A review on the performance of reinforced concrete structures under blast loading

Abstract

An explosion on the elevated structures caused by terrorist activities or manmade events can induce significant deformations in the Civil Engineering structures. Therefore, it is necessary to review the response of the structural behavior such as reinforced concrete slab, reinforced concrete beams, and columns. On the basis of this objective, a detailed literature review is conducted to understand the scope for protecting such structures and the structural behavior under blast loading. Based on the detailed literature survey, the investigations about the behavior of conventional reinforced concrete columns and slab initiated in 2005 however, the behavior of reinforced concrete beam was focused since the year 2010. Also, the literature reveals that the investigations on structural elements using analytical techniques are limited in comparison to experiments and simulations. In addition to that, the response of the structural elements was predicted and the trend was calibrated and fitted logarithmically with the experimental results. The predicted spall diameter in the reinforced concrete slab is 0.95 m corresponding charge weight of 100 kg however the influence of spalling was found to be negligible after the 100 kg of charge weight. The predicted spall length in the reinforced concrete beam is 1.6 m corresponding charge weight of 100 kg and the effect may be negligible after 100 kg of charge weight. The predicted deflection in the reinforced concrete columns is 30 mm corresponding to a peak reflected impulse of 1000 MPa-ms, whereas the deflection was found to be negligible after the 1000 MPa-ms of peak reflected impulse.