This thesis describes the simulation of ERDC’s Blast Load Simulator (BLS) using MSU’s Loci/BLAST. The BLS was created to replicate waveforms found in blast scenarios. Loci/BLAST is an explicit, unstructured CFD code that specializes in moving waveforms. ERDC conducted various tests, and a grid for each scenario was created using the SolidMesh tool. Each grid was simulated, and the results were displayed as time history plots and spatial plots. Simulations were also performed that compared 2D and 3D grids and determined the effect of the grate and striker components. There was a strong correlation between the experimental and simulation results for each case, demonstrating that Loci/BLAST is fully capable of modeling the BLS waveforms. A 2D grid produced results comparable to those on a full 3D grid. The grate and striker were critical in the simulation because they significantly affected the waveform.

The MSU Loci/BLAST CFD code was used to study blast wave interactions with structures for different urban environments. A series of analyses which included single building structures inside of ERDC's Blast Load Simulator (BLS) with different obliquity orientations to the flow direction, two building structures inside the BLS with varying gap distances between the structures, and open air blast simulations with four structure scenarios at different building spacings and different blast orientations were performed. Unstructured and overset grid techniques were used during the modeling process and were compared for consistency with shock physics and computational performance. Results show Loci/BLAST's capability to accurately model blast wave interactions in urban environments for both unstructured and overset grids.