Bretall, Damien CarlDue to the changing face of warfare there is an ever growing need to protect the underside of combat vehicles from mine blasts. This research effort presents a new method to better characterize the pressure profiles experienced by a plate as the blast develops. The explosive deformation of a small-scale plate was recorded using synchronized high-speed digital cameras, and then analyzed using 3D Digital Image Correlation software. Time-varying pressure profiles were input into an axisymmetric FEM simulation by fitting curves to data obtained from tests using Kolsky bars to measure pressures. These were then modified to find possible profiles that produce the measured deformations. It was discovered that the final deformation cannot be determined from only total impulse or peak pressures, it is very sensitive to the time and spatial decay of the pressures, and a deforming plate travels with greater initial velocity than a nondeforming plate of equal mass.en-USThesisEngineering, MechanicalEngineering, Mechanicalexplosive pressuresflat plate deformationDICFEMcraters