Investigations with Blast Wave Simulators

Blast wave simulators (BWS) are shock tubes capable of generating shockwaves with Friedlander profile (typical profile observed during free field explosion).They have primary importance in blast-related research.The pressure–time profile parameters, such as peak overpressure, positive time duration, and decay coefficient of the shockwave, depend on the shock tube parameters (STPs) such as driver length, driven length, and burst pressure.We can generate shockwaves with the desired pressure–time profile by effectively tuning the STP.This study experimentally investigates the effect of driver length on the pressure–time profile of a shockwave generated by a blastwave simulator.Increasing the driver length increases the positive phase duration and peak overpressure at all probe locations.Also, it increases Friedlander profile formation distance.Further, a finite element model for shock tube is developed in ABAQUS/Explicit and the numerical results are compared with the experimental observations.The developed numerical model can predict the observed pressure–time profile with reasonable accuracy, so that it can be used for further parametric studies in the design of blast wave simulators.