An experimental study of the effects of degrees of confinement on the response of square mild steel plates subjected to blast loading

• Experimental analysis of mild steel plates subjected to blast loads.
• Experiments are carried out to assess the effects of the degrees of confinement.
• Mid-point deflection increases with an increasing mass of explosive for the same degree of confinement.
• The midpoint deflection increases as the degree of confinement increases.
• Results also show the effects of boundary conditions on the plate response to blast load.

This paper present the experimental analysis of square mild steel plates subjected to blast loads in three different degrees of confinement (free air burst, fully vented and fully confined). Varying spherical masses of explosive were detonated at a constant stand-off distance from three different thickness target plates in the three different degrees of confinement to investigate the effects of confinement as well as the effect of plate thickness on the final plate deformations. Plate deformations ranging from one to fourteen plate thickness were obtained. The experimental results show that the midpoint deflection ratio between two different thickness plates subjected to identical blasts is inversely proportional to the ratio of the plate thicknesses. Equations for predicting the final midpoint deflection of square mild steel plates subjected to blast loading in the three degrees of confinement are presented.