Analysis of global momentum transfer due to buried mine detonation

• Main Authors: N. Heider, V. Denefeld, H. Aurich
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. 2019-10-01
• Series: Defence Technology
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214914719303150

The emergence of improvised explosive devices (IED) significantly extended the spectrum of possible threat mechanisms to military vehicles and their occupants. Especially buried high explosive (HE) charges lead to new and originally not investigated loading conditions during their detonation. It is the interaction of the embedding geomaterial with the detonation products that leads to a strongly increased global impulse transfer on the vehicle with following high accelerations on the vehicle occupant. This paper presents a comprehensive approach for the analysis of occupant loading. In a first step, we present the so called ring technology which allows the experimental determination of the locally resolved specific impulse distribution on a vehicle floor due to buried charge detonation. A complementary method is the use of scaled model vehicles that allows the determination of global vehicle loading parameters such as jump height or vehicle accelerations. Both techniques were used to study the influence of burial conditions as burial depth, embedding material or water content on the impulse transfer onto the vehicle. These experimental data are used to validate material models for the embedding sand or gravel materials. This validated material description is the basis for numerical simulation models used in the assessment of occupant safety. In the last step, we present a simulation model for a generic military vehicle including a Hybrid III occupant dummy that is used for the determination of biomechanical occupant exposure levels. Typical occupant loadings are evaluated and correlated with burial conditions as HE mass and global momentum transfer. Keywords: Improvised explosive device, Vehicle protection, Occupant loading