Refuge bay structures are provided for personnel working in underground mines to be used in case of an emergency. An investigation was performed to calculate the expected blast pressures that these structures may be subjected to in case of an underground explosion. Arbitrary-Lagrangian-Eularian (ALE) analyses were performed using LS-DYNA to model the blast front propagation and associated pressures. Furthermore, optimised refuge bay wall designs were developed taking into account geometrical constraints and the calculated blast pressure loading. |