Craters Produced by Explosions above the Soil and Pavement Surface

AMBROSINI, DANIEL; LUCCIONI, BIBIANA MARÍA

Haifa

Workshop; International Workshop on Structures Response to Impact and Blast; 2009

National Building Research Institute

In case of terrorist attacks or other intentional actions using explosives, the information obtained from the crater generated by the blast waves is extremely important. For example, the focus of the explosion and the mass of theexplosive used in the attack can be deduced examining the location and dimensions of the crater. However, studies about craters produced by explosions on or above ground level, which would be the case when the explosive chargeis situated in a vehicle, are rarely found in the open technical literature. In previous papers of the authors, numerical studies related to crater produced by explosive loads located on, above or below the soil surface, and the influenceof the variability of the soil properties on the crater dimensions, were presented. In this paper, a summary about the influence of the gravity center of the explosive load as well as a study of the incorporation of a rigid and flexible pavement on the crater dimensions is presented. Moreover, the effect of elevation of the center of energy release of explosive loads located on the pavement surface is discussed. The numerical model, as well as the analysisprocedure, was validated against experimental observations of the crater diameters and the actual response of a concrete plate.