Finite element simulation of blast loading on sandwich structure with face plates of ceramic

Abstract

The threat from bomb blast like landmines, improvised explosive devices, mortars cause most of the injuries in battlefield. Foot being in closest proximity with ground suffers majority of injuries in case of a landmine blast. Therefore, a protective measure is needed to ensure safety of lower portion of the body. For this purpose, various blast resistant structures such as monolithic steel plates, sandwiched corrugated plates, sandwich metallic foams, sandwich honeycomb structure have been developed to mitigate the effects of blast wave. Among them, the sandwich honeycomb structure which are comprised of a soft metallic core sandwiched between two metallic plates have been preferred over other structures due to their light weight and high energy absorption capability. The experiments on ceramics have shown that these materials are more effective for attenuation of pressure wave than metals. Therefore, it is advisable to combine ceramic plates with soft honeycomb sandwich structure. Though a few efforts have been made in this direction, a systematic study is still needed to understand the effect of the addition of ceramic plate on the blast resistant characteristics of a sandwiched structures. Therefore, the finite element simulations of near field blast loading on honeycomb sandwich structure with and without ceramic plate attached are performed. Results show that inclusion of ceramic plates on sandwiched structures results in better pressure attenuation and energy absorption.