Experimental and numerical study of the blast wave decrease using sandwich panel by granular materials core

Among the intrinsic properties of some materials, e.g., foams, porous materials, and granular materials, are their ability to mitigate shock waves. This paper investigated shock wave mitigation by a sandwich panel with a granular core. Numerical simulations and experimental tests were performed using Autodyn hydro-code software and a shock tube, respectively. The smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method was used to model granular materials. Sawdust and pumice, whose properties were determined by several compression tests, were used as granular materials in the sandwich panel core. These granular materials possess many mechanisms, including compacting (e.g., sawdust) and crushing (e.g., pumice) that mitigate shock/blast wave. The results indicated the ineffectiveness of using a core with low thickness, yet it was demonstrated to be effective with high thickness. Low-thickness pumice yielded better results for wave mitigation. The use of these materials with a core with appropriate core reduces up to 88% of the shock wave. The results of the experiments and numerical simulations were compared, suggesting a good agreement between the two. This indicates the accuracy of simulation and the ability of the SPH method to modeling granular material under shock loading. The effects of grain size and the coefficient of friction between grains have also been investigated using simulation, implying that increasing the grain size and coefficient of friction between grains both reduce overpressure.