Simulation of the Effects of an Air Blast Wave - ELSA - Europa

European CommissionJoint Research Centre – Institute for the Protection and Security of the CitizenTitle: Simulation of the effects of an air blast waveAuthor: Martin LarcherLuxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities2007 – 86 pp. – 21.0 x 29.7 cmScientific and Technical Research series – ISSN 1018-5593AbstractThis work is being conducted in the framework of the project RAILPROTECT, which deals with the security andsafety of rail transport against terrorist attacks. The bombing threat is only considered, and focus is placed onpredicting the effects of explosions in railway and metro stations and rolling stock and on assessing thevulnerability of such structures. As the aim of this project is to calculate the behaviour of structures under aloading produced by air blast waves, an indispensable starting point in this study is the ability to simulate thegeneration of such waves from a given quantity of explosive, and to follow their propagation through 3D spacesas they finally impinge onto the structures under consideration. The results of such numerical tests of free airblasts are presented in this report and are compared to experimental data available in the literature. Thisanalysis is preceded by an exposition of some basic concepts on blast wave characteristics, explosives, and adescription of the equation of state adopted herein for the modelling of the detonation of a solid explosive.85