Original Article

Proc IMechE Part D:

J Automobile Engineering
1–11
Modelling and analysis of the vehicle Ó IMechE 2016
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underbody and the occupants sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0954407016651353

subjected to a shallow-buried-mine pid.sagepub.com

blast impulse

Xinlei Zhang, Yunbo Zhou, Xianhui Wang and Zongqian Wang

Abstract
When a charge is ignited at the bottom of a vehicle, the underbody and the occupants are the most vulnerable. The pro-
tection of the vehicle underbody is still a significant problem in the environment of a buried-mine blast impulse. The first
part of this study presents an algorithm that can be used to simulate a shallow-buried-mine blast. Models using the
multiple-material arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian algorithm and the initial-impulse mine algorithm respectively were con-
structed on the basis of experiments carried out by Anderson et al. The accuracy and superiority of the initial-impulse
mine algorithm were proved by comparing the results for the jump velocity and the computation time. The second part
introduces a blast experiment on a full-scale armoured vehicle. The occupant was represented by a Hybrid III 50th-per-
centile adult-male dummy. A numerical model was established using the initial-impulse mine method; the seat position
represented the worst-case situation, which was same as for the experiments. A comparison of the experimental data
and the simulation results, which include the peak acceleration of the floor and the force to which the dummy’s tibia is
subjected, showed good agreement.

Keywords
Vehicle underbody, occupant protection, experimental verification, initial-impulse mine, blast wave

Date received: 3 December 2015; accepted: 27 April 2016

Introduction they presented the blast response of a vehicle subjected

An increasing number of people have died and vehicles
have been destroyed in battlefields as a result of the
blasts from landmines in recent years. Ramasamy et
al.1 studied the casualty data from the Rhodesian War
(1972–1980), involving about 2212 vehicle mine inci-
dents and 16,456 people. Elastic deformation and plas-
tic deformation of the vehicle underbody are the most
dangerous problems that occur when the mine
explodes. In these conditions, it is easy for the occu-
pant’s lower legs, spine and head to be hurt by defor-
mation if the occupant is not controlled.2 Thus,
protection of the armoured vehicle is becoming a prob-
lem which urgently needs to be solved.
In order to evaluate the damage to a vehicle and its
occupants resulting from a landmine blast impulse and
to determine the vulnerability of the vehicle, finite ele-
ment analysis has been widely used recently.3–10 Erdik et
al.11 studied a parametric approach for quantification
which used the multiple-material (MM) arbitrary
Lagrangian–Eulerian (ALE) algorithm. Subsequently,
to a landmine blast under the front left wheel to verify
the accuracy of this method. Although this method can
be used to simulate the blast impulse, it requires much
computation time, and the efficiency is lower. Schwer12
coupled the enhanced load blast with the MM-ALE
algorithm and demonstrated its superiority by some sim-
ple examples. Guo et al.13 used the above method, com-
bined with experimental results, to analyse the damage
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and
Technology, Jiangsu Nanjing, People’s Republic of China
Corresponding authors:
Yunbo Zhou, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Nanjing University
of Science and Technology, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210094, People’s Republic of
China.
Email: yunbo31983@163.com
Xianhui Wang, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Nanjing University
of Science and Technology, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210094, People’s Republic of
China.
Email: 13770669850@139.com

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2 Proc IMechE Part D: J Automobile Engineering

that occurred to a vehicle cabin and its occupants when applying the initial velocity transformed by the detona-
subjected to a blast. In their study, experiments using tion of a shallow-buried mine to the nodes of the struc-
four different trinitrotoluene (TNT) equivalents (330 g, ture surface. The empirical models presented by
750 g, 1000 g and 1500 g) were set up; the positions were Westine et al.27 and developed by Tremblay28 have as a
same as in the simulations. The pressure and the occu- theoretical basis the equations
pant injuries for the simulations and the experimental    rffiffiffiffiffiffi
results were used to verify the accuracy of the method, 7 d tan (0:9589jd) 3:25 rE
iv (x, y) = 0:1352 1 +
which can be applied to a full-scale vehicle. In compari- 9z jd z
son with the MM-ALE algorithm, this method improved ð1Þ
the efficiency and saved computation time, but it did not
consider the effect of the soil. and
Recently, many studies have focused on a shallow-
d
buried-mine blast impulse.14–16 Also, Livermore j= h i ð2Þ
Software Technology Corporation (LSTC) has added z5=4 A3=8 tan (2:2d=z)3=2
an algorithm to the software LS-DYNA to model this:
*INITIAL_IMPULSE_MINE (*IIM).17 While it not where iv(x, y) is the vertical specific impulse, d is the
as precise as the MM-ALE algorithm, which considers depth from the surface of the soil at the place where the
the Lagrangian–Eulerian fluid–structure interaction, it mine is buried to the centre of mine, z is the vertical dis-
requires a shorter computation time and can produce a tance from the target surface to the centre of the explo-
similar structural response for a buried-mine blast sive, d is the horizontal distance from the centre of mine
impulse. Anderson et al.18, 19 conducted a series of to the target point, E is the explosive energy release, r is
well-characterized experiments using a relatively simple the density of the surrounding soil and A is the cross-
structure for a landmine blast impulse. Johnson and sectional area of the charge. Figure 1 provides a sche-
Basudhar20 used the results from the experiments car- matic diagram of the buried-mine parameters.
ried out by Anderson at al. as the standard for compar- When the parameters of the model are met, the non-
ison with finite element analysis simulations which dimensional functions and the values are in the data
employed *IIM and then performed shape optimiza- ranges
tion of a simplified V-shaped vehicle underbody with d
this method using LSTC’s optimization code LS-OPT. 0:1064 41:0
z
Grujicic et al.21–23 made a series of research studies on E=A
an up-armoured high-mobility multi-purpose wheeled 6:354 2 4150
rc z
vehicle (HMMWV). Finite-element-based analyses pffiffiffiffi ð3Þ
were employed in their work to address the ability of A
0:1544 44:48
the vehicle to survive detonation of a landmine which z
was buried shallowly in sand underneath the right d
04 419:3
wheel of the vehicle. The kinematic and structural z
responses (including large-scale rotation and deforma- where c is the wave speed in the soil; then the impulse
tion, buckling, plastic yielding, failure initiation, frac- can be computed.
ture and fragmentation) of the HMMWV were
regarded as the injury criteria. The aim of the work by
Thota et al.24, 25 was optimization of the shock Flat target plate
response in the space frame and space frame joints of On the basis of the specific impulse given by equation
the armoured vehicle. (1), we can compute the total impulse on the flat target
In the above studies, many algorithms were plate using the integral
researched in order to model the blast impulse and the ðð
full-scale vehicle experiments and optimizations. This
Iv = iv ðx, yÞ dx dy ð4Þ
paper aims to adopt the initial-impulse mine (IIM)
method to model the shallow-buried-mine blast under
the vehicle underbody, by comparison of the response
of the underbody and the damage to its occupants to Oblique target plate
verify the accuracy and the superiority of the method;
Figure 1(b) shows the relationship between the relative
this has significant influence on the design, develop-
positions of the oblique target plate and the mine,
ment and optimization of vehicles in the future.
which is given by

IIM method in dA = ðir cos uÞ( cos u dA) ð5Þ

Recently, LSTC has added an algorithm to LS-DYNA where in is the impulse normal to the oblique target
which can be utilized via *IIM to simulate a shallow- plate, ir is the radial impulse, b is the angle between the
buried-mine impact.26 This algorithm works by impact direction and the vertical and u is the angle

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Zhang et al.
Figure 1. Schematic diagrams of the buried-mine parameters: (a) flat target plate; (b) oblique target plate.
between the impact direction and the normal of the tar-
get plate.
From the equations in = ir cos2u and iv = ir cos2b,
together with equation (5), we can obtain the relation
cos2 u
in = iv
cos2 b
where iv is given by equation (1). The total explosive
impulse on the oblique target plate is computed from
the integral of equation (6) to give
ðð
cos2 u
in = iv (x, y) dx dy
cos2 b sin a
where a is the oblique angle of the plate.
Simulations and validation of the flat
target plate
The accuracy of the empirical IIM model of a shallow-
buried mine blast is validated by comparing the simula-
tion results with the experimental results obtained by
Anderson et al.18 The set-up for the experiments car-
ried out by Anderson et al. is shown in Figure 2. A steel
plate is placed at a position 200 mm below the surface
of the soil. The dimensions of the flat steel plate are
800 mm 3 800 mm 3 60 mm, and its mass is 300 kg.
The soil is contained in a round cardboard barrel
(height, 850 mm; diameter, 630 mm; wall thickness, 3
mm). The charge is replaced by Composition B, which
is a bare cylindrical heavy-explosive charge (625 g) with
a height-to-diameter ratio of approximately 1 to 3
(height, 37 mm; diameter, 113 mm). The cross-sectional
area is 1.0 mm 3 104 mm. The distance between the
charge and the soil surface is 50 mm. The charge is ini-
tiated by 10 g of pentaerythritol trinitrate at its centre.
The test soil is common silica sand with a grain size of
up to 1 mm.
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3
ð6Þ
Figure 2. Schematic diagram of the set-up for the experiments
carried out by Anderson et al.
ð7Þ
The plate is blasted upwards when the mine is deto-
nated, because the target plate is not fixed. As a result
of gravity, the plate falls when it has reached its maxi-
mum height. From the maximum height H recorded
with two cable-pull potentiometers, the jump velocity
V can be calculated using the equation
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
V = 2gH ð8Þ
where g is the gravitational constant (equal to 9.8 m/s2).
The jump velocity V is a useful index of the structural
response that results from the blast loading which is
caused by the decreasing pressure from the sand and
mine.
Numerical model
In order to ensure the accuracy of the simulations,
the finite element models adopted the same arrange-
ment as for the experiments made by Anderson et al.18
The ALE algorithm and the IIM algorithm were used
to establish the quarter-models respectively; the ton–
millimetre–second units system was adopted. Solid ele-
ments and shell elements of the target plate were used
for a comparison analysis.29 The centre of mass of the
plate was located above the charge.
4 Proc IMechE Part D: J Automobile Engineering

The soil, the air and the mine were constructed using Table 1. Numerical comparisons of the parametric relations.
ALE single-point integral hexahedral elements and
connected to each other by common nodes. The key- Parameter Real value Minimum Maximum
word *BOUNDARY_NON_REFLECTING was used d 0.200 0.106 1.000
to define the non-reflecting boundary and to simulate z
the infinite air domain.30 The target plate was defined E=A 9.562 6.350 150.0
rc 2
as Lagrangian, the soil, the air and the mine were pffiffiffiz
defined as Eulerian, and then the keyword A 0.401 0.154 4.480
*CONSTRANT_LAGRANGE_IN_SOLID was used z
d 2.263 0.000 19.30
to define the Lagrangian–Eulerian fluid–structure inter-
z
action. The number of elements in the IIM model is
only 2.8% of those in the ALE method.

Validation results
Material constitutive models
When the mine charge equivalent, the buried depth, the
TNT was used in this study as the high-explosive mate- distance between the target and the soil surface, the size
rial and is defined by the keyword of the target plate, etc., are maintained in the same con-
*MAT_HIGH_EXPLOSIVE_BURN. The mine blast ditions, the ALE method and the IIM method respec-
impulse, which is described by the Jones–Wilkins–Lee tively were used to simulate the responses of the flat
(JWL) equation of state31 and defined by the keyword target plate for buried-mine loading at different soil
*EOS_JWL in the LS-DYNA software, is given by moisture contents. The impulse momentum of the tar-
  get plate’s was regarded as the evaluative index, which
w can be calculated simply from the jump velocity. The
P=A 1  expðR1 VÞ
R1 V averages of the experimental results obtained by
  ð9Þ
w wE Anderson et al. were used as the standard for compari-
+B 1  expðR2 VÞ +
R2 V V son with the numerical results.
It can also be seen that the simulation results using
where V is the relative volume, E is the initial internal the ALE algorithm are reasonably consistent with the
energy and the parameters w, A, B, R1 and R2 are experimental results, and the difference is smaller
constants. within the range of allowable error; this is confirmed
The material model of air adopted was by the data in Table 2. In comparison with the accura-
*MAT_NULL. Air was regarded as an ideal gas in this cies of the results obtained using the ALE algorithm,
study. Thus, the linear polynomial equation of state the accuracies of the IIM numerical results are lower
defined with the keyword *EOS_LINEAR_ and the difference is relatively larger, but also they are
POLYNOMIAL was used to simulate the air domain dependable and consistent with the experimental
according to results. However, from the viewpoint of calculation
accuracy, the computation time of the IIM algorithm is
P = C0 + C1 m + C2 m2 + C3 m3 only about 0.4% of that of the ALE algorithm and
  ð10Þ
+ C4 + C5 m + C6 m2 E improves the computational efficiency greatly. In com-
parison with the solid element used for the target plate,
where m is the initial relative volume, E is the initial the difference for the shell element is relatively lower.
internal energy per unit reference specific volume and In addition, in comparison with the experimental data,
the parameters C0, C1, C2, C3, C4, C5 and C6 are the IIM algorithm produces the same impulse trend.
constants. Thus, it can be used to simulate the buried-mine blast
The proportions of gas and water in the soil have a impulse.
great influence on the blast response and the blast pres-
sure distribution.32, 33 Sand has different dynamic
responses for different levels of water saturation.34 In Numerical simulations of a full-scale
this study, three different moisture contents of the soil vehicle subject to a buried-mine blast
were used in the experiments:7%, 14% and 22%. The impulse
density of the soil is 1.37 3 10–3 g/mm3 at a moisture
content of 7%. The material model of the soil used was In the third section, the accuracy of the IIM algorithm
*MAT_ELASTIC_PLASTIC_HYDRO_SPALL. that was used for the flat target plate for buried-mine
As shown in Table 1, the values for each of the para- blast loading was verified. However, for a full-scale
metric relations are within the ranges of the require- vehicle, which has many components, the structures of
ments. Therefore, the IIM algorithm can be used to which are more complex, the response of the vehicle for
model the blast impulse. a buried-mine blast impulse is difficult to predict. If we
construct the finite element model using the ALE

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Zhang et al. 5

Table 2. Comparison between the experimental results and the simulation results for different moisture contents in the sand.

Moisture Mean Plate Impulse momentum (kg m/s1) Calculation time Difference (%)
content density element for the following
(%) (kg/m3) type
Experiments ALE IIM ALE IIM ALE IIM
algorithm algorithm algorithm (min) algorithm (s) algorithm algorithm

7 1370 Solid 1979 2037 2457 38 9 3 24

Shell 2103 2268 6 15
14 1490 Solid 2154 2049 2519 73 18 –5 17
Shell 2157 2364 0.2 10
22 1670 Solid 2511 2286 2918 105 26 –9 16
Shell 2535 2713 1 8

ALE: arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian; IIM: initial-impulse mine.

Figure 3. Finite element model: (a) portion of the full-scale vehicle; (b) Hybrid III 50th-percentile dummy.

algorithm, a large air domain must be established
because of the higher ground clearance of the armoured
vehicle; therefore, the IIM algorithm is considered.
Also, it can reduce the computation time and improve
the efficiency. In order to verify the simulation results
of the IIM algorithm, full-scale vehicle experiments
were arranged at a testing ground.
Finite element model
A two-dimensional shell element (a four-node element)
was chosen to establish the finite element model of the
vehicle, because parts of the armoured vehicle are regu-
lar sheet metals, i.e. the thickness is relatively smaller
than the dimensions in the other two directions. The
present work mainly studies the response of the vehicle
underbody and its occupants subjected to a shallow-
buried-mine blast impulse; therefore, attachments such
as the wheels, the engine, the axles and the chassis are
not considered and are regarded as rigid.
In order to improve the quality of the meshes in the
modelling process, the smaller holes and edges are
removed. The size of the mesh is changed with the gradi-
ent along the direction of the blast impulse, which can
reduce the number of elements in the whole model. The
vehicle underbody is meshed as 10 mm, while the top of
the vehicle is meshed as 25 mm. A Hybrid III 50th-per-
centile male dummy is used as the driver in this study.
The size and mass of the dummy are equivalent to those
of a common person; the organs, arms and legs of that
person are replaced by the corresponding sensors. Based
on the anatomical data of the people, the different parts
of the dummy are linked by a spring and a damper.
Two different explosive equivalents (3.5 kg and 4.5 kg)
are used in this study and are buried shallowly under the
centre of the vehicle 100 mm below the soil surface. The
minimum clearance of the vehicle is 400 mm. The mine
is a bare cylindrical heavy-explosive charge, with a
height-to-diameter ratio of approximately 1 to 3. For
the 3.5 kg charge equivalent, the cross-sectional area of
the charge is 3.17 3 104 mm2. *IIM is used to apply an
empirical blast impulse on the areas which need to be
loaded directly. The material model of the vehicle used
was *MAT_PIECEWISE_LINEAR_PLASTICITY; its
specific material parameters cannot be provided for rea-
sons of confidentiality. The finite element model of the
vehicle is presented in Figure 3.
The mass of the full-scale vehicle is about 6 ton,
which is a small TNT equivalent that does not cause
the vehicle to move upwards; therefore, the stress and
the displacement of the underbody are chosen as the
evaluative indices of the structure response.

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6 Proc IMechE Part D: J Automobile Engineering

Table 3. Numerical comparison of the full-scale vehicle parametric relations.

Parameter Real value for the following TNT equivalents Minimum Maximum
3.5 kg 4.5 kg

d 0.20 0.20 0.106 1.0

z
E=A 8.41 9.16 6.35 150
rc 2
pffiffiffiz
A 0.36 0.39 0.154 4.48
z
d 5.05 5.05 0.0 19.3
z

TNT: trinitrotoluene.

Figure 4. von Mises stress (MPa) and displacement (mm) nephogram of the underbody subjected to different mine masses: (a) von
Mises stress nephogram (3.5 kg); (b) displacement nephogram (3.5 kg); (c) von Mises stress nephogram (4.5 kg); (d) displacement
nephogram (4.5 kg); (e) von Mises stress nephogram of the lower plate (4.5k g); (f) von Mises stress nephogram of the upper plate
(4.5 kg).

As shown in Table 3, the values of each parametric
relation of the full-scale vehicle are within the ranges of
the requirements. Thus, the IIM algorithm can be used
to model the blast impulse.
Simulation results
In this section, the results of the response of and dam-
age to the vehicle underbody subjected to a shallow-
buried-mine blast impulse are presented in Figure 4.
Figure 4(a) shows the explosion shock responses of
the protective components at the bottom of the vehicle
for a TNT equivalent of 3.5 kg. The maximum stress is
1717 MPa and has not reached the ultimate strength of
the material of the underbody; local plastic deforma-
tion occurs in only the lower plate. The areas which
have the maximum stress are located on the transfer
case gap and the edges of the vehicle underbody; there
is no damage to the passengers and driver.
Figure 4(c), (e) and (f) show the explosion shock
responses of the protective components at the bottom
of the vehicle for a TNT equivalent of 4.5 kg. The max-
imum stress is 2316 MPa and greatly exceeds the ulti-
mate strength of the material of the underbody. The
stress concentration areas of the lower plate are frac-
tured. The maximum stress of the upper plate is 1692
MPa and has not reached the ultimate strength of the
material of the plate; the explosion shock wave has not

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Zhang et al.
Figure 5. Variations in the energy of the lower plate subjected to different mine masses (3.5 kg and 4.5 kg).
been able to penetrate, but extensive plastic deforma-
tion occurs.
Figure 4(b) and (d) show the z-direction displace-
ments of the underbody for two different TNT equiva-
lents; extensive deformation areas are located on the
strengthened beams and the lower plate. The maximum
displacement is 122.4 mm, which causes greater dam-
age to the vehicle underbody.
The energy curves in Figure 5 show the change in
the energy of the lower plate for the two different TNT
equivalents: 3.5 kg and 4.5 kg. When the mine is deto-
nated, the total energy and the kinetic energy rapidly
increase to their peak values. Subsequently, the energy
is transmitted to the vehicle and transformed to inter-
nal energy; thus, the total energy decreases. Finally, the
energy curves tend to be constant. Also, irrespective of
whether the TNT equivalent is 3.5 kg or 4.5 kg, the
total energy of the lower plate is about the same after a
time of 8 ms; therefore, it is demonstrated that the
energy-absorbing capacity of the lower plate is limited.
Experimental verification
Experimental set-up
The experiments were arranged at a testing ground.
The experimental equipment mainly includes a cylindri-
cal bare explosive equivalent of 3.5 kg, experimental
saturated sand, a Hybrid III 50th-percentile adult-male
dummy, many pressure and acceleration sensors, a
multi-channel high-speed data acquisition instrument,
high-speed video cameras and a vernier caliper. Some
of these are shown in Figure 6. The test site conditions
met the requirements of AEP-55 (Vol 2),35 which con-
tains the regulation that the vehicle should be posi-
tioned at the same ground clearance as the
operationally loaded vehicle. The explosive should be
located at the bottom centre of the vehicle body and
represents the worst-case conditions for the occupants
considering the potential weak areas, as shown in
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7
Figure 6. Experimental equipment: (a) TNT equivalent, 3.5 kg;
(b) high-speed video camera.
TNT: trinitrotoluene.
Figure 7(a). In this test, the clearance was 400 mm; the
charge was buried 100 mm from the soil surface and
was detonated with the detonator at the centre. The
dimensions of the test sand are 2 m 3 2 m with a depth
of 1.5 m. The test environment conditions were good,
and the temperature was moderate.
As shown in Figure 7(b), the seat position of the
occupant in the vehicle must be close to normal and
should represent the worst-case situation. The dummy
sensors record the electrical signals and transmit them
to the multi-channel high-speed data acquisition instru-
ment, in order to evaluate the response of the dummy
to the buried-mine blast impulse. The high-speed video
cameras record the dynamic conditions of the dummy
and the whole vehicle as the experiment proceeds.
Comparison between the experimental results and
the simulation results
After the tests, the damage to the vehicle underbody
was observed; the damage form and the displacement
of each component were recorded and compared with
those before the experiments. Extruded deformation of
the aluminium honeycomb structure installed at the
bottom of the vehicle occurred. The amounts of defor-
mation at different positions in the honeycomb struc-
ture were measured with a vernier caliper.
Subsequently, the location in which the maximum com-
pression occurred was determined and compared with
8 Proc IMechE Part D: J Automobile Engineering
Table 4. Comparison of the values of the maximum compression and the peak floor acceleration.
TNT equivalent (kg) Maximum compression (mm)
Simulations Experiments
3.5 26.04 24.62
4.5 35.28
TNT: trinitrotoluene.
Figure 7. Experimental set-up: (a) position of the TNT; (b)
sitting position of the dummy.
that in the simulation results. The electrical signals
recorded by the acceleration sensors located on the
floor under the feet of the dummy were observed and
the maximum value recorded. Figure 8 shows the com-
pression of the honeycomb structure.
Table 4 shows a comparison of the simulations and
the experimental results for the maximum compression
and floor acceleration under the dummy’s feet (no test
was made for the TNT equivalent of 4.5 kg). From
Table 4, we know that the maximum difference was
7.48% in the range available; thus, the numerical anal-
ysis of this method is credible.
In addition, the data on the dummy recorded by the
multi-channel high-speed data acquisition instrument
were imported to the relative software for data pre-pro-
cessing. The experimental results of the force to which
the dummy’s tibia was subjected were compared with
the simulation results. The maximum force to which
the dummy’s right tibia was subjected is 2726 N in the
experiments, and the corresponding simulation result is
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Peak floor acceleration (m/s2)
Difference (%) Simulations Experiments Difference (%)
5.77 83.67 77.85 7.48
138.71
Figure 8. Compression of the deformation of the honeycomb
structure: (a) experiments; (b) simulations.
max: maximum.
2869 N. Figure 9 shows that these results were fairly
consistent and that the maximum difference of 8.29%
was within the reasonable range.
Conclusions
The paper presents a comprehensive approach for simu-
lating a shallow-buried-mine blast impulse. Based on
the results of the experiments and simulations, the fol-
lowing main conclusions can be made.
1. In comparison with the ALE method, the IIM
method is more convenient for simulating a
shallow-buried-mine blast impact on a target plate;
this means that it is unnecessary to construct larger
soil and air domains, which saves modelling time.
The computation time for the IIM method is only
about 0.4% of that for the ALE method, which
greatly improves the efficiency. In comparison with
the experimental data, the IIM method produces
the same impulse trends, and the difference is
lower and within the allowable range; thus, this
Zhang et al. 9

Figure 9. Force curves for the Hybrid III dummy’s tibia; (a) left tibia; (b) right tibia.

method can be used to simulate a buried-mine
blast impulse.
2. The IIM method is used to construct a full-scale
vehicle model and to simulate a shallow-buried-
mine blast impulse. The charge is buried shallowly
100 mm from the sand surface, in the same way as
for the experimental set-up. From the responses of
the vehicle underbody and the occupant, the results
of the simulations and the experiments are rela-
tively consistent, and the maximum difference is
within the reasonable range; therefore, application
of the IIM method to simulate and predict the
response of an armoured vehicle for a shallow-bur-
ied-mine blast impulse has proved to be highly
accurate and successful. In addition, this method
has improved the previous method for explosion
impact loading and more easily provides simula-
tions of the threat from a shallow-buried explosive
encountered on the battlefield.
3. The protective components of an aluminium hon-
eycomb, which is fixed on the vehicle underbody,
absorb much energy from the blast impulse and
contribute greatly to the protective performance of
the vehicle. Therefore, this protective structure can
be used to improve the survivability of an occu-
pant in the design of future vehicles.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the Nanjing University
of Science and Technology for providing the appropri-
ate equipment necessary for this research.

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10
Declaration of Conflict of Interest
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest
with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publi-
cation of this article.
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following finan-
cial support for the research, authorship, and/or publi-
cation of this article: This work was supported by the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant
number: 51405232) and the Nanjing University of
Science and Technology (grant number: 10288).
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