14th January 2021 11:58 am 14th January 2021 11:58 am
Engineers at Sheffield University are launching a new laboratory to explore the blast impacts of compact explosives at close range.
Improvised Explosive Devices, or IEDs, became a prominent weapon in 21st-century assymetric warfare and were regularly used by insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the physics of the type of explosions caused by IEDs is not as well understood as larger and more distant blasts, which have been studied and modelled in greater depth.
Backed by £1.3m of government funding, the new Sheffield laboratory will provide a safe environment in which explosive, fragment and ballistic tests can be conducted whilst allowing the highest possible spectrum of data to be collected. The data could inform ways to protect critical infrastructure and urban environments, such as buildings and vehicles, against explosive threats from close proximity.