Response of Aluminum and CFRP Plates to Successive Blast Loads

Dynamic response of plates subjected to blast loading is important in the design of protective structures. Among different types of metallic and polymeric materials, performance evaluation of the plates made from such construction materials helps in selection and design of the most efficient protective structure. As the choice of material for the plates is crucial, affecting the overall blast performance, in this study, dynamic response of plates subjected to successive blast loads is studied and it is compared with the conventional steel plates. The materials of the plates chosen for this study are aluminum and carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) that are compared with the plates made of steel when exposed to series of blast events. Further, residual strength of the plates after successive blast loads has been evaluated by conducting a detailed finite element (FE) based investigation considering damage in the plates. It is observed that the choice of construction material for the plates plays a significant role in the blast response. Unsurprisingly, the varied plate thickness to achieve the same performance level, helped in achieving comparable performance, albeit with changed self-weight of the plates. Hence, for maximizing blast response while minimizing self-weight of the plate, series of parametric studies are conducted to arrive at the most efficient design of the plate subjected to successive blast loads.