Identifying vulnerability to blast loading using grounded theory

Abstract

A blast event lies within the social system and involves people. Hence vulnerability to blast loading can be considered a socio-technical or "soft" system, where our ability to model and hence predict bounds on behaviour is poor. Even where the "hard" part of the system is concerned (i.e. structural response), blast loading is difficult to idealize and its effects cannot be fully predicted. Often the greatest injury is caused by non-structural elements acting as "missiles". For all the above reasons, the analysis of vulnerability to blast loading must be grounded in past experience.