Title: Simplified Modeling of Frame Elements Subjected to Blast Loads

Author(s): Serhan Guner

Publication: Structural Journal

Volume: 113

Issue: 2

Appears on pages(s): 363-372

Keywords: blast; fibers; finite elements; frame; modeling; nonlinear analysis; shear; strain rates; time-history analysis

DOI: 10.14359/51688064

Date: 3/1/2016

Abstract:
A finite element method was recently proposed for the nonlinear analysis of plane frames subjected to impact, blast, and seismic loads. In this paper, numerical modeling studies are undertaken for 18 previously tested specimens to verify the accuracy, reliability, and practicality of this method for blast load conditions. Analysis results (obtained from this method and two other methods from the literature) are compared to the experimental responses in terms of peak displacements, stiffnesses, residual displacements, and crack widths. The three main advantages of the proposed method are demonstrated: more accurate modeling of reinforced concrete behavior by using pre-implemented default material models, simpler modeling requirements, and shorter analysis times. The proposed method was found to simulate the experimental behavior of the specimens examined with a high degree of accuracy. The explicit three-parameter time integration algorithms implemented provide unconditional numerical stability and require significantly shorter analysis times than continuum finite element methods.