Response of a tank under blast loading -- part I: experimental characterisation of blast loading arising from a gas explosion

In explosion--structure interaction problems such as the dynamic response of a cylindrical shell to a blast load, an accurate prediction of both blast loading and geometrical and/or material nonlinear structural response still remains a hard challenge. Furthermore, closed-form simplified analytical or semi-empirical models provide faster and more versatile tools of analysis. To assess the validity of simplified analytical models as reliable design tools and to check the conformity of numerical simulations, experimental studies are carried out at small scale to give benchmark results. A first study presents blast test results performed on rigid instrumented cylinders to quantify the loading in terms of time and space pressure distribution. Dans les problemes d'interaction fluide-structure comme celui de l'interaction d'une onde de choc issue d'une explosion avec un reservoir de stockage, une prediction precise du chargement genere par l'explosion et de la reponse non lineaire de la structure demeure tres d...