Behavior of Reinforced Concrete Slabs against the Blast Wave

Most existing structures are vulnerable to the blast wave loads and therefore their resistance to such loads should be evaluated. In this study, the behavior of RC slabs under blast loading was investigated numerically. Numerical analysis can reduce the number of required expensive experimental blast tests. The variable parameters for study include: thickness, reinforcement ratio and spacing, support conditions, dimensions of slabs and location and amount of explosives. Numerical modeling was performed by the use of LS-DYNA software. It is capable of modeling the explosion and also has a wide range of material models.
The results showed that the slabs were completely destructed under near explosion mainly because of punching shear. Under medium distance explosion, no complete destruction was observed. The deflection and the extent of cracking depended on the thickness and reinforcement ratio and somewhat on reinforcement spacing. The slab thickness and support condition had also a significant impact on the behavior of slabs. Interestingly, the cracking level of RC slabs did not change significantly by increasing span length.