Response of cork compounds subjected to impulsive blast loadsAn experimental and numerical approach

The experimental characterisation of the dynamic (blast) behaviour of micro-agglomerated cork is presented. A 4-cable ballistic pendulum system was used to measure the transmitted impulse to a target subjected to a shock-wave originated from the detonation of an explosive. The displacement of the pendulum and the transmitted impulse were measured and the coefficient of restitution of the whole system when the cork compound is used was determined. A numerical study of the problem using the finite element method gave very good correlation with the experimental analysis leading to the development of a material constitutive model suited to the dynamic behaviour of these cork compounds in such solicitations.