MicroBlast: Understanding and predicting blast loading in complex environments

在现代世界，爆炸是一种紧迫而普遍的威胁。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，都突显了我们知识中的一个关键缺口：我们不知道，我们还不了解爆炸波如何在复杂环境中传播并与多种障碍相互作用。因此，我们还不能预测这类事件的载荷，我们确定与风险、结构破坏和伤亡人数相关的后果的能力也严重有限。目前用于预测复杂环境中的爆炸载荷的数值工具要么过于简单，要么基于物理的数值工具，迄今为止都是在缺乏实验验证数据的情况下开发的。显然，这一领域的进展是有限的，在我们有能力在不同规模的不同复杂程度的环境中实验测量爆炸的输出之前，这一进展将是有限的。这项提议将看到一个雄心勃勃和独特的实验设施MicroBLAST的开发，用于对复杂环境中的爆炸传播进行超小规模研究，利用快速原型和3D打印来生成真实的复制品测试样本。MicroBLAST将是一种新的最先进的设备，使用压力传感器、立体高速摄像机和中波红外摄像机的组合，可以对爆炸载荷进行数据丰富、高空间/时间分辨率、多参数、全场测量。这一设施将是我们在爆炸载荷量化方面进行快速、精确实验的能力的一步变化；爆炸相当于风洞或振动台测试。我们的目标是研究复杂环境中爆炸载荷发展的基本机制，并为这一领域的未来研究设定议程。拥挤环境中的爆炸是可重复的和确定性的，还是对输入参数的微小变化高度敏感？数值建模工具和实验设计的后果是什么？我们的目标是开发下一代城市环境中爆炸的预测方法，并共同提高载荷预测和结构破坏评估的科学基准。

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.