Numerical Simulation of Blast Loadings on a Thick-Walled Cylindrical Vessel

Determining blast loadings on an explosion containment vessel (ECV) is the foundation to design the ECV. Explosion of TNT centrally located in a thick-walled cylindrical vessel and its impact on the cylinder was simulated using the explicit finite element code LS-DYNA. Blast loadings on the cylinder computed are in good agreement with the corresponding experimental results. Then wall thickness and yield stress of the cylinder were changed in the following simulation to investigate effect of shell deformation on blast loadings. It is revealed that shell deformation during the primary pulses of blast loadings is so slight that it has little influence on the blast loadings. Though the deformation may increase greatly after the primary pulses, the dynamic response of an ECV is mainly affected by the primary pulses. Therefore, decoupled analyses are appropriate, in which the shell of an ECV is treated as a rigid wall when determining blast loadings on it.