Articles you may be interested inInvestigation of charge weight and shock factor effect on non-linear transient structural response of rectangular plates subjected to underwater explosion (UNDEX) shock loading AIP Conf. Proc. 1479, 2352 (2012); 10.1063/1.4756666Nonlinear compressibility effects in fluid-structure interaction and their implications on the air-blast loading of structures A novel theory has been developed for underwater explosion induced shock wave loading considering nonlinear compressible medium both front and back of the free standing rigid plate. Both analytical formulation and numerical simulations have been performed in this manuscript for different type of shock loading profiles, different plate masses as well as different backing conditions of the plate. The results obtained have been asymptotically validated against existing theories in acoustic range. Impulse transmission, maximum momentum transfer, and cavitation inception have been determined for different cases and have been shown to be dependent on the fluid structure interaction parameter as well as the backing condition of the plate. Impulse design transmission curves have also been developed for plates of intermediate mass for different shock intensities and profiles thereby removing the need to perform numerical simulations. The major conclusions of the paper are that nonlinear compressibility and varying pressure back of the plate further enhance the beneficial effects of fluid-structure-interaction in reducing impulse transmitted to the structure. These results can be advantageously exploited for design and optimization of light weight underwater structures with increased blast resistance. V C 2012 American Institute of Physics.