Deformation of mild steel plates subjected to large-scale explosions

This paper presents the results of two test programmes in which quadrangular mild steel plates are subjected to pressure loads created by exploding charges ranging from 100 to 26,288 kg. The charge consists of different ordnances stacked in different configurations, namely compacted and widespread in a carpet-like form. The effects of the charge configurations on the response of the square mild steel plates are investigated. Simple analytical evaluations of the pressures and impulses are used for the purpose of comparison with the experiments. The correlation shows satisfactory agreement, despite the imperfect terrain and different complex explosive loading arrangement.