Citation

de Béjar LA, Simmons L, Davis JL. Int. J. Impact Eng. 2008; 35(9): 1043-1052.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.ijimpeng.2007.06.002

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The natural disintegration of a standard mortar case upon detonation induces high-energy random flights of irregular metal fragments in the immediate surroundings. As the trajectory of a given fragment meets a building wall, this solid obstacle is penetrated and perhaps perforated. As a result of the fragment–wall interaction, some fragment kinetic energy is dissipated, but, generally, a substantial amount of energy remains after the perforation process ends. These deleterious fragments pose risk of injury to personnel and risk of damage to existing equipment and structures being protected by the structural wall. In this work, analytical models are developed to predict mortar-induced impact and residual velocities of case fragments upon interaction with typical building walls. Theoretical models are experimentally verified and the intervening parameters identified. Multiple common structural wall materials are implemented in the experimental verification of statistical models: steel siding, wood studs, concrete masonry units, and solid brick panels. Examples of application lead to the construction of risk curves representing the probability of exceeding a specified threshold value of the residual fragment velocity upon wall perforation.