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Full-scale testing of leakage of blast waves inside a partially vented room exposed to external air blast loading

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Abstract

For the last few decades, the effects of blast loading on structures have been studied by many researchers around the world. Explosions can be caused by events such as industrial accidents, military conflicts or terrorist attacks. Urban centers have been prone to various threats including car bombs, suicide attacks, and improvised explosive devices. Partially vented constructions subjected to external blast loading represent an important topic in protective engineering. The assessment of blast survivability inside structures and the development of design provisions with respect to internal elements require the study of the propagation and leakage of blast waves inside buildings. In this paper, full-scale tests are performed to study the effects of the leakage of blast waves inside a partially vented room that is subjected to different external blast loadings. The results obtained may be useful for proving the validity of different methods of calculation, both empirical and numerical. Moreover, the experimental results are compared with those computed using the empirical curves of the US Defense report/manual UFC 3-340. Finally, results of the dynamic response of the front masonry wall are presented in terms of accelerations and an iso-damage diagram.

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Acknowledgements

The cooperation in the blast tests of Oscar Curadelli, Gabriel Houri, Fernanda de Borbón, Martín Domizio, Hernán Garrido, and Carlos Martínez are specially acknowledged. The financial support of CONICET (Argentina) and SECTYP (National University of Cuyo) is also gratefully acknowledged. Special acknowledgements are extended to the reviewers of the first version of the paper because their useful suggestions led to improvements of the work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Structural Engineering Master Program, Engineering Faculty, University of Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina

    R. Codina & D. Ambrosini

  2. CONICET, National Research Council from Argentina, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    R. Codina & D. Ambrosini

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  1. R. Codina
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  2. D. Ambrosini
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Correspondence to D. Ambrosini.

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Communicated by D. Frost.

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Codina, R., Ambrosini, D. Full-scale testing of leakage of blast waves inside a partially vented room exposed to external air blast loading. Shock Waves 28, 227–241 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00193-017-0733-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00193-017-0733-9

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