Numerical modeling of explosion of a reinforced concrete magazine : secondary trajectory of debris due to roll-and-bound motion

• Main Author: Choo, Kay Wei.
• Other Authors: Fan Sau Cheong
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/52814
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

As countries become more developed, more buildings and infrastructures will be built. Therefore, efficient use of land is essential, especially for a land scarce country like Singapore. There are many factors to be considered when considering maximizing usage of land. One of the factors is to consider the required clearance zone measured from the hazardous source such as an explosive-storing magazine. However, the safety of the surrounding citizens and buildings cannot be compromised in a bid to maximize land usage. Hence, this project aims to study the secondary trajectory of debris due to roll-and-bound motion from an accidental explosion of reinforced concrete magazine. It is studied through two parts. Part I deals with intact concrete cubes and its geometrical shape effect, impact angle and coefficient of restitution when they strikes off sand and soil medium. Part I also includes determining new criteria to distinguish between rebound and ricochet phenomenon. Details of the Part I can be found in his partner report (A.Ang, 2013). This report covers Part II of the project which deals with damaged concrete cubes of the same shape, size and soil condition, where the objective of using damaged cubes is to simulate to real life situation especially when they are subjected to accidental explosion. Part II focuses on the stochastic dispersion break up pattern of the concrete debris when it strikes off soil medium. Four aspects of the results are studied closely, i.e. mass retained after break-up, number of fragments, kinetic energy retained and deviation angle. Several difficulties encountered during the experiments are also brought up.