On the use of intermediate bulk containers as a rapidly deployable blast wall

This study investigates the viability of water-filled Intermediate Bulk Containers (IBCs) as rapidly deployable blast walls through a combination of full-scale live-fire experiments and validated numerical simulations. Single and multi-unit IBC configurations were subjected to 100 kg and 430 kg TNT-equivalent nitromethane charges at stand-offs between 7 and 25 m, corresponding to scaled distances of Z ≈ 1.5 − 7. The experimental results demonstrate that water-filled IBCs exhibit a high degree of structural resilience, with single units surviving reflective pressures of up to 660 kPa with only minor damage. Multi-unit wall configurations provided effective blast mitigation, achieving peak overpressure reductions of up to 48% at an 11 m stand-off. The most significant damage occurred at Z ≈ 1.5, where a localised failure of a pallet resulted in partial deformation without catastrophic collapse of the wall. A validated computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model (Viper::Blast) showed strong agreement with experimental pressure-time histories in the intermediate and far-field regimes ( r > 0.9, NRMSE ≈ 0.12), and was subsequently used to extend the analysis across a wider range of scaled distances. The results demonstrate that the downstream recovery of the blast field is non-monotonic and strongly dependent on the explosive parameter considered. While peak impulse recovers within a finite downstream distance, peak overpressure exhibits a longer recovery length due to localised flow amplification and wake dynamics. A combined injury-based framework incorporating primary blast (ASII) and tertiary displacement (HVEL) effects was used to define hazard distances in terms of fatality risk. This provides a practical methodology for estimating the extent of protection offered by rapidly deployable barriers. Overall, the results demonstrate that water-filled IBCs provide an effective, low-cost, and rapidly deployable blast protection solution, with performance comparable to more permanent barrier systems under a range of blast conditions.