Research Summaries

Back Scalable Response Prediction of Underwater Explosion Effects on Critical Infrastructure

Fiscal Year 2015
Division Research & Sponsored Programs
Department Naval Research Program
Investigator(s) Kwon, Young W.
Sponsor NPS Naval Research Program (Navy)
Summary Detonation of suspect mines and Water-borne IEDs is the typical manner in which these potential hazards are dealt with by the Mine Countermeasures Commander when found in a harbor or other seaway. However there is a real risk that this practice poses on critical infrastructure, such as bridge caissons, pylons and abutments, dams, seawalls and other constructions within the water that can produce negative results without careful consideration to the resulting stress and strain realized within these structures. A structural failure decision tool derived from engineering model data is necessary to aid the on-scene in his planned response.
The DYSMAS hydrocode has been used extensively to model underwater explosion response in floating structures as well as fixed infrastructure such as dams which lay at the water’s edge. It provides a unique ability to fully capture the fluid structure interaction of the underwater shock event and can be used to analyze structural response and failure of engineering materials. Performing such modeling in-situ is not practical due to the time involved with model creation and simulation runtime, however it can be used as the basis for a predictive tool based on previously executed analyses given a basic series of inputs for the structure, explosive and surrounding environments.
The proposed research will focus on: 1) Investigation of failure criteria unique to bridge abutment and support structure resulting from underwater explosions, 2) Development of a fully couple finite element model using a sample bridge structure and environment via the DYSMAS hydrocode, 3) Determination of key parameters of structural failure in the contact, near and far field scenarios using representative threats, charge weights, distances and explosive types, and finally 4) Creation of an initial concept for a “decoupled” damage potential prediction tool based on standard series testing and physics-based engineering model analyses.
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