Explosion resistance of a square plate with a square hole

Abstract
Explosion-pressure-shock-resistant (EPSR) designing method is more practical for process equipment, which may encounter dust explosion hazard. The strength of a square plate with central square hole was investigated by experiment and FEA method when the plate materials deformed far beyond yielding point, even to fracture. It is found that the nonlinear FEA computations agree reasonably well with the experimental data. In order to determine the allowable maximum strain in FEA a new concept of "ultimate plastic strain" was put forward. It is reasonable to determine the ultimate strength of structure by means of this concept from the limited experiments point of view. More researches on experiment and theory are necessary to verify it.