A far-field blast loads high-fidelity numerical simulation after considering concepts from the defense simulation domain

Blast-wave propagation and its interaction with protective equipment are a critical concern in defense and industrial safety applications. In this study, we present a comprehensive numerical investigation of blast loads on protective plates by utilizing OpenFOAM. We tested different parameters and their effects on blasting by conducting 42 different scenarios. These scenarios involve both TNT and C-4 explosives, three standoff distances of 5, 10 and 15 m, and masses ranging from 10 g to 2 kg. Also, we tested two target geometries, namely a rectangular plate and an octagonal plate. The numerical approach employed Eulerian, compressible fluid dynamics with ideal gas equations of state for air and Jones–Wilkins–Lee (JWL) equations for detonation products. Through the simulations, key blast parameters such as peak overpressure, impulse, decay coefficients and positive phase duration were extracted and analyzed. A hyperbolic relationship between overpressure and scaled distance was found for both types of explosives, which is consistent with established empirical methods. Also, the dependency of the blast-wave decay coefficient on explosive loading was found to be linear in the case of the rectangular target and following a power-law dependence for octagonal geometries. The peak overpressure and decay coefficient were found to be higher in the octagonal geometry compared with the rectangular plate, attributed to more coherent wave reflection and reduced edge effects. The study provides validated numerical results and parameters relevant to the development of blast protective equipment.