Numerical simulation of the post-failure motion of steel plates subjected to blast loading

doi:10.1016/j.ijimpeng.2005.07.013

International Journal of Impact Engineering

Volume 32, Issues 1–4, December 2005, Pages 14-34

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijimpeng.2005.07.013 Get rights and content

Abstract

This paper describes the numerical simulation results of two experimental studies [Teeling-Smith RG, Nurick GN. The deformation and tearing of thin circular plates subjected to impulsive loads. Int J Impact Eng 1991;11:77–91; Nurick GN, Bryant MW. Fragmentation damage as a result of an explosion. In: Gupta NK, editor. Plasticity and impact mechanics, December 1996, New Delhi, India, p. 484–498] in which the deformation and post-failure response of a plate subjected to blast loading were investigated. In Ref. Teeling-Smith and Nurick, uniform blast loading was considered, while in Ref. Nurick and Bryant, localised blast loading was investigated. The finite element code ABAQUS was used to simulate the structural response of the respective blast structures, while the hydro-dynamic code AUTODYN was used to characterise the localised blast pressure, time, and spatial history. The simulations showed satisfactory correlation with the experiments for energy input, large inelastic deformations and post-failure motion.

Introduction

Theoretical and experimental studies of structures subjected to blast loading have been widely reported in the literature, see for example, Nurick et al. [1], [2], [3], [4], Jones [5], [6], and Menkes and Opat [7]. These have dealt mainly with large inelastic deformations of the structure (mode I) and in some limited cases with the necking/tearing of the structure and the release of a blast fragment (mode II) [8]. Both Teeling-Smith and Nurick [1] and Nurick and Bryant [2] conducted experiments in which both mode I and mode II responses were observed. In addition, an attempt was made to experimentally quantify the post-failure motion of the blast fragment.

Post-failure motion of the blast fragment has hitherto been difficult to predict due to the fact that the material properties at the moment of tearing are difficult to quantify. The concept of including temperature effects into the material definitions has been reported by Johnson and Cook (JC) [9], subsequently by Zerilli and Armstrong [10], and also by Chung Kim Yuen and Nurick [11] and Langdon et al. [12].

This paper presents the simulated plate response and post-failure motion of the blast fragment, for uniform loaded plates and localised blast loading. For the localised loaded plates a JC material model is implemented, while for uniformly loaded plates the material model is described in Ref. [11], [12].

Section snippets

Experimental study

The experimental study is reported in detail in Ref. [1] and so only a short description is presented here. Steel plates of 100 mm diameter and 1.6 mm thickness were clamped between two support flanges. Sheet explosive was placed on a polystyrene pad in two concentric circular rings with a cross-leader and centrally detonated. This arrangement was assumed to produce uniform blast pressure loading on the plate.

The assembled experimental configuration is shown in Fig. 1. The impulse was determined

Experimental study

Nurick and Bryant [2], describe the experimental procedure followed in the testing of two idealised parallel separated plates. The two parallel separated plates were the opposing faces of a square structural tube member, as shown in Fig. 9, of cross-section dimensions of 100×100×2 mm and length of 300 mm. The upper and lower ends of the tube were rigidly attached to a ballistic pendulum, while the disk of PE4 explosive was centrally placed on top of a polystyrene pad. The mass of explosive was

Closing comments

The simulation results for the uniform loaded circular plates show close correlation to the published study of Teeling-Smith and Nurick [1], for both mode I and mode II responses. Also, there is favourable comparison between the presented simulation and experiments for the localised blast loading of parallel separated plates, as described in Nurick and Bryant [2]. In general, the simulated results for plate deflections are within a tolerance of one plate thickness, compared to the experimental

References (20)

R.G. Teeling-Smith et al.
The deformation and tearing of thin circular plates subjected to impulsive loads
Int J Impact Eng
(1991)
G.N. Nurick et al.
The deformation and tearing of thin square plates subjected to impulsive loads—an experimental study
Int J Impact Eng
(1996)
M.D. Olson et al.
Deformation and rupture of blast loaded square plates—predictions and experiments
Int J Impact Eng
(1993)
W.Q. Shen et al.
Dynamic response and failure of fully clamped circular plates under impulsive loading
Int J Impact Eng
(1993)
N. Jones et al.
Post-severance analysis of impulsively loaded beams
Int J Solids Struct
(2004)
S. Chung Kim Yuen et al.
Experimental and numerical studies on the response of quadrangular stiffened plates—Part I—subjected to uniform blast load
Int J Impact Eng
(2005)
G.S. Langdon et al.
Experimental and numerical studies on the response of quadrangular stiffened plates—Part II—subjected to localised load
Int J Impact Eng
(2005)
Nurick GN, Bryant MW. Fragmentation damage as a result of an explosion. In: Gupta NK, editor. Plasticity and impact...
N. Jones
Structural impact
(1989)
S.B. Menkes et al.
Tearing and shear failures in explosively loaded clamped beams
Explosion Mech
(1973)

There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (105)

Micro defects formation and dynamic response analysis of steel plate of quasi-cracking area subjected to explosive load
2024, Defence Technology
As the protective component, steel plate had attracted extensive attention because of frequently threats of explosive loads. In this paper, the evolution of microstructure and the mechanism of damage in the quasi-cracking area of steel plate subjected to explosive load were discussed and the relationships between micro defects and dynamic mechanical response were revealed. After the explosion experiment, five observation points were selected equidistant from the quasi-cracking area of the section of the steel plate along the thickness direction, and the characteristics of micro defects at the observation points were analyzed by optical microscope (OM), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD). The observation result shows that many slip bands (SBs) appeared, and the grain orientation changed obviously in the steel plate, the two were the main damage types of micro defects. In addition, cracks, peeling pits, grooves and other lager micro defects were appeared in the lower area of the plate. The stress parameters of the observation points were obtained through an effective numerical model. The mechanism of damage generation and crack propagation in the quasi-cracking area were clarified by comparing the specific impulse of each observation point with the corresponding micro defects. The result shows that the generation and expansion of micro defects are related to the stress area (i.e. the upper compression area, the neutral plane area, and the lower tension area). The micro defects gather and expand at the grain boundary, and will become macroscopic damage under the continuous action of tensile stress. Besides, the micro defects at the midpoint of the section of the steel plate in the direction away from the explosion center (i.e. the horizontal direction) were also studied. It was found that the specific impulse at these positions were much smaller than that in the thickness direction, the micro defects were only SBs and a few micro cracks, and the those decreased with the increase of the distance from the explosion center.
Numerical studies on deformation and tearing of clamped circular plates subjected to uniform impulsive loads
2023, Materials Today: Proceedings
Paper presents numerical model for the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and simulations of large deformations and observed ductile fracture modes of clamped circular plates subjected to uniform impulsive loads. The numerical scheme is founded on a well-defined model of the constitutive properties based on inverse FEA simulations of the uniaxial tension test (UTT) for the calibration of failure criterion. The simulation of the quasi static UTT has been undertaken using a mixed constitutive model of multi-linear isotropic hardening and power law plasticity to closely follow the mechanically obtained stress strain curve till the ultimate tensile strength of the specimen. Experimental results of large plastic deformations, onset of thinning and tearing at the boundary for clamped steel circular plates subjected to uniformly loaded air blasts have been used to compare and validate the improved numerical model and analysis procedure with as well as without inclusion of temperature effects. A comparison of the numerically predicted displacement response and empirical trends based on extensive experimental works by various authors have been presented in terms of non-dimensional parameters to assess the efficacy of the numerical model. The effect of adiabatic heating as a result of plastic work dissipation on the displacement response and failure of the structure has also been studied with and without incorporation of temperature effects. The numerical model proposed in the paper is simple and useful in the sense that the material characterization and damage parameters can be obtained from a single UTT for its calibration.
Response of thin walled transversely stiffened clamped circular plates under uniform impulsive loads
2023, Thin-Walled Structures
Paper presents numerical models based on detailed characterization of various uncoupled damage models in a finite element analysis (FEA) setup to assess large deformations and observed ductile fracture failure modes of fully clamped circular plates as well as transversely stiffened circular plates in cross stiffened configurations under uniform impulsive loads. The numerical schemes have been based on a detailed definition of the constitutive properties based on inverse FEA simulations of the uniaxial tension test for the calibration of material and failure parameters. Experiments have been conducted using two types of freshly prepared mild steel uniaxial tension test specimens covering the envisaged range of stress tri-axialities to establish the steel plate material and fracture characteristics necessary for the calibration of the presented phenomenological damage models. Published results based on extensive experimental works by various authors on response of thin walled clamped circular plates under transversely applied uniform air blast loads, manifesting in large plastic deformations, thinning and tearing under various ductile fracture modes, have been used in the performance assessment of presented numerical models and procedure, which incorporate different damage models including temperature effects due to plastic dissipation. Based on evaluated performance of the discussed failure models within the FEA setup, a hybrid damage model with a tri-axiality based two part ductile fracture locus has been proposed, which shows very good correlation with the published experimental results, presented in terms of non-dimensional parameters over a wide range of impulsive loading. The validated numerical setup using the proposed hybrid damage model has also been used to predict the effect of transverse cross stiffened configurations of flat bar stiffeners on large deformations and ductile fracture of clamped circular plates under transverse uniform impulsive blast loads, along with some key insights in the evolution of plastic zones and damage progression.
Large deformations and failure of clamped circular steel plates under uniform impulsive loads using various phenomenological damage models
2022, International Journal of Impact Engineering
Paper presents numerical models based on a detailed characterization of various uncoupled damage models in a finite element analysis (FEA) setup to assess their results and comparative performance in simulation of structural response and failure of clamped circular plates subjected to a wide range of uniform impulse loading. The significance of numerical modeling of ductile fracture in simulating the various observed modes of failure in steel structures under intense blast loading has also been presented along with an overview of various phenomenological damage models in the published domain. Numerical schemes presented in the paper are founded on a detailed and well-defined material model using mechanical uniaxial tension tests (UTT) and its inverse FEA simulations. Elaborate UTT experiments have been conducted to establish the mechanical strength and ductile fracture characteristics of a particular grade of mild steel for its usage in the calibration of the discussed damage models. Relative performance of various simple as well as complex phenomenological damage models in simulating/ predicting the experimentally observed structural response and different failure modes of fully clamped circular steel plates over a broad range of uniform impulsive loads has also been presented. Published results based on extensive experimental works by various authors on response of thin walled clamped circular plates under transversely applied uniform air blast loads, manifesting in plastic deformations of large magnitude, inception of thinning and tearing under various ductile fracture modes, have been utilized in the validation of the numerical model and procedure. Based on the evaluated performance of the discussed numerical models, a hybrid damage model adopted within the FEA setup has been proposed, demonstrating a very good correlation of numerical predictions with experiments. The validated FEA setup incorporating the calibrated hybrid damage model has further been gainfully utilized towards critical insights in the evolution of plastic deformations, progression of damage and their correlation with experimentally observed failure modes over a wide range of loading, involving varying stress states and tri-axiality.
Confined blast loading of steel plates with and without pre-formed holes
2022, International Journal of Impact Engineering
This paper presents experimental and numerical results for fully-clamped square steel plates to elucidate how the deformation and failure are affected by the presence of pre-formed holes, and the pre-formed holes’ geometry, under confined blast loading. The geometry of the pre-formed holes will be shown to play a crucial role in the deformation and failure of a plate. Numerical simulations successfully predict the inelastic deformation and crack propagation observed in experiments; and, it will be shown that venting by the pre-formed holes does not alleviate the peak pressure of the primary blast wave, but is effective in attenuating the secondary blast waves arising from multiple reverberations within the test chamber. Pressure-venting by the pre-formed holes will be shown to be ineffectual in reducing the maximum transient midpoint displacement due to impulse saturation. The crack path that develops in a plate with pre-formed square holes was found to be affected by stress triaxiality.
Response simulations of clamped circular steel plates under uniform impulse and effects of axisymmetric stiffener configurations
2022, International Journal of Impact Engineering
Citation Excerpt :
Numerical studies with various damage models specifically applied to structural steels under transverse blast loads are quite limited and salient ones have been highlighted in the succeeding paragraph. Balden and Nurick [16] presented numerical simulation of large deformations and post-failure motion of the blast fragment, for uniform as well as localised blast loading of circular plates in comparison to the experimental studies. Finite element code ABAQUS was used in [16] to simulate the structural response of the plate, while adopting the hydro-dynamic code AUTODYN to characterize the localised blast pressure time as well as its spatial history.
The paper presents Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and simulations of large deformations and observed ductile fracture failure modes of clamped circular plates subjected to uniform impulsive loads using phenomenological failure models for damage initiation and progression. The proposed numerical setup is founded on a well-defined model of the constitutive material properties based on inverse FEA simulations of the uniaxial tension test for the calibration of the material and failure parameters. The presented numerical model using the tri-axiality weighted accumulated plastic strain damage model in conjunction with a progressive degradation scheme for the evolution and progression of failure in the structure, is calibrated from a single uni-axial tension test. Published experimental results of large plastic deformations, onset of thinning and tearing at the boundary for clamped steel circular plates subjected to uniformly loaded air blasts have been used to assess the performance and efficacy of the proposed numerical scheme and procedure, with inclusion of temperature effects due to plastic dissipation. Towards improvement in the predictions by the numerical model, a hybrid damage model involving a two part ductile fracture locus has been proposed, which shows excellent correlation with the experimental results presented in terms of non-dimensional parameters over a wide range of impulsive loading and stress states, covering all the relevant failure modes. The validated numerical model has further been used to study the effect of flat bar axisymmetric stiffener configurations on the structural response and failure mechanisms of clamped circular plates, which has not been seen in the literature so far. The numerical simulations have also been used to gain insights into the evolution of plastic zones, damage progression and predicted failure modes in circumferentially oriented transversely stiffened steel plates with increasing intensity of impulsive loads.

View all citing articles on Scopus

View full text

Numerical simulation of the post-failure motion of steel plates subjected to blast loading

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Experimental study

Experimental study

Closing comments

Int J Impact Eng

Int J Impact Eng

Int J Impact Eng

Int J Impact Eng

Int J Solids Struct

Int J Impact Eng

Int J Impact Eng

Structural impact

Tearing and shear failures in explosively loaded clamped beams

Explosion Mech