Theoretical and Numerical Analysis of Blasting Pressure of Cylindrical Shells under Internal Explosive Loading

Cylindrical shells are principal structural elements that are used for many purposes, such as offshore, sub-marine, and airborne structures. The nonlinear mechanics model of internal blast loading was established to predict the dynamic blast pressure of cylindrical shells. However, due to the complexity of the nonlinear mechanical model, the solution process is time-consuming. In this study, the nonlinear mechanics model of internal blast loading is linearized, and the dynamic blast pressure of cylindrical shells is solved. First, a mechanical model of cylindrical shells subjected to internal blast loading is proposed. To simplify the calculation, the internal blast loading is reduced to linearly uniform variations. Second, according to the stress function method, the dynamic blast pressure equation of cylindrical shells subjected to blast loading is derived. Third, the calculated results are compared with those of the finite element method (FEM) under different durations of dynamic pressure pulse. Finally, to reduce the errors, the dynamic blast pressure equation is further optimized. The results demonstrate that the optimized equation is in good agreement with the FEM, and is feasible to linearize the internal blast loading of cylindrical shells.