Experimental and numerical study on external explosions of cylindrical versus spherical charges at tunnel entrance

Most of the existing studies on tunnel blast wave are based on spherical or grouped charges, however, conventional weapons are mostly cylindrical rather than spherical. In order to analyze the impact of cylindrical charges on the tunnel blast wave loads and to develop a quantitative calculation method, this study carried out experimental and numerical research. Initially, external explosion experiments were conducted using both 35 kg spherical charges and cylindrical charges with aspect ratio of 4.8 at two different distances from the tunnel entrance. Comparative analysis of the blast wave parameters in the tunnel revealed that the explosive equivalent of the cylindrical charges was significantly higher than that of the spherical charges. To address this, an equivalent coefficient κ based on the spherical charges was proposed for the cylindrical charges. Subsequently, numerical simulations were conducted for the experimental conditions, and the numerical simulation results match the experiments well. Through numerical calculations, the reliability of the equivalent coefficient κ under the experimental conditions was verified, and comparison analysis indicated that the explosion energy of cylindrical charges spreads more radially, resulting in more explosion energy entering the tunnel, which is the fundamental reason for the increase in tunnel blast wave loads. Additionally, analyzing the explosion energy ratio entering the tunnel is an effective method for calculating the equivalent coefficient κ. Finally, through more than one hundred sets of numerical calculation results, the impact of the proportional distance λ and the ratio of charge mass to the tunnel cross-section dimension φ on the equivalence coefficients κ was investigated. An empirical formula for the equivalence coefficient κ was derived through fitting, and the accuracy of the formula was validated through literature experimental results. The research findings of this paper will provide valuable guidance for the calculation of blast wave loads in tunnel.