Numerical study of blast mitigation performance of sacrificial cladding using corrugated tilted honeycomb (CTH) as core

In this study, a new protective sacrificial cladding for blast protection is proposed, utilising a nature-inspired sacrificial core whose unit cells are inspired by the corrugated and tilted shape found in plant stems. By incorporating the stem shape into the unit cells of the conventional square honeycomb, the combination of tilted sidewalls and vertical corrugations in the recently proposed corrugated tilted honeycomb (CTH) creates corrugated gaps, resulting in an easy-to-fold and improved crushing resistance core. To further examine its effectiveness in blast protection applications, the CTH core is affixed to the external plates (front and rear) to form CTH protective cladding and placed directly in front of the protected structure, thereby mitigating the blast pressure by minimising the pressure transmitted to the protected structure and prolonging the loading duration. To evaluate its effectiveness in blast mitigation, CTH cladding is compared with conventional claddings such as aluminium foam (ALF) and square honeycomb (SH) claddings in terms of the uniformity and peak of the transmitted pressure, the maximum deformation, and the energy absorbed by the cladding. The blast mitigation performances of all claddings are investigated under a range of blast intensities, from 1 kg to 4 kg of TNT charge at the standoff distance of 1.5 m, utilising LS-DYNA software. The influences of core wall thickness, crushing side, stacking and graded stacking configurations of CTH cladding on its blast mitigation performance are also examined.