The effectiveness of blast walls

Abstract

• A blast wall may be described as a physical barrier separating a valuable asset from an explosive threat that produces a damaging blast load.

• The wall mitigates the level of blast loading that impinges on the asset being protected. It is most likely that such a barrier would be highly robust, i.e. both massive and of strong construction.

• For good performance in mitigating the blast resultants arriving at the asset being protected, the surface of the wall would best be vertical and, additionally, this face should not be too far away from the most likely location of the explosive threat.

• It may not always be necessary for a particular wall to survive an ‘attack’ undamaged. When a blast wall sustains permanent deformation and damage, energy from the blast has been absorbed by the wall and is thus not available to damage to the asset. [excerpt from Description]