DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF AN IMPULSE MEASUREMENT DEVICE TO QUANTIFY THE BLAST ENVIRONMENT FROM A NEAR‐SURFACE DETONATION IN SOIL

A reusable IMD was designed to directly measure the combined aboveground soil debris and airblast loadings from the detonation of surface and shallow-buried explosive charges. The IMD was designed with a mass piston assembly that was free to move in a vertical direction with minimal resistance other than its own weight and gravity. Through calibration and testing, the IMD proved to be reliable and reusable with very few maintenance issues. Comparison of the experimental data with the results of the CTH calculations shows good agreement and indicate that the IMD performed as designed. The peak velocity and displacement data captured in the IMD were within 5 percent of the CTH calculated values. The displacement of the support structure recorded during the blast event was well below the design goals and proved to have little or no influence on the response of the IMD. The tests performed with the IMD were very successful in capturing critical information. Follow-on experiments to investigate the effects of shallow buried explosive detonations in soils will provide critical data needed to validate numerical codes and constitutive models used to predict loading on vehicle by IED and mine blast.