Affiliations: Impact and Explosion Effects Branch, Geotechnical and
Structures Laboratory, US Army Engineering Research and Development
Center, Vicksburg, MS, USA
Abstract: The dynamic airblast, fragmentation, and soil ejecta loading
environments produced by the detonation of surface-laid and shallow-buried
mines are major threats to lightweight military vehicles. During the past
several years, the US Army has focused considerable attention on developing
improved methods for predicting the below-vehicle environment from these
threats for use by vehicle/armor analysts; thereby, improving the survivability
of these platforms. The US Army Engineer Research and Development Center
recently completed the first year of a three-year effort to experimentally and
numerically quantify the blast and fragment loading environments on vehicles
due to surface and subsurface mine and IED detonations. As part of this
research effort, a series of experiments was conducted to quantify the effects
of soil parameters on the aboveground blast environments produced by the
detonation of aboveground bottom-surface-tangent, buried top-surface-tangent,
and shallow-buried 2.3-kg (5-lb) Composition C4 charges. The experiments were
conducted using three different well characterized soils; 10.8%
air-filled-voids (AFV) silty sand, 5.4% AFV clay, and 29.8% AFV poorly graded
sand. The combined aboveground loads due to airblast and soil debris were
measured by an impulse measurement device. The near-surface airblast
overpressure was quantified by a series of side-on measurements above the
charges at one elevation and three radial distances. This paper summarizes and
compares the results of the experimental program with emphasis on defining the
effect of soil parameters on the aboveground blast environment.
