A finite difference numerical model for the propagation of finite amplitude acoustical blast waves outdoors over hard and porous surfaces

This study has concerned the propagation of finite amplitude, i.e. weakly non-linear, acoustical blast waves from explosions over hard and porous media models of outdoor ground surfaces. The nonlinear acoustic propagation effects require a numerical solution in the time domain. To model a porous ground surface, which in the frequency domain exhibits a finite impedance, the linear phenomenological porous model of Morse and Ingard was used. The phenomenological equations are solved in the time domain for coupling with the time domain propagation solution in the air.; The numerical solution is found through the method of finite differences. The second-order in time and fourth-order in space MacCormack method was used in the air, and the second-order in time and space MacCormack method was used in the porous medium modeling the ground. Two kinds of numerical absorbing boundary conditions were developed for the air propagation equations to truncate the physical domain for solution on a computer. Radiation conditions first were used on those sides of the domain where there were outgoing waves. Characteristic boundary conditions secondly are employed near the acoustic source.; The numerical model agreed well with the Pestorius algorithm for the propagation of electric spark pulses in the free field, and with a result of Pfriem for normal plane reflection off a hard surface. In addition, curves of pressure amplification versus incident angle for waves obliquely incident on the hard and porous surfaces were produced which are similar to those in the literature. The model predicted that near grazing finite amplitude acoustic blast waves decay with distance over hard surfaces as r to the power -1.2. This result is consistent with the work of Reed. For propagation over the porous ground surface, the model predicted that this surface decreased the decay rate with distance for the larger blasts compared to the rate expected in the linear acoustics limit.