Design of Metal Foam Cladding Subjected to Close-Range Blast

The response of a blast mitigation cladding consisting of a face sheet and metal foam core subjected to a close-range blast is predicted. Whereas the cladding is sufficiently wide compared to the standoff distance between the explosion center and the cladding, the boundary of the blast induced bulge is released. The face sheet is considered as a rigid perfectly plastic membrane as the deformation of the sheet always exceeds half its thickness. A procedure predicting the depth and extent of the bulge is proposed with energy method. Subsequently, the minimum thickness of the foam layer is calculated based on the bulge depth. This design-oriented approach, in a ready-to-use manner, can be straightforwardly applied, facilitating the preliminary design of blast mitigation claddings with metal foam core. (C) 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.