Title: Reinforced Concrete Slabs Subjected to Blast or Localized Impact

Author(s): T. Krauthammer

Publication: Symposium Paper

Volume: 232

Issue:

Appears on pages(s): 109-126

Keywords: analysis; blast; concrete; impact; reinforced; shear; slabs;test

DOI: 10.14359/14939

Date: 10/1/2005

Abstract:
Reinforced concrete slabs exhibited interesting behavior under severedynamic loads associated with impact and explosions. During the 1980s, high explosivesimulation techniques (HEST) were used to study the behavior of shallow-buriedreinforced concrete boxes under the effects of nuclear explosions. Those tests showedthat, under specific conditions, the roofs could fail in a direct shear mode within aboutthe first millisecond of loading. Those incidents were studied also numerically, andgood behavioral models were developed to predict this phenomenon. The behavior ofstructural concrete slabs under localized impact was studied more recently bycombining numerical simulations and precision impact tests, as well as by addressingthe pressure-impulse characteristics for such structures. These studies enabled abetter understanding of structural concrete slabs behavior under severe dynamic loads,as presented and discussed in this paper.