerospace, civil and mechanical structure, is not adopted in predictive simulations, which involve naive methods for characterizing that interface phenomenon. This work aims to give an insight on the blast wave-structure interaction event. A methodological approach combining the Friedlander equation and the theory reported in the UFC 3-340-02 is presented, which confidently characterizes the effects of explosive loads on common structures. This fully analytical method may be implemented into numerical codes to perform simple, but effective, preliminary characterizations of the structural response to explosive loads. Finally, a possible application of the proposed method to thin-walled structures is shown.