Measurement of the spatial specific impulse distribution due to buried high explosive charge detonation

Buried high explosive (HE) charges represent a high threat to military vehicles. A detailed understanding of the physical processes involved in the loading of vehicle structures is necessary for an optimization of effective countermeasures and protection systems. In the following, a new test setup is presented that allows the experimental determination of the specific impulse distribution. It is based on a ring arrangement where the elements are nested into each other and the velocity of each ring is correlated with the local specific impulse at its position. The presented technology is applied to quantify the influence of the embedding material (alluvial sand, quartz sand), the burial depth and the water content on the local specific impulse distribution. The obtained data can be used as initial condition for the numerical simulation of occupant safety assessment and as input for empirical modeling of momentum transfer on structures.