Although there is a wealth of information on the emission of gas and explosions due to methane-air and/or coal dust in mines underground, the underlying threats on the surface from the explosive energy transmitted through the mine entrances have been largely overlooked. These hazards have the potential to cause injuries and loss of life. Additionally, they can lead to severe damage to the surface infrastructure surrounding the mine entrance. This study aims to establish the relationship between characteristics of blast waves emanating from the mine entries for different magnitudes of explosions and radial distances. An Advanced Blast Simulator (shock tube) was used to experimentally study the propagation of blast waves from mine entrances and over an outside mine site terrain (for mine portals) or upwards towards the sky (for mine shafts). Computational Fluid Dynamics modelling was utilised to interpret the experimental data, verify the applicability and scalability of the small-scale
Noise Advisory: Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division will conduct daily range testing June 12-16 from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Testing has potential to produce VERY LOUD NOISE in communities surrounding NSF Dahlgren.
The current state of blast resistant design methods is largely reliant on empirical observations of field explosive testing or numerical simulations. While both methods are undoubtedly vital and necessary, they both have inherent limitations. Field trials for performing systematic experimental studies are exceedingly expensive, produce inconsistent results, and are slow in the rate of testing. Conventional blast simulators (shock tubes) enable blast testing to be performed in a safe and controlled laboratory environment but usually do not correctly replicate free-field blast conditions which could lead to deceptive outcomes in regard to target loading and response. The National Facility of Physical Blast Simulation (NFPBS), based on the ‘Advanced Blast Simulator’ (ABS) concept, was established at the University of Wollongong to overcome the shortcomings of conventional blast simulators. This simulator intrinsically replicates the wavedynamics of free-field explosive blast and is un