| Abstract: | When designing above‐ground ammunition storage facilities, one has to take into account the debris hazard resulting from accidental explosions. The purpose of this paper is to develop a predictive method for debris dispersion around an ammunition storage site in case of an accidental detonation in a reinforced concrete storage structure. The concrete slabs/walls break up into debris when it is overloaded by the internal blast. The debris velocity is one of the important parameters to describe the debris dispersion. The parameters that affect the debris velocity are complex. This study adopts the energy approach to simplify the formulation. The failure process in a relatively thin concrete slab/wall is treated using the concept of expansion. Based on energy conservation, a general formula is derived for the debris launch velocity in a cubicle structure subjected to internal blast loading. The dynamic strength of concrete and reinforcement are considered in the fracture process. The analytical results are found to be consistent with the relevant experimental results. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
