International Concrete Abstracts Portal

Simulation of structural behavior of Reinforced Concrete (RC) subjected to shock loading is an important aspect of blast-resistant design of military and civilian structures. Depending on the application, different analytical approaches of varying complexities can be used to predict the nonlinear response of various concrete elements to blast loads. This paper reports the findings of a comprehensive study submitted for a Blast Blind Prediction Contest that involved various simulations of blast-loaded concrete slabs. The NSF in collaboration with ACI-447 and ACI-370 committees, Structure-Point and UMKC/ SCE sponsored the contest that included four categories requiring the use of Single Degree Of Freedom (SDOF) and physics-based (HYDROCODE) simulation techniques to predict the responses of one-way reinforced concrete slabs to two levels of blast loading. The study investigated the varying blast response characteristics associated with the use of two classes of concrete, Normal and High Strength and two classes of reinforcement, Normal and High Strength Vanadium. A testing program that encompasses all contest categories was completed at the Blast Loading Simulator (BLS) at the ERDC/ USACE, Vicksburg, MS to collect relevant shock loading and structural response data for various testing configurations. Various SDOF tools (i.e. P-I curves, UFC-3-340-02 charts, RCBlast, and RCProp/ SBEDS) and HYDROCODE constitutive models (LS-DYNA MAT-159, MAT-085, and MAT-072R3) were utilized to simulate various test setup information in order to predict maximum and residual responses and cracking patterns of tested RC slabs. Despite their major differences in modeling capabilities, analytical efforts, and inherent accuracy, all utilized simulation techniques were successful in predicting blast responses of investigated RC slabs with sufficient practical accuracy. Acknowledging their modeling limitations, SDOF simulations exhibited excellent capabilities in predicting overall behavior and maximum responses with a level of accuracy that is well suited for design applications. On the other hand, HYDROCODE simulations proved superior in their response and damage predictions owing to their modeling capabilities that allowed realistic end conditions, material nonlinearities, and strain-rate effects.

Six normal and high-strength reinforced concrete slabs were subjected to simulated blast loading using a Blast Loading Simulator at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineering Research and Design Center. A blind prediction contest was sponsored to evaluate the effectiveness of various modelling approaches to predict the blast response of the normal and high-strength concrete slabs. This paper describes a contest submission in the single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) category generated using software program RCBlast. RCBlast was developed to perform inelastic analysis of structural members subjected to blast-induced shock waves. The program uses a lumped inelasticity approach to generate resistance functions for SDOF analysis. Incorporated into the development of the resistance functions were: material models and dynamic increase factors (DIF) appropriate for normal and high-strength concrete and steel reinforcement; member modelling capable of describing the gradual formation and progression of plastic behavior, and; hysteric modelling to account degradation in stiffness and energy dissipation.

The structural response assessment of reinforced concrete slabs subjected to impulsive loads due to a detonation of an explosive is an essential task for the design of blast resistant concrete structures. Nonlinear dynamic finite element methods and analytical modeling provide a valuable tool for predicting the response and assessing the safety of a reinforced concrete component. The proposed Finite Element analysis and analytical modeling approaches were validated using a series of shock tube tests conducted on conventionally constructed and high strength reinforced concrete slabs by the University of Missouri Kansas City at the Engineering Research and Design Center, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Vicksburg, Mississippi. The aim of the paper is to present the modeling techniques adopted in both the Finite Element and analytical modeling approaches in order to conduct the structural response assessment of RC slabs subjected to impulsive loads due to detonations. The numerical modeling was conducted utilizing LS-Dyna® finite element software package. The analytical approach utilized a fiber analysis method coupled with a single degree of freedom time stepping method. The constitutive models, loading and boundary conditions utilized are discussed in detail.

Over recent years, numerical simulations have arisen as the most effective method to analyze structures under blast events. However, in order to achieve accurate numerical predictions, reliable constitutive models contrasted against experimental benchmarks are needed. In this work, the experimental tests on normal and high-strength concrete slabs conducted by the University Missouri-Kansas City on the shock tube at the Engineering Research and Design Center, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Vicksburg, Mississippi, are modeled by using a novel constitutive model for concrete presented recently by the authors. The model makes extensive use of Fracture Mechanics considerations through the Cohesive Crack Model developed by Hillerborg and co-workers. The numerical predictions obtained show good agreement with the experimental results, especially in the case of the high strength concrete slabs.

Numerical modelling is nowadays commonly employed in the analysis of concrete structures subjected to extreme dynamic loadings such as blast. Sophisticated material models, particularly concrete, are available in commercial codes and they are often applied in their default settings in a diverse range of modelling applications. However, the mechanisms governing different load response scenarios can be characteristically different and as such the actual demands on specific aspects of a material model differ. It is therefore not surprising that a well-calibrated material model may exhibit satisfactory performance in many applications but behave unfavourably in certain other cases. Modelling the response of reinforced concrete structures to blast load presents such an important scenario in which the demands on the concrete material model are considerably different from high-pressure scenarios for example high-velocity impact or penetration. This paper stems from an initial modelling undertaking in association with the Blind Blast Contest organised by the ACI Committee 370, and extends to a detailed scrutiny of the demands on the concrete material model in terms of preserving a realistic representation of the tension/shear behaviour and the implications in a reinforced concrete response environment. Targeted modifications are proposed which demonstrate satisfactory results in terms of rectifying the identified shortcomings and ensuring more robust simulation of reinforced concrete response to blast loading.