The University of Cape Town
invites you to an Inaugural Lecture
by Professor Steeve Chung Kim Yuen
Topic: Urban blast loading: An insight into scaling
From the smallest firecracker to the most powerful bomb, explosions have always captured our imagination. But beyond the spectacle lies a deadly force that can shatter buildings, disrupt infrastructure, cause life changing injuries and claim lives. Explosions in an urban setting (accidental or intentional) impact society, as evident by recent events such as the Beirut Blast (in 2020) or ongoing conflicts. There is a need to further understand the loading effects caused by the blast’s interaction with structures. In conjunction with this, the effects of scaling and understanding the limitations of laboratory experiments are equally important given the cost incurred for full-scale experiments. In this talk, the results of a series of experiments investigating the scaling effects on blast wave parameters found for reduced-scale urban blast scenario laboratory experiments will be presented.
Date: Tuesday, 10 October 2023
Time: 17:30 SAST
Venue: Snape Teaching Studio 3B, Snape Building, UCT Upper Campus
About our speaker
Steeve Chung Kim Yuen has worked in the field of structural impact for the past thirty years on various projects ranging from investigating the batting performance of cricket players to the response of “simple” structures to blast loads (5g to 26tons of explosives). His research involves a mix of material characterisation, experimental work and finite element simulations. Full-scale experiments are costly and limited. He has, therefore, focussed on small scale testing investigating different blast loading scenarios which can result in the structure mitigating the high pressure or fragment damage after material failure.
He has also considered the effects of buried and encased explosives which are associated with landmines, and confined blasts on different types of structures in an urban setting. The work carried out are geared towards minimising life-changing injuries and saving lives.