Structures under dynamic loads

The behaviour of simple underground structures under dynamic surface pressure has received a good deal of attention in connection with the design of underground structures to withstand the effects of nuclear or highexplosive blast. The construction of blast simulators in US Army, Air Force and Naval Laboratories during the 1950s and 1960s enabled a number of experimental studies to be carried out. Later the author used horizontal and vertical shock tubes in the UK to check on the behaviour of thin-walled cylinders in sand and clay. These studies were followed by theoretical work leading to design rules, but most of the design information still comes directly from test results.