Abstract

In developing novel, lightweight materials for vehicle protection, one challenging loading condition is that due to the detonation of an explosive buried in soil. The detonation of a landmine near to a vehicle subjects it to high velocity soil impact, the precise nature of which depends on the properties of the soil, the depth of burial of the explosive and the height of the target above the soil surface. Understanding the subsequent dynamic soil-structure interaction is essential in the development of ffective protective materials. Full scale experiments are costly, hazardous and difficult to instrument and interpret. The subject of this talk is the development of experimental techniques to replicate the loading induced by the detonation of a buried explosive at a reduced scale appropriate for laboratory investigations. The development of the landmine apparatus will be described, its characteristics compared with results for real landmines, and finally issues relating to scaling will be discussed.