Blast Mitigation for Structures

The work documented herein is a portion of a multi-organizational effort lead by the University of Missouri-Rolla (UMR) Rock Mechanics and Explosives Research Center, with the following participants: Kontek Industries, the Air Force Research Laboratory Airbase Technologies Division, UMR's Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, the Department of Architectural Studies from the University of Missouri-Columbia (UMC), and UMC's National Center for Explosion Resistant Design. The ultimate goal of this multi-year project is to establish prototypical functionality and architectural standards for blast-resistant barricade systems through applied research, design, and test efforts. This paper specifically addresses the results of efforts by UMR and Kontek to design and test barrier structures that protect other structures, and mitigate pressure loads and shock hydrodynamic effects on structural barriers, columns, beams, and bents. As a part of this effort, we are examining structural load path transfer during a blast, in order to provide additional support to portions of structure under attack. Continuation of the current close coordination among the authors in the areas of analytical modeling and blast design and test, as well as the commercial constructability, allows the design of mid-scale and full-scale experiments to populate and validate empirical models for blast barriers, to include off-axis pressure prediction and the development of empirical-based algorithm for prediction of blast pressures around structures and barriers.