Measuring the impulse from an explosive charge

Abstract

In order to characterise a blast, the researcher and design engineer need to have some idea of the effects an explosive blast has on a structure. There are a number of ways to obtain measurements of the destruction ability of such an explosion. One way of obtaining the impulse was recently developed at CSIR, namely the Scientifically Instrumented Impulse Measuring Apparatus. This measuring device is installed at Paardefontein shooting range and it records the total force of an explosive charge of mass up to 8 kg TNT by means of a damped harmonic oscillator. This is integrated over time to yield the impulse associated with the specific explosive charge, standoff distance and exposed area to the charge. In this paper the development of the apparatus and subsequent measurement of the (mechanical) impulse due to an explosion will be discussed.