Blast Pressure Simulation of a Suicide Vest Attack
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24237/djes.2025.18115Keywords:
Suicide vest, Blast pressure, Kingery-Bulmash, CEL, ABAQUSAbstract
Suicide bomb vests represent one of the most devastating and indiscriminate forms of violence, often employed by extremist groups to instill fear and terror within communities. Computational techniques can be used to simulate blast wave propagation to gain a better knowledge of pressure dynamics, threat of explosions on human health and life, and the effects of explosions on infrastructure. The current study utilizes a coupled Eulerian-lagrangian (CEL) approach in ABAQUS to numerically simulate blast wave propagation generated from a suicide bombing in free-air. A virtual scene of targeted area is proposed to assess the lethality of a fully vented burst. The peak-overpressure (Pso) in free-air is predicted and compared to empirical prediction by Kingery-Bulmash model. The CEL model prediction of peak-overpressure in free-air demonstrated good convergence with Kingery-Bulmash measurements. The CEL analysis results of incident peak-overpressure showed an excellent agreement with empirical model measurements with maximum difference of 9%. Furthermore, the reflected peak-overpressure value is double the incident peak-overpressure magnitude in front of the walls. However, blast walls attenuated blast wave energy and peak-overpressure dropped by 53% at a distance 1.5h behind the walls. The measurements clarified high risk zone around the explosion source due to severity of the detonation, and further studies are essential to suggest protection methods to mitigate blasts and minimize losses in areas at risk of explosion.
Downloads
References
[1] Z. U. H. Usmani, E. Y. Imana, and D. Kirk, “3D simulation of suicide bombing - Using computers to save lives,” in Technological Developments in Education and Automation, 2010. doi: 10.1007/978-90-481-3656-8_88.
[2] A. Hussein, P. Heyliger, and H. Mahmoud, “Blast response of a thin oriented strand board wall,” Eng Struct, vol. 201, p. 109835, Dec. 2019, doi: 10.1016/J.ENGSTRUCT.2019.109835.
[3] A. Hussein, H. Mahmoud, and P. Heyliger, “Probabilistic analysis of a simple composite blast protection wall system,” Eng Struct, vol. 203, 2020, doi: 10.1016/j.engstruct.2019.109836.
[4] “Database on Suicide Attacks,” Chicago Project on Security and Threats. [Online]. Available: https://cpost.uchicago.edu/research/suicide_attacks/database_on_suicide_attacks/
[5] A. Hussein, P. Heyliger, and H. Mahmoud, “Structural performance of a wood-sand-wood wall for blast protection,” Eng Struct, vol. 219, 2020, doi: 10.1016/j.engstruct.2020.110954.
[6] A. T. Hussein, “Blast protection wall systems: Literature review,” in WIT Transactions on the Built Environment, 2020. doi: 10.2495/SUSI200081.
[7] M. Y. H. Bangash and T. Bangash, Explosion-resistant buildings: Design, analysis, and case studies. 2006. doi: 10.1007/3-540-31289-7.
[8] I. G. Cullis, “Blast waves and how they interact with structures.,” 2001. doi: 10.1136/jramc-147-01-02.
[9] UFC 3-340-02, “Unified Facilities Criteria (Ufc) Structures to Resist the Effects of Accidental Explosions,” Unified Facilities Criteria U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS, no. December 2008.
[10] U. S. Army, “Structures to resist the effects of accidental explosions, TM 5-1300,” US Department of the Army Technical Manual, Washington, DC, 1990.
[11] D. Hyde, “ConWep, conventional weapons effects program,” US Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station, USA, 1991.
[12] Beyer, “Blast Loads behind vertical walls,” DoD Explosives Safety Seminar, vol. 1, no. 22nd, 1986.
[13] T. A. Rose, P. D. Smith, and G. C. Mays, “The effectiveness of walls designed for the protection of structures against airblast from high explosives,” Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers: Structures and Buildings, vol. 110, no. 1, 1995, doi: 10.1680/istbu.1995.27306.
[14] T. A. Rose, P. D. Smith, and G. C. Mays, “Protection of structures against airblast using barriers of limited robustness,” Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers: Structures and Buildings, vol. 128, no. 2, 1998, doi: 10.1680/istbu.1998.30123.
[15] R. L. Kuhlemeyer and J. Lysmer, “Finite Element Method Accuracy for Wave Propagation Problems,” Journal of the Soil Mechanics and Foundations Division, vol. 99, no. 5, 1973, doi: 10.1061/jsfeaq.0001885.
[16] S. E. Rigby, A. Tyas, S. D. Fay, S. D. Clarke, and J. A. Warren, “Validation of Semi-Empirical Blast Pressure Predictions for Far Field Explosions - Is There Inherent Variability in Blast Wave Parameters?,” in 6th International Conference on Protection of Structures Against Hazards, 16-17 October, 2014.
[17] J. Shin, A. S. Whittaker, and D. Cormie, “Incident and Normally Reflected Overpressure and Impulse for Detonations of Spherical High Explosives in Free Air,” Journal of Structural Engineering, vol. 141, no. 12, 2015, doi: 10.1061/(asce)st.1943-541x.0001305.
[18] J. Shin, A. Whittaker, D. Cormie, and M. Willford, “Design charts and polynomials for airblast parameters,” in Third International Conference on Protective Structures (ICPS3), Newcastle, 2015, pp. 3–6.
[19] S. M. Anas, M. Alam, and M. Umair, “Air-blast and ground shockwave parameters, shallow underground blasting, on the ground and buried shallow underground blast-resistant shelters: A review,” 2022. doi: 10.1177/20414196211048910.
[20] C. B. G. Kingery, “Airblast parameters from TNT spherical air burst and hemispherical surface burst,” 1984.
[21] Y. Fan, L. Chen, Z. Li, H. bo Xiang, and Q. Fang, “Modeling the blast load induced by a close-in explosion considering cylindrical charge parameters,” Defence Technology, vol. 24, 2023, doi: 10.1016/j.dt.2022.02.005.
[22] V. Karlos, G. Solomos, and M. Larcher, “Analysis of blast parameters in the near-field for spherical free-air explosions,” JRC Technical Reports, 2016.
[23] A. G. Razaqpur, M. Campidelli, and S. Foo, “Experimental versus analytical response of structures to blast loads,” in Advances in Protective Structures Research: IAPS Special Publication 1 - Proceedings of the IAPS Forum on Recent Research Advances on Protective Structures, Taylor and Francis - Balkema, 2012, pp. 163–194. doi: 10.1201/b12768-7.
[24] M. Mokhtari and A. Alavi Nia, “The application of CFRP to strengthen buried steel pipelines against subsurface explosion,” Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, vol. 87, 2016, doi: 10.1016/j.soildyn.2016.04.009.
[25] X. Li, R. Kang, C. Li, Z. Zhang, Z. Zhao, and T. Jian Lu, “Dynamic responses of ultralight all-metallic honeycomb sandwich panels under fully confined blast loading,” Compos Struct, vol. 311, 2023, doi: 10.1016/j.compstruct.2023.116791.
[26] Y. Z. Liu et al., “Dynamic response of composite tube reinforced porous polyurethane structures under underwater blast loading,” Int J Impact Eng, vol. 173, 2023, doi: 10.1016/j.ijimpeng.2022.104483.
[27] W. P. Fox, J. Vesecky, and K. Laws, “Sensing and Identifying the Improvised Explosive Device Suicide Bombers: People Carrying Wires on their Body,” Journal of Defense Modeling and Simulation, vol. 8, no. 1, 2011, doi: 10.1177/1548512910384604.
[28] Z. U. H. Usmani, F. A. Alghamdi, and D. Kirk, “BlastSim- Multi agent simulation of suicide bombing,” in IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence for Security and Defense Applications, CISDA 2009, 2009. doi: 10.1109/CISDA.2009.5356529.
[29] Z. U. H. Usmani, E. Y. Imana, and D. Kirk, “Virtual iraq - Simulation of insurgent attacks,” in 2009 IEEE Workshop on Computational Intelligence in Virtual Environments, CIVE 2009 - Proceedings, 2009. doi: 10.1109/CIVE.2009.4926318.
[30] Z. U. H. Usmani and D. Kirk, “Modeling and Simulation of Explosion Effectiveness as a Function of Blast and Crowd Characteristics,” The Journal of Defense Modeling and Simulation: Applications, Methodology, Technology, vol. 6, no. 2, 2009, doi: 10.1177/1548512909347476.
[31] D. Johnson and A. Ali, “Modeling and simulation of landmine and improvised explosive device detection with multiple loops,” Journal of Defense Modeling and Simulation, vol. 12, no. 3, 2015, doi: 10.1177/1548512912457886.
[32] J. Guo, J. Armstrong, and D. Unrau, “Predicting emplacements of improvised explosive devices,” 2013. doi: 10.1177/1548512912439951.
[33] ABAQUS, “Abaqus User’s Manual version 2022,” 2022.
[34] A. Giam, W. Toh, and V. B. C. Tan, “Numerical review of Jones-Wilkins-Lee parameters for trinitrotoluene explosive in free-air blast,” 2020. doi: 10.1115/1.4046243.
[35] M. H. Mussa, A. A. Mutalib, R. Hamid, S. R. Naidu, N. A. M. Radzi, and M. Abedini, “Assessment of damage to an underground box tunnel by a surface explosion,” Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology, vol. 66, 2017, doi: 10.1016/j.tust.2017.04.001.
[36] P. W. Sielicki and M. Stachowski, “Implementation of sapper-blast-module, a rapid prediction software for blast wave properties,” Central European Journal of Energetic Materials, vol. 12, no. 3, 2015.
[37] M. D. Botez and L. A. Bredean, “Numerical Study of a RC Slab Subjected to Blast: A Coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian Approach,” in IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 2019. doi: 10.1088/1757-899X/471/5/052036.
[38] M. Kumar, U. Deep, and P. M. Dixt, “Simulation and Analysis of Ballistic Impact Using Continuum Damage Mechanics (CDM) Model,” in Procedia Engineering, 2017. doi: 10.1016/j.proeng.2016.12.057.
[39] Federal Emergency Management Agency, “Design Guidance for Shelters and Safe Rooms,” FEMA 453.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Assal Hussein, Paul Heyliger
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
