MicroBlast: Understanding and predicting blast loading in complex environments

在现代世界，爆炸是一个紧迫而普遍的威胁。2017年曼彻斯特竞技场爆炸案等恐怖事件、2020年贝鲁特爆炸等大规模工业事故以及当前乌克兰冲突凸显了我们知识上的一个关键空白：我们尚不了解冲击波如何在复杂环境中传播并与多种障碍物相互作用。因此，我们还不能预测此类事件的负荷，我们确定与风险、结构损坏和伤亡人数有关的后果的能力也受到严重限制。目前用于预测复杂环境中爆炸载荷的数值工具要么过于简单，要么是迄今为止在缺乏实验验证数据的情况下开发的基于物理的数值工具。显然，在这一领域的进展是有限的，并且将继续如此，直到我们有能力实验性地测量在不同规模的不同复杂环境中发生的爆炸的输出。该提案将开发一个雄心勃勃且独特的实验设施MicroBlast，用于在复杂环境中进行爆炸传播的超小规模研究，利用快速原型和3D打印来生成真实的复制测试样本。MicroBlast将是一种最新的先进设备，可以使用压力传感器、立体高速摄像机和中波红外摄像机进行数据丰富、高空间/时间分辨率、多参数、爆炸载荷的全场测量。该设施将逐步提高我们在爆炸负荷定量方面进行快速、精确实验的能力；相当于风洞试验或振动台试验的爆炸。我们的目标是研究复杂环境中控制爆炸载荷发展的基本机制，并为该领域的未来研究设定议程。在拥挤的环境中爆炸是可重复的和确定的，还是对输入参数的微小变化高度敏感？数值模拟工具和实验设计的结果是什么？我们的目标是开发下一代城市环境爆炸预测方法，共同提高载荷预测和结构损伤评估的科学基准。

Explosions are a pressing and pervading threat in the modern world. Terrorist events such as the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing, large-scale industrial accidents such as the 2020 Beirut explosion, and the current conflict in Ukraine, have highlighted a key gap in our knowledge: we do not we do not yet understand how blast waves propagate and interact with multiple obstacles in complex environments. Accordingly, we cannot yet predict the loading from such events, and our ability to determine the consequences relating to risk, structural damage, and casualty numbers, is severely limited.Current numerical tools for predicting blast loads in complex environments are either overly simplistic, or physics-based numerical tools which have been hitherto developed in the absence of experimental validation data. Clearly, progress in this area is limited and will remain so until we have the ability to experimentally measure the output from explosions occurring in settings of varying complexity at varying scales.This proposal will see the development of an ambitious and unique experimental facility, MicroBlast, for ultra-small-scale studies of blast propagation in complex environments, making use of rapid prototyping and 3D printing to generate true replica test specimens. MicroBlast will be a new state-of-the-art apparatus for data-rich, high spatial/temporal resolution, multi-parameter, full-field measurements of blast loading using a combination of pressure sensors, stereo high speed video cameras, and medium-wave infra-red cameras. This facility will be a step-change in our ability to perform rapid, precision experiments in explosive load quantification; the blast equivalent of a wind tunnel or shaking table test.We aim to study the fundamental mechanisms governing blast load development in complex environments, and set the agenda for future research in this area. Are explosions in crowded environments repeatable and deterministic, or are they highly sensitive to small changes in input parameters? What are the consequences for numerical modelling tools and experimental design? We aim to develop the next generation of predictive approaches for blast in urban environments, and to collectively raise the scientific benchmark of load prediction and structural damage assessment.