Journal of Hazardous Materials, Vol.177, No.1-3, 602-612, 2010
Interaction of debris with a solid obstacle: Numerical analysis
The subject of this research is the propagation of a cloud of solid particles formed from an explosion-damaged construction. The main objective is the interaction of the cloud (debris) with a solid beam located at some distance from the explosion. The mathematical model involves the flow of the gas using standard conservation equations, and this part of the model is solved numerically. The solid particles are treated as a system of solid points (so-called Lagrangian approach), whose motion is the result of the flowing gas as well as collisions with obstacles. These two issues are described respectively by Newton's second law and the hard-sphere model. The model is used to simulate various cases where the influence of different parameters like the value of the pressure of the explosion, the particle size, the number of particles and the obstacle location are investigated. The results are presented as snapshots of particle location, and also as the particle total momentum during collision with the beam. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords:Explosion;Safety;Mathematical modelling;Fluid-structure interaction;Debris-structure interaction;Two-phase flow