Title: Numerical Modeling of Concrete Slabs Reinforced with High Strength Low Alloy Vanadium Steel Bars Subjected to Blast Loads

Author(s): Ganesh Thiagarajan, Anirudha K. Vasudevan and Stephen Robert

Publication: Symposium Paper

Volume: 281

Issue:

Appears on pages(s): 1-16

Keywords: Blast loading, Concrete slab, High strength steel, Experimental data, Numerical simulation

DOI: 10.14359/51683624

Date: 12/27/2011

Abstract:
The numerical simulation of the response of reinforced concrete components and structures subjected to blast and impact loads are of vital interest to the design of such structures. Both researchers and designers have a wide variety of choices. Designers often focus on the usage of results from single degree of freedom analyses published in a number of design guides, such as the Unified Facilities Criteria. Researchers often tend to use finite element codes which vary from advanced hydrodynamic codes often used by Army researchers to commercially available codes such as ABAQUS® and LS-DYNA® amongst others. The primary objective of this research is to study the behavior of both high strength concrete and normal strength concrete reinforced with high strength low alloy vanadium (HSLA-V) reinforcement that meets or exceeds blast resistance criteria using conventional materials. The research presented in this paper focuses on the numerical simulation and comparison with experimental data from reinforced concrete slabs using HSLA-V steel. Two sets of experiments and the numerical simulations to compare with the experiments performed are described in this paper. The experimental work involved the fabrication and testing of two types of reinforced concrete panels namely High Strength Concrete with HSLA-V Steel Reinforcing bars (HSC-VR) and Normal Strength Concrete with HSLA-V Steel Reinforcing bars (NSC-VR). The panels were subjected to blast loadings using the Blast Loading Simulator (shock tube) at the U.S. Army Engineering Research and Development Center. Data recorded included pressures at various locations, mid-span displacements from accelerometers and laser devices, and observed damage patterns. The numerical modeling effort focused on using LS-DYNA and attempting the simulation using two commercially available material models. Results from the numerical simulation are compared with the experimental values in order to determine the accuracy of the models. The concrete material models considered were Winfrith Concrete Model and Concrete Damage Model Release 3. Both the models gave deflection values that compared well with the experimental results for normal strength concrete but gave stiffer predictions for high strength concrete.