Validation of Mine Blast Simulations with Field Tests

In this work, LS-DYNA® simulation results of mine blast of flat aluminum/steel plates and validation studies using mine blast tests are presented. The buried mine simulations are performed using ALE initial volume fraction and SPH methods. The high strain rate Johnson Cook material models of the plates are obtained through Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar tests, for both high strength steel and aluminum specimen. The soil parameters such as density and humidity ratio are determined by appropriate tests. Structural acceleration and strain data as well as blast pressures are measured during the field mine blast tests. A test setup is designed and manufactured in order to conduct the tests. This setup consists of dead weights for constraining the plate during the explosion. For measuring the plastic and total deformation of the plates, a novel method using thin walled aluminum cones are used. High speed and high bandwidth data acquisition systems are used to capture the highly dynamic behavior of the plates. Moreover, incident and reflected blast pressures from various distances are measured and compared with analytical methods, LS-DYNA simulations and bikini gage measurements. In this way, explosive and blast characteristics are verified. The correlation and similarity of simulation and test results for acceleration and deformation characteristics are presented. The results obtained by LS-DYNA simulations show very good agreement with results obtained in the field tests.