• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.595-613
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• 2013

A new effective model for calculation of the equivalent uniform blast load for non-uniform blast load such as close-in explosion of a one-way square and rectangle reinforced concrete slab is proposed in this paper. The model is then validated using single degree of freedom (SDOF) system with the experiments and blast tests for square slabs and rectangle slabs. Test results showed that the model is accurate in predicting the damage level on the tested RC slabs under the given explosive charge weight and stand-off distance especially for close-in blast load. The results are also compared with those obtained by conventional SDOF analysis and finite element (FE) analysis using solid elements. It is shown that the new model is more accurate than the conventional SDOF analysis and is running faster than the FE analysis.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.125-130
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• 2010

Model blast experiments of mortar blocks were performed to investigate the effect of the guide hole on crack growth. The mortar block specimens have a blast charge hole and 8 guide holes. Two of circular guide hole, notched guide hole, diamond shaped guide hole and diamond shaped guide holder are installed around 110 mm, 165 mm and 220 mm apart from the charge hole for each specimen. From the blast experiments, it was revealed that all the guide hole used in this study were effective for controlling the crack growth at the fracture control.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.74 no.6
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• pp.771-787
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• 2020

The paper provides an inside look into experimental measurements, followed by numerical simulations and their related uncertainties. The goal of the paper is to present findings related to blast loading and the handling of defects that are inherent in experiments. Very often it might seem that experiments are simplified reflections of real-life conditions. In most cases this is true, but there is a good reason for that. The more complex an experiment is, the larger the amount of uncertainties that can be expected. This especially applies when the blast loading of concrete is the subject of research. When simulations fail to reproduce the results of experimental measurements, it does not necessarily mean there is something wrong with the numerical model. The problem could be missing information. Put differently, the numerical simulation may lack information that seemed irrelevant with regard to the experiment. In the presented case, a reference simulation with a proven material model unexpectedly failed to replicate the results of an experiment where concrete slabs were exposed to blast loading. This resulted in a search for possible unknowns. When all of the uncertainties were examined, the missing information turned out to be the orientation of the charge to the concrete slab. Since the experiment was burdened with error, a sensitivity study had to take place so the influence of this factor could be better understood. The findings point to the fact that even the smallest defect during experiments must somehow be taken into account when designing numerical simulations. Otherwise, the simulations are not correlated to the experiments, but merely to some expectations.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.8-15
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• 2016

The purpose of this study is to design a model with the structural stability so as not to lose the operational function due to structural plastic or fail of a sliding blast door by blast pressure to this aim, a numerical simulation was performed using full-size experiments and M&S (Modeling & Simulation) of the sliding blast door. The sliding blast door ($W3,000{\times}H2,500mm$) under the blast load is in the form of a sliding type 2-way metal grill, which was applied by a design blast pressure (reflected pressure $P_r$) of 17 bar. According to the experimental results of a real sliding blast door under blast load, the blast pressure reached the sliding blast door approximately 4.3 ms after the explosion and lasted about 4.0 ms thereafter. The maximum blast pressure($P_r$) was 347.7 psi (2,397.3 kPa), it is similar to the UFC 3-340-02 of Parameter(91 %). In addition, operation inspection that was conducted for the sliding blast door after real test showed a problem of losing the door opening function, which was because of the fail of the Reversal Bolt that was installed to prevent the shock due to rebound of the blast door from the blast pressure. According to the reproduction of the experiment through M&S by applying the blast pressure measurement value of the full-size experiments, the sliding blast door showed a similar result to the full-size experiment in that the reversal bolt part failed to lose the function. In addition, as the pressure is concentrated on the failed reversal bolt, the Principal Tensile Failure Stress was exceeded in only 1.25 ms after the explosion, and the reversal bolt completely failed after 5.4 ms. Based on the result of the failed reversal bolt through the full-size experiment and M&S, the shape and size of the bolts were changed to re-design the M&S and re-analyze the sliding blast door. According to the M&S re-analysis result when the reversal bolt was designed in a square of 25 mm ($625mm^2$), the maximum pressure that the reversal bolt receives showed 81% of the principal tensile failure stress of the material, in plastic stage before fail.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.725-738
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• 2024

This study presents a macro-modeling procedure for nonlinear finite element analysis of reinforced and prestressed concrete panels under blast loading. The analysis procedure treats cracked concrete as an orthotropic material based on a smeared rotating crack model within the context of total-load secant stiffness-based formulation. A direct time integration method compatible with the analysis formulation is adapted to solve the dynamic equation of motion. Considerations are made to account for strain rate effects. The analysis procedure is verified by modeling 14 blast tests from various sources reported in the literature including a blast simulation contest. The analysis results are compared against those obtained from experiments, simplified single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) methods, and sophisticated hydrocodes. It is demonstrated that the smeared crack macro-modeling approach is a viable alternative analysis procedure that gives more information about the structural behavior than SDOF methods, but does not require detailed micro-modeling and extensive material characterization typically needed with hydrocodes.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.751-754
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• 2001

A possibility of using waste plastics as a source of secondary fuel in blast furnace has been of recent interest. The success of this process, however, will be critically dependent upon the optimization of operating systems. for instance, the supply of waste plastics must be reliable as well as economically attractive compared with conventional secondary fuels such as heavy oil, natural gas and pulverized coal. In this work, we put special importance on the improvement of the combustibility of waste plastics as a way to enhance energy efficiency in blast furnace. As experimental variables to approach this target, the effects of plastic particle size, blast temperature, and the level of oxygen enrichment were investigated using a custom-made blast model designed to simulate a real furnace. Lastly, the combustion efficiency of the mixture of waste plastics and pulverized coal was tested. The observations made from these experiments led us to the conclusion that with the increase of both blast temperature and the level of oxygen enrichment, and with the decrease of particle size, the combustibility of waste PE could be improved at a given distance from tuyere. Also it was found that the efficiency of coal combustion decreased with the addition of plastics; however, the combustion efficiency of mixture could be comparable at longer distance from tuyere.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.6-13
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• 2013

Recently, complaints or environmental problems caused by the noise and dust generated from crusher of the mine and quarry are emerging. Therefore mining facilities such as crushers and mills have been installed in an underground. In order to facilitate crusher equipments in the underground, excavation of large space is required and then the stability of the large space underground structure is an important issue. In this study, the blast experiments, which use a block of the limestone, are performed. Based on the blast experiments, the numerical model was prepared and simulated using dynamic fracture process analysis code(DFPA) with considering the rising time of applied borehole pressure and microscopic tensile strength variation. Comparing the non-dimensional crack length and no-dimensional tensile strength obtained from blast experiments and numerical analyses, the input parameters of DFPA code for predicting a radial tensile crack in limestone blasting were determined.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.533-546
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• 2020

The prediction of spall response of reinforced concrete members like columns and slabs have been attempted by earlier researchers with analytical solutions, as well as with empirical models developed from data generated from physical or numerical experiments, with different degrees of success. In this article, compared to the empirical models, more versatile and accurate models are developed based on model-free approach of artificial neural network (ANN). Synthetic data extracted from the results of numerical experiments from literature have been utilized for the purpose of training and testing of the ANN models. For two concrete members, namely, slabs and columns, different sets of ANN models were developed, each of which proved to have definite advantages over the corresponding empirical model reported in literature. In case of slabs, for all three categories of spall, the ANN model results were superior to the empirical models as evaluated by the various performance metrics, such as correlation, root mean square error, mean absolute error, maximum overestimation and maximum underestimation. The ANN models for each category of column spall could handle three variables together: namely, depth, spacing of longitudinal and transverse reinforcement, as contrasted to the empirical models that handled one variable at a time, and at the same time yielded comparable performance. The application of the ANN models for spall prediction of concrete slabs and columns developed in this study has been discussed along with their limitations.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.315-338
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• 2019

The numerical investigations have been carried out on reinforced concrete slab against blast loading to demonstrate the accuracy and effectiveness of the finite element based numerical models using commercial package ABAQUS. The response of reinforced concrete slab have been studied against the influence of weight of TNT, standoff distance, boundary conditions, influence of air blast and surface blast. The results thus obtained from simulations were compared with the experiments available in literature. The inelastic behavior of concrete and steel reinforcement bar has been incorporated through concrete damage plasticity model and Johnson-cook models available in ABAQUS were presented. The predicted results through numerical simulations of the present study were found in close agreement with the experimental results. The damage mechanism and stress response of target were assessed based on the intensity of deformations, impulse velocity, von-Mises stresses and damage index in concrete. The results indicate that the standoff distance has great influence on the survivability of RC slab against blast loading. It is concluded that the velocity of impulse wave was found to be decreased from 17 to 11 m/s when the mass of TNT is reduced from 12 to 6 kg. It is observed that the maximum stress in the concrete was found to be in the range of 15 to $20N/mm^2$ and is almost constant for given charge weight. The slab with two short edge discontinuous end condition was found better and it may be utilised in designing important structures. Also it is observed that the deflection in slab by air blast was found decreased by 60% as compared to surface blast.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.66-72
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• 2011

This is the fourth of a series of companion papers dealing with the mechanical property reductions of various marine structural steels. Even though a reduction of the elastic modulus according to temperature increases has not been obtained from experiments, high temperature experiments from room temperature to $900^{\circ}C$ revealed that initial the yield strength and tensile strength are both seriously degraded. The mechanical properties obtained from high temperature experiments are compared with those from EC3 (Eurocode 3). It is found that the high temperature test results generally comply with the prediction values by EC3. Based on the prediction of EC3, time domain nonlinear finite element analyses were carried out for a blast wall installed on a real FPSO. After applying the reduced mechanical properties, corresponding to $600^{\circ}C$ to the FE model of the blast wall, more than three times the deflections were observed and it was observed that most structural parts experience plastic deformations exceeding the reduced yield strength at the high temperature. It is noted that a protection facility such as PFP (passive fire protection) should be required for structures likely to be directly exposed to fire and explosion accident.