An assessment of architecturally appealing, semi-open shock mitigation devices.

Purpose – Limitations in space and city planning constraints have led to the search for alternative shock mitigation devices that are architecturally appealing. The purpose of this paper is to consider a compromise solution which consists of partially open, thick, bending-resistant shapes made of acrylic material that may be Kevlar- or steel-reinforced. Seven different configurations were analyzed numerically. Design/methodology/approach – For the flow solver, the FEM-FCT scheme as implemented in FEFLO is used. The flowfields are initialized from the output of highly detailed 1-D (spherically symmetric) runs. Peak pressure and impulse are stored and compared. In total, seven different configurations were analyzed numerically. Findings – It is found that for some of these, the maximum pressure is comparable to usual, closed walls, and the maximum impulse approximately 50 percent higher. This would indicate that such designs offer a blast mitigation device eminently suitable for built-up city environments. Research limitations/implications – Future work will consider fully coupled fluid-structure runs for the more appealing designs, in order to assess whether such devices can be manufactured from commonly available materials such as acrylics or other poly-carbonates. Practical implications – This would indicate that such designs offer a blast mitigation device eminently suitable for built-up city environments. Originality/value – This is the first time such a semi-open blastwall approach has been tried and analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]