Numerical simulation analysis of sandwich structure based on shock wave of shock tube explosion

Abstract The polyurethane-aluminum sandwich structure has good energy absorption characteristics. The dynamic response and impact resistance of this sandwich structure subject to the explosive action of shock wave load is investigated based on the principle of reflection superposition of explosives explosion on the complex boundary. The LS-DYNA software is utilized to compute the pressure distribution within the flow field created by the wall reflection of a 40 g TNT explosion in the shock tube. We obtain the dynamic response by taking the computed pressure at the mouth of the tube as the loading load of the polyurethane sandwich structure. Following the same simulation method, it is predicted how polyurethane sandwich panels of different thicknesses would respond dynamically under the shock wave loading of a 40 g TNT explosion in the shock tube. It is shown that the explosion of 40 g TNT in a shock tube with a cross-section radius of 101.55 mm produces an overpressure curve at the mouth of the tube with a peak value of 1.8 MPa. In the case of a surge tube, when the thickness of the panel (back plate) is increased by 3 mm, the impact of the shock wave load created by the explosion of 40 g TNT reduces the displacement of the sandwich structure’s back plate by 70% and dramatically reduces the plastic deformation.