Comparison of blast load results from SHIELD tests with independent numerical simulations

Paper in proceeding, 2023

In summer 2019, a very large full-scale blast test named Super Heavy Improvised Explosive Loading Demonstration (SHIELD) was conducted in Alvdalen, Sweden, resulting in the detonation of ANFO placed on a semi-trailer. Several organizations in various countries took part in the test-program, including the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB). The test-program contained extensive measurements of both the resulting blast load and dynamic response of several structures located at various distances from the charge. As part of MSB's research in protective structures, numerical simulations have been conducted in Ansys Autodyn to study the blast load generated by the explosion. These simulations were conducted independent of the results from the experimental test within the SHIELD program and in this paper, blast load results from the simulations are compared with pressure measurements at a large concrete structure (SKUSTA) located 125 m from the semi-trailer. Both a direct comparison of overpressure and impulse intensity, and an indirect comparison using a coherence measure Coh, were made of experimental and numerical results. The comparison shows that the numerical simulations were generally successful in predicting the experimental results, and hence can provide a very powerful tool in similar predictions.