The effect of material properties on reducing intermediate blast noise

• Published in: Applied acoustics Vol. 22; no. 4; pp. 243 - 259
• Main Authors: Raspet, R., Butler, P.B., Jahani, F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 1987
• ISSN: 0003-682X; 1872-910X
• DOI: 10.1016/0003-682X(87)90042-9

This work investigates the effectiveness of several different materials on the reduction of blast noise produced by detonating high explosives. In each case, the explosive charge is centered in a cube of blast reducing material. The materials selected have quite different physical properties (e.g. steel wool, straw and plastic bubble pack) and hence, the results provide some insight into the dominant mechanism for energy transfer between the shocked air and the blast reducing materials. In all cases reported, the flat-weighted sound exposure level (FSEL), C-weighted sound exposure level (CSEL), and the peak sound level (P p) were measured at four positions, 2 at 38 m and 2 at 76 m. Based on the experimental data presented, all four materials tested scaled as a function of the geometrically averaged material depth, the material density and the explosive masses (kg-TNT equivalent). Furthermore, in all cases studied the peak level scales more exactly than do the energy integrals CSEL and FSEL.