Vehicle Shaping for Mine Blast Damage Reduction

When a buried explosive is detonated beneath a target (such as a vehicle), the target is rapidly loaded by flying ejecta, high pressure gas, and shock waves. This paper explores how changes in the shape of the underside of a target affect the total impulse captured from the detonation of a buried charge. The effects of changes in target height and charge burial depth are also examined. Testing was conducted on dihedral target plates using 0.636 gram charges. These were buried in saturated sand at three depths, and shaped targets were placed at four heights above the surface. The impulse applied to the plate by the exploding charge was determined through analysis of high speed digital video recordings. Changing the geometry of the target reduced the impulse by up to 45%. Increasing standoff distance reduced impulse by up to 70%.

Department dc:contributor.department

Mechanical Engineering

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Genson, Kevin William

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Fourney, William

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1903/3825

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:drum.lib.umd.edu:1903/3825