Response of cylindrical tube under blast: experiment and numerical simulation

Cylindrical tubes made of special alloy steels such as HNS, Maraging steel and EN19 for defence applications are often subjected to blast loads. However, there is very limited information available in the literature for the design of such tubes in case of blast loading due to explosion. In this paper, a mild steel tube is subjected to blast loading using TNT explosive, where the detonation was carried out at a distance of 0.3 m from the outer surface of the tube. The cylindrical charge is kept on mild steel plate for explosion. Experimentally, strains have been recorded at different positions across the circumference and along the length of the tube and acceleration of the tube is recorded at multiple locations. Numerical analysis is carried out using Abacus and CONWEPR code for comparison and for developing engineering concepts. Average pressure is also estimated near to the charge using brute force technique.