Numerical Simulation of Response of SRC Columns Subjected to Blast Loading

The dynamic characteristics and failure modes of steel reinforced concrete (SRC) columns subjected to blast loading are complicated because of the transient stress wave in the SRC columns and the interaction between steel and concrete. This paper presents a numerical simulation of the response of SRC columns subjected to blast loading using hydrocode LS-DYNA. In the numerical model, a sophisticate concrete material model (the Concrete Damage Model) is employed with consideration of the strain rate effect and the damage accumulation. An erosion technique is adopted to model the spalling process of concrete. The possible failure modes of SRC columns are evaluated. It is observed that the failure of SRC columns subjected to blast load can generally be classified into three modes, namely, a direct failure in concrete body due to the stress wave, a transverse shear failure near the support sections due to the high shear force, and a flexural failure pertaining to large local and global deformation of the reinforcing steel.     

Numerical Calculation of Concrete Slab Response to Blast Loading

In the present paper, a dynamic plastic damage model for concrete has been employed to estimate responses of a reinforced concrete slab subjected to blast loading. The interaction between the blast wave and the concrete slab is considered in 3D simulation. In the first stage, the initial detonation and blast wave propagation is modelled in 2D simulation before the blast wave reaches the concrete slab, then the results obtained from 2D calculation are remapped to a 3D model. The calculated blast load is compared with that obtained from TM5-1300. Numerical results of the concrete slab response are compared with the explosive test carried out-in the Weapons System Division, Defence Science and Technology Organisation, Department of Defence, Australia.     

Numerical Calculation of Concrete Slab Response to Blast Loading

In the present paper, a dynamic plastic damage model for concrete has been employed to estimate responses of a reinforced concrete slab subjected to blast loading. The interaction between the blast wave and the concrete slab is considered in 3D simulation. In the first stage, the initial detonation and blast wave propagation is modelled in 2D simulation before the blast wave reaches the concrete slab, then the results obtained from 2D calculation are remapped to a 3D model. The calculated blast load is compared with that obtained from TM5-1300. Numerical results of the concrete slab response are compared with the explosive test carried out- in the Weapons System Division, Defence Science and Technology Organisation, Department of Defence, Australia.     

Numerical Simulation of Dynamic Response of an Existing Subway Station Subjected to Internal Blast Loading

In order to design and retrofit a subway station to resist an internal blast, the distribution of blast loading and its effects on structures should be investigated firstly. In this paper, the behav-ior of a typical subway station subjected to different internal blast loadings was analyzed. It briefly introduced the geometric characteristics and material constitutive model of an existing two-layer and three-span frame subway station. Then three cases of different explosive charges were consid-ered to analyze the dynamic responses of the structure. Finally, the maximum principal stress, dis-placement and velocity of the columns in the three cases were obtained and discussed. It con-cluded that the responses of the columns are sensitive to the charge of explosive and the distance from the detonation. It’s also found that the stairs between the two layers have significant effects on the distribution of the maximum principal stress of the columns in the upper layer. The explicit dynamic nonlinear finite element software——ANSYS/LS-DYNA was used in this study.     

Numerical Simulation of Dynamic Response of an Existing Subway Station Subjected to Internal Blast Loading

In order to design and retrofit a subway station to resist an internal blast,the distribution of blast loading and its effects on structures should be investigated firstly.In this paper,the behavior of a typical subway station subjected to different internal blast Ioadings was analyzed.It briefly introduced the geometric characteristics and material constitutive model of an existing two-layer and three-span frame subway station.Then three cases of different explosive charges were considered to analyze the dynamic responses of the structure.Finally,the maximum principal stress,displacement and velocity of the columns in the three cases were obtained and discussed.It concluded that the responses of the columns are sensitive to the charge of explosive and the distance from the detonation.It's also found that the stairs between the two layers have significant effects on the distribution of the maximum principal stress of the columns in the upper layer.The explicit dynamic nonlinear finite element software-ANSYS/LS-DYNA was used in this study.     

Numerical Simulation of Dynamic Response and Collapse for Steel Frame Structures Subjected to Blast Load

The progressive collapse of steel frame structures under the blast load was investigated using LS-DYNA.The multi-material Eulerian and Lagrangian coupling algorithm was adopted.A fluid-structure coupling finite element model was established which consists of Lagrange element for simulating steel frame structures and concrete ground,multiple ALE element for simulating air and TNT explosive material.Numerical simulations of the blast pressure wave propagation,structural dynamic responses and deformation,and progressive collapse of a five-story steel frame structure in the event of an explosion near above ground were performed.The numerical analysis showed that the Lagrangian and Eulerian coupling algorithm gave good simulations of the shock wave propagation in the mediums and blast load effects on the structure.The columns subjected to blast load may collapse by shear yielding rather than by flexural deformation.The columns and joints of steel beam to column in the front steel frame structure generated enormous plastic deformation subjected to intensive blast waves,and columns lost carrying capacity,subsequently leading to the collapse of the whole structure.The approach coupling influence between structural deformation and fluid load well simulated the progressive collapse process of structures,and provided an effective tool for analyzing the collapse mechanism of the steel frame structure under blast load.     

Numerical Simulation of Dynamic Response and Collapse for Steel Frame Structures Subjected to Blast Load

The progressive collapse of steel frame structures under the blast load was investigated using LS-DYNA. The multi-material Eulerian and Lagrangian coupling algorithm was adopted. A flu-id-structure coupling finite element model was established which consists of Lagrange element for simulating steel frame structures and concrete ground, multiple ALE element for simulating air and TNT explosive material. Numerical simulations of the blast pressure wave propagation, struc-tural dynamic responses and deformation, and progressive collapse of a five-story steel frame structure in the event of an explosion near above ground were performed. The numerical analysis showed that the Lagrangian and Eulerian coupling algorithm gave good simulations of the shock wave propagation in the mediums and blast load effects on the structure. The columns subjected to blast load may collapse by shear yielding rather than by flexural deformation. The columns and joints of steel beam to column in the front steel frame structure generated enormous plastic defor-mation subjected to intensive blast waves, and columns lost carrying capacity, subsequently lead-ing to the collapse of the whole structure. The approach coupling influence between struc-tural deformation and fluid load well simulated the progressive collapse process of structures, and provided an effective tool for analyzing the collapse mechanism of the steel frame structure under blast load.     

Numerical Modeling of Response and Damage of Masonry Walls to Blast Loading

To model the damage process of masonry walls under blast loading, a dynamic continuum damage material model is constructed for brick and mortar separately. The degradation of both the stiffness and strength are governed by a damage variable. By using the proposed material model, damage and fragmentation of a typical masonry wall under blast loading at different scaled distances is calculated. The hazard level of the masonry wall to blast loading is evaluated by analyzing the numerical results.     

Numerical Modeling of Response and Damage of Masonry Walls to Blast Loading

To model the damage process of masonry walls under blast loading, a dynamic continuum damage material model is constructed for brick and mortar separately. The degradation of both the stiffness and strength are governed by a damage variable. By using the proposed material model, damage and fragmentation of a typical masonry wall under blast loading at different scaled distances is calculated. The hazard level of the masonry wall to blast loading is evaluated by analyzing the numerical results.     

Numerical Simulation of the Flat Ribbon Wound Explosion Containment Vessels Subjected to Internal Blast Loading

In order to constitute engineering design methods of the flat ribbon wound explosion containment vessels, the dynamic response of such vessels subjected to internal explosion loading is simulated using LS-DYNA3D. Three winding angles, 10°, 15°and 20°, are considered. It is shown that among ribbon vessels investigated, the center displacement of outermost ribbons of the vessel with 10°winding angle is the smallest under the same blast loading. The response of vessels loaded in inner core is local. From the center of the cylindrical shell to the bottom cover, the maximum strain gradually decreases. The ribbons are subjected to tension in the length direction and compression in the width direction. Blasting shock energy concentrates on where is close to center section of blasting. For comparison, numerical simulation of a monobloc thick-walled explosion containment vessel is also investigated. It can be found that the biggest deformation of the flat ribbon wound explosion containment vessels is bigger than that of the monobloc thick-walled explosion containment vessel in the center section of blasting under the same TNT. Numerical results are approximately in agreement with experimental ones. It is proved that the ribbon vessels have the valuable properties of " leak before burst at worst" compared with the monobloc vessels through numerical simulation.     

Strength and Toughness of Steel Fibre Reinforced Reactive Powder Concrete Under Blast Loading

The blast resistance of structures used in buildings needs to be investigated due to the increased threat of a terrorist attack. The damage done by Composition B or Powergel to steel fibre reinforced reactive powder concrete (SFRPC) panels and ordinary reinforced concrete (RC) panels of equivalent static flexural strength is compared. A 0.5 kg charge was detonated at a distance of 0.1 m from the 1.3 m×1.0 m×0. 1 m (thick) panels, which were simply supported and spaning 1.3m. Dynamic displacement measurements, high-speed video recording and visual examination of the panels for spall and breach were undertaken. The SFRPC panels withstood the bare charge blast better than the reinforced ordinary concrete panels. Neither type of panel was breached using a 0.5 kg charge. The RC panel exhibited more spalling when Composition B was used. Under successive Composition B loading conditions, the RC panel was breached. In comparison the SFRPC panel was not breached. Exposure to fragmenting charge loading conditions confirmed these performance differences between the SFRPC panel and the reinforced ordinary concrete panel.     

Dynamic Analysis of Structural Columns Subjected to Impulsive Loading

For a building structure subjected to impulsive loading, particularly shock and impact loading , the response of the critical columns is crucial to the behaviour of the entire system during and after the blast loading phase. Therefore, an appropriate evaluation of the column response and damage under short-duration impulsive loading is important in a comprehensive assessment of the performance of a building system. This paper reports a dynamic analysis approach for the response of RC columns subjected to impulsive loading. Considering that the dynamic response of a column in a frame structure can also be affected by the floor movement which relates to the global vibration of the frame system, a generic column-mass model is used, in which a concentrated mass is attached to the column top to simulate the effect of a global vibration. To take into account the high shear effect under impulsive load, the model is formulated using Timoshenko beam theory, and three main nonlinear mechanisms are considered. Two typical scenarios, one under a direct air blast loading, and another under a blast-induced ground excitation, are analyzed and the primary response features are highlighted.     

Dynamic Analysis of Structural Columns Subjected to Impulsive Loading

For a building structure subjected to impulsive loading, particularly shock and impact loading, the response of the critical columns is crucial to the behaviour of the entire system during and after the blast loading phase. Therefore, an appropriate evaluation of the column response and damage under short-duration impulsive loading is important in a comprehensive assessment of the performance of a building system. This paper reports a dynamic analysis approach for the response of RC columns subjected to impulsive loading. Considering that the dynamic response of a column in a frame structure can also be affected by the floor movement which relates to the global vibration of the frame system, a generic column-mass model is used, in which a concentrated mass is attached to the column top to simulate the effect of a global vibration. To take into account the high shear effect under impulsive load, the model is formulated using Timoshenko beam theory, and three main nonlinear mechanisms are considered. Two typical scenarios, one under a direct air blast loading, and another under a blast-induced ground excitation, are analyzed and the primary response features are highlighted.     

Possible Collapse Mode for Slender Reinforced Concrete Plates Subjected to Blast Load

This paper discusses the collapse mode of thin reinforced concrete (RC) plates sub-jected to blast load. To extend the well known plastic-mode method to analyze, not only perfect-plastic plates , but also RC plates, it is needed to investigate the effect of material cracking on the collapse mode because the plate might have been cracked on both upper and lower surface before the plastic-mode fully develops, creating an unexpected type of collapse mode shape. A new fail-ure mode is proposed and verified by numerical analysis in this paper. The new mode is a result of the material cracking and has an un-negligible effect on the reaction mechanism of the RC plate to the blast load.     

Numerical Analysis of Structural Progressive Collapse to Blast Loads

After the progressive collapse of Ronan Point apartment in UK in 1968, intensive research effort had been spent on developing guidelines for design of new or strengthening the existing structures to prevent progressive collapse. However, only very few building design codes provide some rather general guidance, no detailed design requirement is given. Progressive collapse of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building in Oklahoma City and the World Trade Centre （WTC） sparked again tremendous research interest on progressive collapse of structures. Recently, US Department of Defence （DoD） and US General Service Administration （GSA） issued guidelines for structure progressive collapse analysis. These two guidelines are most commonly used, but their accuracy is not known. This paper presents numerical analysis of progressive collapse of an example frame structure to blast loads. The DoD and GSA procedures are also used to analyse the same example structure. Numerical results are compared and discussed. The accuracy and the applicability of the two design guidelines are evaluated.     

Numerical Analysis of Structural Progressive Collapse to Blast Loads

After the progressive collapse of Ronan Point apartment in UK in 1968, intensive research effort had been spent on developing guidelines for design of new or strengthening the existing structures to prevent progressive collapse. However, only very few building design codes provide some rather general guidance, no detailed design requirement is given. Progressive collapse of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building in Oklahoma City and the World Trade Centre (WTC) sparked again tremendous research interest on progressive collapse of structures. Recently, US Department of Defence (DoD) and US General Service Administration (GSA) issued guidelines for structure progressive collapse analysis. These two guidelines are most commonly used, but their accuracy is not known. This paper presents numerical analysis of progressive collapse of an example frame structure to blast loads. The DoD and GSA procedures are also used to analyse the same example structure. Numerical results are compared and discussed. The accuracy and the applicability of the two design guidelines are evaluated.     

Model Experiment on Integral Seismic Behavior of Reinforced Concrete Frame with Split Columns

Based on a series of previous studies, an experiment on the integral seismic behavior of a 1/3 scaled model of two-bay and three-story reinforced concrete frame with split columns at lower two stories is performed under cyclic loading. The original columns at lower two stories of the model frame are short columns and they are replaced by the split columns. The hysteresis curves between the horizontal cyclic load and the lateral displacement at the top of the model frame, indicate that under the cyclic loading, the model frame undergoes the process of cracking, yielding, and maxi-mum loading before being destroyed at the ultimate load. They also indicate that the model frame has better ductility, and the ratio of the ultimate displacement to the yielding displacement, reaches 6.0. The yielding process of the model frame shows that for the frame with split columns, plastic hinges are generated at the ends of beams and then the columns begin yielding while the frame still possesses the bearing and deformation capacity. The design idea of directly changing the short col-umn to long one in the reinforced concrete frame may be realized by replacing the short column with the split one.     

Evaluation of blast-resistant performance predicted by damaged plasticity model for concrete

In order to evaluate the capacity of reinforced concrete (RC) structures subjected to blast loadings,the damaged plasticity model for concrete was used in the analysis of the dynamic responses of blast-loaded RC structures,and all three failure modes were numerically simulated by the finite element software ABAQUS.Simulation results agree with the experimental observations.It is demonstrated that the damaged plasticity model for concrete in the finite element software ABAQUS can predict dynamic responses and typical flexure,flexure-shear and direct shear failure modes of the blast-loaded RC structures.     

Analysis on Dynamic Response of Hard-Soft-Hard Sandwich Panel Under Blast Loading

Surface contact explosion experiments have been performed for the study of dynamic response of the hard-soft-hard sandwich panel under blast loading. Experimental results have shown that there are four damage modes, including explosion cratering, scabbing of the backside, radial cracking induced failure and circumferential cracking induced failure. It also illustrates that the foam material sandwiched in the multi-layered media has an important effect on damage patterns. The phenomena encountered have been analyzed by the calculation with ALE method. Meanwhile, the optimal analysis of foam material thickness and position in the sandwich panel were performed in terms of experimental and numerical analysis. The proper thickness proportion of the soft layer is about 2.0% to the thickness of sandwich panel and the thickness of the upper hard layer and lower hard layer is in the ratio of ？ to 3 under the condition in this paper when the total thickness of soft layer remains constant.     

Analysis on Dynamic Response of Hard-Soft-Hard Sandwich Panel Under Blast Loading

Surface contact explosion experiments have been performed for the study of dynamic response of the hard-soft-hard sandwich panel under blast loading. Experimental results have shown that there are four damage modes, including explosion cratering, scabbing of the backside, radial cracking induced failure and circumferential cracking induced failure. It also illustrates that the foam material sandwiched in the multi-layered media has an important effect on damage patterns. The phenomena encountered have been analyzed by the calculation with ALE method. Meanwhile, the optimal analysis of foam material thickness and position in the sandwich panel were performed in terms of experimental and numerical analysis. The proper thickness proportion of the soft layer is about 20% to the thickness of sandwich panel and the thickness of the upper hard layer and lower hard layer is in the ratio of 7 to 3 under the condition in this paper when the total thickness of soft layer remains constant.