Numerical Simulation on Energy-absorption of EPS Geofoam in Radical Uncoupled Blast

Abstract:

Uncoupled blast has wide applications in engineering practice. However, the blast using EPS foam as filling material is rarely investigated so far. Based on the large-scale finite element code, LS-DYNA, with explicit integration, the numerical simulations on radical uncoupled blast with filled EPS foam of three initial densities (12.0、21.0、27.0 kg•m-3 ) are performed. The distribution of concrete damage and the evolution laws of peak hydrostatic pressure, velocity and acceleration of particles around the blasthole are analyzed. The comparisons between the radical foam uncoupled blast with the radical air and water uncoupled cases are also made. Results show that EPS foam can effectively absorb blast energy, reduce the damaged zone around the blasthole. The initial density of EPS foam ρ0 exerts a significant impact on the concrete’s damage distribution. With the increase of ρ0, EPS foam has less capacity of energy absorption and vibration attenuation. Furthermore, increasing the initial density of EPS foam and reducing the decoupling coefficient may achieve similar blast result to a certain extent. Besides, Kd should be confined to 2.0 in EPS foam decoupled case for better effects and lower blast cost.