Aspects of fluid-structure interaction on the dynamic response of blast-loaded metallic plates

Abstract

This work presents results from an experimental and numerical investigation on the influence of fluid-structure interaction (FSI) on the dynamic response of thin steel plates subjected to blast loading. The loading was generated by a shock tube facility designed to expose structures to blastlike loading conditions. The steel plates had an exposed area of 0.3 m x 0.3 m, and experienced large deformations during the tests. Numerical simulations were performed using the finite element code EUROPLEXUS. An uncoupled approach was compared to a coupled approach in an attempt to investigate interaction effects. The numerical results were finally compared to the experimental data, in terms of mid-point deflections of the steel plates, to validate their reliability. It was found that the numerical results were in good agreement with the experimental observations when using either approaches at the lower blast pressures, but the fully coupled simulation showed better agreement with the experimental data at the highest blast pressure.