Parameter characterization of a buried mine blast event with further emphasis on sympathetic detonation and layered soil bed conditions

The presented work documents the results of a comprehensive sensitivity study of the structural response of a military vehicle subjected to the impulse from a buried charge using the discrete particle method (DPM) to model the soil and high explosive (HE) coupled to a finite-element solver for the structure. Eighteen different process and numerical parameters were studied. Each of the numerical results was compared with a base model to see the influence of the considered parameter. The structure in the base model was the TARDEC Generic Vehicle Hull and the response parameter was chosen to be the total blast impulse (TBI) on the structure. The non-linear transient dynamic explicit finite-element solver used for the analysis was the IMPETUS Afea Solver®. The study includes soil characteristics and charge related parameters, such as size, type, geometry, and location. The depth of burial (DOB) and number of discrete particles were also considered in the study. Further, different numerical parameters were included. The results provide a good understanding of process and numerical parameters when modeling buried charges with a coupled finite-element model (FEM) and DPM approach. As a natural extension of the sensitivity study the effect of a layered soil bed is investigated, the topsoil either being dry or wet soil. Further, it is illustrated how to model a sympathetic detonation where the detonation of one improvised explosive device (IED) generates a pressure that results in the detonation of a second IED.