Comparative performance of composite sandwich panels and non-composite panels under blast loading

The performance of non-composite panels built of steel plates, concrete slabs, and composite sandwich panels in blast response reduction is examined and compared in the present study. The dynamic response of steel stiffened and unstiffened plates, plain concrete, reinforced concrete, and steel fiber reinforced concrete slabs, stiffened and unstiffened steel-foam-steel, and steel-sand-steel sandwich panels is investigated through three-dimensional finite element analyses. Parametric studies are performed considering different stiffener configurations, panel thicknesses, materials in the composite sandwich panels (e.g. polyurethane, dytherm, cenosphere aluminum alloy syntactic foams, and sand), and varying thicknesses of foam and sand layers. Strain rate dependent material properties for steel, concrete, steel fiber reinforced concrete, foams, and sand are used in the analyses. Blast load is modeled using an equivalent pressure time history curve calculated as per the TM5-1300 manual and the modified Friedlander’s equation. The central node displacement of the panels for peak blast overpressure 1.16 MPa applied for 6.1 ms is studied. The results indicate that the non-composite panels made up of steel fiber reinforced concrete slabs and cenosphere aluminum alloy syntactic foam composite sandwich panels show excellent blast response reduction capability as compared to (a) steel plate, (b) plain and reinforced concrete slabs, and (c) polyurethane and dytherm foam cored composite sandwich panels.