Blast mitigation performance of vertically partitioned cylindrical structures: A new approach

Abstract

With rising explosive events and advanced warheads, protective structures are gaining global attention. The main component of these protective structures is the energy-absorbing core material, for which cylindrical tube-like structures provide interesting, effective, and useful properties, but understanding their plastic deformation under blast loads remains a challenge due to nonlinear behavior and high strain rates. This study analyzes innovatively designed composite steel tubes under blast loading using LS-DYNA®. The designs feature thin-walled metallic tubes and couplers in five configurations with varying diameters and orientations, crushed axially between metal plates. Energy absorption and load transfer efficiency are examined based on radius reduction and partitioning. While all designs show similar energy absorption efficiency, load transfer decreases with more partitions, making them suitable as sacrificial energy-absorbing cores. The findings enhance understanding of the physical process, enabling efficient, task-specific designs for sacrificial systems and sandwich panels.