Open Access

ARTICLE

Centrifuge Model Tests and Numerical Simulations of the Impact of Underwater Explosion on an Air-Backed Steel Plate

Zhijie Huang^1,2,3, Zuyu Chen^1,2,3, Xiaodan Ren^4,*, Jing Hu³, Xuedong Zhang³, Lu Hai⁴

1 MOE Key Laboratory of Soft Soils and Geoenvironmental Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China.
2 Institute of Geotechnical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China.
3 China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, 100048, China.
4 School of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China.

* Corresponding Author: Xiaodan Ren. Email: .

Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences 2019, 118(1), 139-155. https://doi.org/10.31614/cmes.2019.04596

Abstract

Damage and threats to hydraulic and submarine structures by underwater explosions (UNDEXs) have raised much attention. The centrifuge model test, compared to prototype test, is a more promising way to examine the problem while reducing cost and satisfying the similitude requirements of both Mach and Froude numbers simultaneously. This study used a systematic approach employing centrifuge model tests and numerical simulations to investigate the effects of UNDEXs on an air-backed steel plate. Nineteen methodical centrifuge tests of UNDEXs were conducted. The shock wave pressure, bubble oscillation pressure, acceleration and the strain of the air-backed steel plate were recorded and compared with numerical studies using the finite element analysis (FEA) commercial software ABAQUS. By implementing empirically derived and physically measured pressures into the numerical models, the effects of the shock wave and bubble oscillation on the steel plate were investigated. Generally, the numerical results were in agreement with the experimental results. These results showed that the peak pressure of an UNDEX has a significant effect on the peak acceleration of the steel plate and that the impulse of the UNDEX pressure governs the peak strain of the steel plate.

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Keywords

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