© BS&A

Blast test

Structure, building envelope and fit-out elements, systems or prototype: we design the test with you, conduct it on our own site in France and hand you a comprehensive test report.

  • EN 13123-2Explosion resistance of windows, doors and shutters: requirements and classification.
  • EN 13124-2Explosion resistance of windows, doors and shutters: test methods.

Our tests

It all starts from what you need to demonstrate. We design the set-up and instrumentation with you, then hand over the test report; where required, an independent inspection body draws up the official test record.

  • EN 13123Explosion resistance of windows, doors and shutters: requirements and classification. · EN 13124Explosion resistance of windows, doors and shutters: test methods.

    Testing to European standards

    Your product is tested to EN 13123 and EN 13124: you know the EXR classification it achieves.

    For manufacturers of doors, glazing, window frames and curtain walls.

  • Defence

    Munitions and fragmentation

    We measure the blast and fragments of a munition, to know its real effects.

    For players in defence and space.

  • R&D

    Research and development testing

    Where no standard exists, the test shows whether your solution holds, or sheds light on a little-understood phenomenon.

    For all public and private players.

© BS&A
CONVEX project: vehicle battery explosion in car parks and tunnels, with the Fondation MAIF pour la recherche, APEX Solutions and INSA Centre-Val de Loire.

A test in pictures

Explosion on a guardhouse fitted with bullet-resistant glazing and a blast door. Step through it frame by frame, from the flash to the dust raised by the negative phase of the wave: this is how we analyse a test.

Sensor layout diagram

overpressuretimedetonation triggerexposed faceside facerear face16 channels, buriedTCACCinside: thermocouple and accelerometeracquisitionhigh-speed cameracharge

View from the high-speed colour camera, 20,000 fps

Full-scale test: a fireball engulfs a protective guardhouse, which remains standing.© BS&A

Our method

A single point of contact conducts your test, from sketch to report. Site, teams and measurement equipment are our own: lead times stay short.

  1. 01

    Designing the test

    We start from what must be demonstrated to settle the charge, the distances and the specimen. You receive a clear installation plan showing where each sensor and each camera will stand; simulation puts it to the test beforehand, to keep the number of tests down.

    See a test plan →
  2. 02

    Running the test

    We take charge of the works: safety studies, permits, handling of explosives by qualified pyrotechnicians. On our own site, we build whatever the test requires, from barricades and slabs to structures designed specifically for your specimen.

  3. 03

    Measuring and updating models

    We install the sensors, then process the signals (pressures, displacements, high-speed footage) through to the test report. Where needed, we update the numerical models against the measurements, to improve the design of your product.

Our measurement capabilities

Our acquisition chains are our own: we size them for each test, trigger them in synchrony and process the signals ourselves.

  • Overpressure

    Flush-mounted and free-field sensors: incident and reflected pressures, impulse, positive-phase duration.

  • Thermal effects

    Temperature measurements near the charge, to characterise the effects of the fireball.

  • High-speed imaging

    High-speed cameras up to 20,000 frames per second, synchronised with the acquisition: every frame can be read against the signal.

  • Specimen response

    Displacements and fragment velocities: what the structure endured, quantified.

Our test site

The engineer who ran the calculation is present at the test: they build the set-up, install the sensors, supervise the tests and process the measurements. Whoever wrote the model confronts it with reality, that very day.

A private site

Our tests take place on a private site that we lay out and reconfigure for each campaign: barricades, blocks moved by crane, slabs, specimen supports.

Its capacity

A 30 by 5 metre test slab, concrete frames for testing doors and window units, custom set-ups designed for EN 13123 and EN 13124, and handling capacity up to 50 tonnes.

Two engineers setting up the high-speed camera and sensors inside a protective guardhouse, before a test© BS&A
BS&A engineers assemble the set-up themselves and check it before every shot.

What a high-speed camera sees

High-speed cameras capture, frame by frame, what the eye cannot see: the detonation, the shock front, the response of the structure. They are often decisive in understanding the phenomena.

The blank test

© BS&A

Before the live shot, the whole chain is checked: triggering, synchronisation, framing.

The shot

© BS&A

A charge in a special solution (FEVDI), filmed in slow motion.

FEVDI ↗

The shot seen from the drone

Three pictures taken in a row by our drone, straight above the firing range.

  1. Drone view: the fireball on the firing range, just after detonation© BS&A
  2. Drone view: the smoke of the detonation products covers the fireball© BS&A
  3. Drone view: the dust lifted by the blast wave settles back on the firing range© BS&A

Preparation, step by step

  • Test layout plan: the charge at the centre, sensors, camera and specimen, next to the checklist and schedule© BS&A
    Setup preparation and validation
  • Mobile crane placing a concrete slab on a block wall while the test range is being built© BS&A
    Implementation: building the test site
  • Pressure sensor mounted flush with the concrete wall of the guardhouse© BS&A
    Sensors set into the concrete layer
  • Sealing the glazed frame of the guardhouse with mastic before firing© BS&A
    Finishing and on-site adjustment

Recent tests

  • The protective guardhouse set down on the test range, before the test© BS&A

    Testing

    Guardhouse qualified to EXR1, EXR2, EXR3

    Qualifying a protective guardhouse against blast. BS&A conducted 5 shots on the same FEHR Group guardhouse to EN 13123 and EN 13124: EXR1, EXR2 and EXR3 levels are achieved for the guardhouse, its Mineur Bécourt Systèmes door and its Riou Glass glazing.

  • High-speed camera: the fireball reaches the door during the test© BS&A

    Testing

    Single and double doors qualified to EXR1, EXR2, EXR3

    Qualifying single and double doors against blast. BS&A designed and conducted the tests to EN 13123 and EN 13124: EXR1, EXR2 and EXR3 levels are achieved.

  • CONVEX project: a vehicle battery explosion blasts the test structure© BS&A

    Research

    Battery explosion in a tunnel: CONVEX project

    Measuring the effect of a vehicle battery explosion in a confined space. With the Fondation MAIF pour la recherche, APEX Solutions and INSA Centre-Val de Loire, BS&A conducted tests in a car park and in a tunnel, to demonstrate the effects of an internal explosion and its consequences for the infrastructure.

Go further

Let’s talk about your project.

Contact us