Numerical analysis of a reinforced concrete beam under blast loading

Abstract

The types of Dynamic loads that might face an engineer during any design procedure vary. One of these loads is the explosion's pressure on buildings which is in other words the blast load. This research has examined the possibility of using a finite element method as a tool for predicting the dynamic response of blast loaded reinforced concrete beams. In this study, the advanced software, ABAQUS is used in order to model materials and consider the material nonlinearity, stiffness degradation and strain rate effects. Experimental results for several beams under explosion are chosen to be modeled and verified using ABAQUS. These experiments were carried out at the National University of Defense Technology in China. The results show that the material properties of concrete under impact loads (high strain rates) can be well defined in ABAQUS. Also the built in model CONWEP for blast load in ABAQUS can be used in the simulation process with an acceptable error.