Numerical material modelling for the blast actuator

The European Laboratory for Structural Assessment is currently designing a new test facility that should model the loading of structures by air blast waves without using explosives. The idea is to use a fast actuator that accelerates a mass, which impacts the structure under investigation. Obviously, more such masses and actuators should be employed simultaneously for loading a structural element, e.g. a column, along its entire length. To obtain a good agreement with pressures from relevant air blast waves an elastic material should be placed between the impacting mass and the structure. Numerical simulations have been carried out to investigate the influence of several materials on the size and the form of the impacting mass, and consequently on the magnitude and shape of the resulting pressure wave and on the structural failure of the concrete column. These studies were done using the explicit finite element code EUROPLEXUS co‐developed by the JRC and the Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA). This report describes the material modelling developments needed to perform these investigations. Two main materials have been considered: hyperelastic material and concrete.