Novel Approach to Conducting Blast Load Analyses Using Abaqus/Explicit-CEL

A new method is introduced for conducting blast load analyses using the new Coupled-Eulerian-Lagrangian (CEL) capability of Abaqus/Explicit. In the past, either a 1-D blast code or tabular data was used to determine a pressure vs. time curve that would be applied to the exterior surfaces that were assumed to interact with the blast wave. These pressure curves were generated using knowledge of the amount/type of explosive and line-of-sight distance away from the explosion. While this method remains valid, with increasingly complex structural geometry, oblique surfaces, and with corners facing the blast, the amount of overhead required to analytically determine the necessary pressure loading for each of the various surfaces becomes exhaustive. This new approach involves surrounding the structure with a body of air (Eulerian), imparting a blast (pressure) wave as a boundary condition into the body of air, and then having it propagate into the Lagrangian structure. The Lagrangian structure can be positioned arbitrarily within the Eulerian domain to achieve any angle of incidence that is desired. This new method negates the need to determine reflected pressures for oblique surfaces a priori. This approach remains to be validated against test data (impulse-momentum traps) but thus far the results look promising.