• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.17-29
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• 2019

The present study aims to present a comprehensive understanding of the performance of neighboring multi-story buildings with different dynamic characteristics under blast loads. Two different scenarios are simulated in terms of explosion locations with respect to both buildings. To investigate the effect of interaction between the neighboring buildings in terms of the induced responses, the separation gap is set to be sufficiently small to ensure collisions between stories. An adequately large separation gap is set between the buildings to explore responses without collisions under the applied blast loads. Several blast loads with different peak pressure intensities are employed to perform the dynamic analysis. The finite-element toolbox Computer Aided Learning of the Finite-Element Method (CALFEM) is used to develop a MATLAB code to perform the simulation analysis. The dynamic responses obtained in the scenarios considered herein are presented comparatively. It is found that the obtained stories' responses are governed mainly by the location and intensity of the applied blast loads, separation distances, and flexibility of the attacked structures. Moreover, explosions near a light and flexible building may lead to a significant decrease in blast resistance because explosions severely influence the dynamic responses of the building's stories.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.217-230
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• 2019

One of the most important design criteria in underground structure is to design lightweight protective layers to resist significant blast loads. Sandwich blast resistant panels are commonly used to protect underground structures. The front face of the sandwich panel is designed to resist the blast load and the core is designed to mitigate the blast energy from reaching the back panel. The design is to allow the sandwich panel to be repaired efficiently. Hence, the underground structure can be used under repeated blast loads. In this study, a novel sandwich panel, named RC panel - Helical springs- RC panel (RHR) sandwich panel, which consists of normal strength reinforced concrete (RC) panels at the front and the back and steel compression helical springs in the middle, is proposed. In this study, a detailed 3D nonlinear numerical analysis is proposed using the nonlinear finite element software, AUTODYN. The accuracy of the blast load and RHR Sandwich panel modelling are validated using available experimental results. The results show that the proposed finite element model can be used efficiently and effectively to simulate the nonlinear dynamic behaviour of the newly proposed RHR sandwich panels under different ranges of free air blast loads. Detailed parameter study is then conducted using the validated finite element model. The results show that the newly proposed RHR sandwich panel can be used as a reliable and effective lightweight protective layer for underground structures.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.503-510
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• 2020

Concrete dams are important structures due to retaining amount of water on their reservoir. So such kind of structures have to be designed against static and dynamic loads. Especially considering on critical importance against blasting threats and environmental safety, dams have to be examined according to the blast loads. This paper aims to investigate structural response of concrete gravity dams under blast loads. For the purpose Sarıyar Concrete Gravity Dam in Turkey is selected for numerical application with its 85 m of reservoir height (H), 255 m of reservoir length (3H), 72 m of bottom and 7 m of top widths. In the study, firstly 3D finite element model of the dam is constituted using ANSYS Workbench software considering dam-reservoir-foundation interaction and a hydrostatic analysis is performed without blast loads. Then, nearly 13 tons TNT explosive are considered 20 m away from downstream of the dam and this is modeled using ANSYS AUTODYN software. After that explicit analyses are performed through 40 milliseconds. Lastly peak pressures obtained from analyses are compared to empirical equations in the literature and UFC 3-340-02 standard which provide unified facilities criteria for structures to resist the effects of accidental explosions. Also analyses' results such as displacements, stresses and strains obtained from both hydrostatic and blasting analysis models are compared to each other. It is highlighted from the study that blasting analysis model has more effective than the only hydrostatic analysis model. So it is highlighted from the study that the design of dams should be included the blast loads.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.717-725
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• 2018

One of the most important design criteria in military tunnels and armoured doors is to resist the blast loads with minimum structural weight. This can be achieved by using steel sandwich panels. In this paper, the nonlinear behaviour of steel sandwich panels, with different core materials: (1) Hollow (no core material); (2) Rigid Polyurethane Foam (RPF); and (3) Vulcanized Rubber (VR) under free air blast loads, was investigated using detailed 3D nonlinear finite element models in Ansys Autodyn. The accuracy of the finite element model proposed was verified using available experimental test data of a similar steel sandwich panel tested. The results show the developed finite element model can be reliably used to simulate the nonlinear behaviour of the steel sandwich panels under free air blast loads. The verified finite element model was used to examine the different parameters of the steel sandwich panel with different core materials. The result shows that the sandwich panel with RPF core material is more efficient than the VR sandwich panel followed by the Hollow sandwich panels. The average maximum displacement of RPF sandwich panel under different ranges of TNT charge (1 kg to 10 kg at a standoff distance of 1 m) is 49% and 53% less than the VR and Hollow sandwich panels, respectively. Detailed empirical design equations were provided to quantify the maximum deformation of the steel sandwich panels with different core materials and core thickness under a different range of blast loads. The developed equations can be used as a guide for engineer to design steel sandwich panels with RPF and VR core material under a different range of free air blast loads.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.155-164
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• 2018

Design of structures subjected to blast loads are usually carried out through nonlinear inelastic dynamic analysis followed by imposing acceptance criteria specified in design codes. In addition to comprehensive aspects of inelastic dynamic analyses, particularly in analysis and design of structures subjected to transient loads, they inherently suffer from convergence and computational cost problems. In this research, a strategy is proposed for design of steel moment resisting frames under far range blast loads. This strategy is inspired from performance based seismic design concepts, which is here developed to blast design. For this purpose, an algorithm is presented to calculate the capacity modification factors of frame members in order to simplify design of these structures subjected to blast loading. The present method provides a simplified design procedure in which the linear dynamic analysis is preformed, instead of the time-consuming nonlinear dynamic analysis. Nonlinear and linear analyses are accomplished in order to establish this design procedure, and consequently the final design procedure is proposed as a strategy requiring only linear structural analysis, while acceptance criteria of nonlinear analysis is implicitly satisfied.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.83-90
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• 2018

Considering the increased threats from worldwide terrors and the increased demands on the blast resistant design of commercial buildings, this study is aimed at understanding the basic concept of blast resistant design and evaluating the blast performance with an actual design example. Although there are many differences between earthquake and blast loads, the design concept against both loads is similar in terms of allowing the plastic behavior of a structure and sharing the ductile detailing. Through the blast performance evaluation of a target building provided in this study, it is noted that a well-designed building for the conventional loads can have a certain level of blast resistance. However, this cannot be generalized since the blast load on a structure varies depending on the type of weapon, TNT equivalence, standoff distance, etc. Architectural planning with positioning the sacrificial structure or maintaining a sufficient standoff distance from the expected detonation is the simple and effective way of improving the blast resistance of a building.

• Journal of the Korean Professional Engineers Association
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.36-41
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• 2011

Design of blast resistant structures (protective structures) require the adequate design and construction practices as well as the knowledge of characteristics of the blast loads, behavior of structures and their components under these loads. This paper focuses on how to design and evaluate the structures for blast resistance, and provides principles and discussion on analysis and design capability in protective technology and recommendations.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.302-310
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• 2016

An underground ammunition facility requires less quantity distances than the aboveground counterpart. However, chamber blast doors which resist the high blast-pressures are necessary for prevention of the consecutive explosions when an accident explosion occurs at any chamber. This paper aims to propose an procedure for calculation of the design loads for the chamber blast doors. Modeling considerations are drawn through analyzing the influences of the geometrical shapes and mechanical properties of rocks on the propagation of pressure wave along with the tunnels. Additionally, the design loads for the chamber blast doors in a newly-built underground ammunition facility are calculated based on the proposed procedure.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.349-365
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• 2014

The dynamic response of structures under extremely short duration dynamic loads is of great concern nowadays. This paper investigates structures' response as well as the associated structural damage to explosive loads considering and ignoring the supporting soil flexibility effect. In the analysis, buildings are modeled by two alternate approaches namely, (1) building with fixed supports, (2) building with supports accounting for soil-flexibility. A lumped parameter model with spring-dashpot elements is incorporated at the base of the building model to simulate the horizontal and rotational movements of supporting soil. The soil flexibility for various shear wave velocities has been considered in the investigation. In addition, the influence of variation of lateral natural periods of building models on the obtained response and peak response time-histories besides damage indices has also been investigated under blast loads with different peak over static pressures. The Dynamic response is obtained by solving the governing equations of motion of the considered building model using a developed Matlab code based on the finite element toolbox CALFEM. The predicted results expressed in time-domain by the building model incorporating SSI effect are compared with the corresponding model results ignoring soil flexibility effect. The results show that the effect of surrounding soil medium leads to significant changes in the obtained dynamic response of the considered systems and hence cannot be simply ignored in damage assessment and response time-histories of structures where it increases response and amplifies damage of structures subjected to blast loads. Moreover, the numerical results provide an understanding of level of damage of structure through the computed damage indices.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.301-319
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• 2010

The paper seeks to explore some aspects of the current state of knowledge on progressive collapse in the technical literature covering blast loads and structural analysis procedure applicable to reinforced concrete (RC) buildings. The paper describes the progressive collapse analysis of a commercial RC building located in the city of Riyadh and subjected to different blast scenarios. A 3-D finite element model of the structure was created using LS-DYNA, which uses explicit time integration algorithms for solution. Blast loads were treated as dynamic pressure-time history curves applied to the exterior elements. The inherent shortcomings of notional member removal have been taken care of in the present paper by simulating the damage of structural elements through the use of solid elements with the provision of element erosion. Effects of erosion and cratering are studied for different scenarios of the blast.