Comparative Study of the Dynamic Response of Concrete Gravity Dams Subjected to Underwater and Air Explosions
Publication: Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 29, Issue 4
Abstract
The response of dam structures subjected to explosion shock loading is a key element in assessments for the dam antiknock safety and antiterrorism applications. The physical processes during an explosive detonated in underwater/air and the subsequent response of structures are extremely complex, involving many complex issues such as the explosion, shock wave propagation, shock wave–structure interaction, and structural response. In addition, there exists a significant contrast in wave propagation phenomena in the water and the air medium due to their different physical properties and interface phenomena. In this paper, a fully coupled numerical approach with combined Lagrangian and Eulerian methods is used to simulate the dynamic responses of a concrete gravity dam subjected to underwater and air explosions. The shock wave propagation characteristics from explosions in water and air are simulated and compared. The damage profiles of concrete gravity dams subjected to underwater and air explosions are discussed. The influence of the blast loading from explosions in water and air on the dynamic response and the damage of the dam is also investigated. The analysis results show that a submerged explosion causes significantly more damage to the dam in water than the same mass of explosive in air.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully appreciate the supports from the State Key Laboratory of Hydraulic Engineering Simulation and Safety (Tianjin University), the Foundation for Innovative Research Groups of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51021004), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51379141), and Tianjin Research Program of Application Foundation and Advanced Technology (No. 13JCYBJC19400).
References
ANSYS [Computer software]. (2010). AUTODYN user manual version 13, Century Dynamics.
Benson, D. J. (1992). “Computational methods in Lagrangian and Eulerian hydrocodes.” Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Eng., 99(2), 235–394.
Bjørnø, L., and Levin, P. (1976). “Underwater explosion research using small amount of chemical explosives.” Ultrasonics, 14(6), 263–267.
Clutter, J. K., and Stahlb, M. (2004). “Hydrocode simulations of air and water shocks for facility vulnerability assessments.” J. Hazard. Mater., 106(1), 9–24.
Cole, R. H. (1948). Underwater explosions, Dover Publications, New York.
De, A. (2012). “Numerical simulation of surface explosions over dry, cohesionless soil.” Comput. Geotech., 43, 72–79.
Falconer, J. (2007). The Dam Busters story, Sutton Publishing, Stroud, U.K.
Hao, H., and Tang, E. K. C. (2010). “Numerical simulation of a cable-stayed bridge response to blast loads, Part II: Damage prediction and FRP strengthening.” Eng. Struct., 32(10), 3193–3205.
Holmquist, T. J., Johnson, G. R., and Cook, W. H. (1993). “A computational constitutive model for concrete subjected to large strains, high strain rates, and high pressures.” Fourteenth Int. Symp. on Ballistics, ADPA, Canada.
Holmquist, T. J., and Johnson, G. R. (2002). “Response of silicon carbide to high velocity impact.” J. Appl. Phys., 91(9), 5858–5866.
Holmquist, T. J., and Johnson, G. R. (2005). “Characterization and evaluation of silicon carbide for high-velocity impact.” J. Appl. Phys., 97(9), 93502-1–93502-12.
Jayasooriya, R., Thambiratnam, D. P., Perera, N. J., and Kosse, V. (2011). “Blast and residual capacity analysis of reinforced concrete framed buildings.” Eng. Struct., 33(12): 3438–3492.
Jin, Q., and Ding, G. (2011). “A finite element analysis of ship sections subjected to underwater explosion.” Int. J. Impact Eng., 38(7), 558–566.
Johnson, G. R., and Holmquist, T. J. (1999). “Response of boron carbide subjected to large strains, high strain rates, and high pressures.” J. Appl. Phys., 85(12), 8060–8073.
Johnson, G. R., Holmquist, T. J., and Beissel, S. R. (2003). “Response of aluminum nitride (including a phase change) to large strains, high strain rates, and high pressures.” J. Appl. Phys., 94(3), 1639–1646.
Kinnery, G. F., and Graham, K. J. (1985). Explosive shocks in air, Springer, Berlin.
Kwak, H. Y., Kang, K. M., Ko, I., and Kang, J. H. (2012). “Fire-ball expansion and subsequent shock wave propagation from explosives detonation.” Int. J. Therm. Sci., 59, 9–16.
Li, J. C., Li, H. B., Ma, G. W., and Zhou, Y. X. (2013). “Assessment of underground tunnel stability to adjacent tunnel explosion.” Tunnelling Underground Space Technol., 35, 227–234.
Librescu, L., Oh, S. Y., and Hohe, J. (2006). “Dynamic response of anisotropic sandwich flat panels to underwater and in-air explosions.” Int. J. Solids Struct., 43(13), 3794–3816.
Linsbauer, H. N. (2009). “Damage potential of an upstream-side crack in a gravity dam subjected to an impact loading in the reservoir.” Proc., 2nd Int. Conf. on Long Term Behavior of Dams (LTBD09), Austria, 817–822.
Linsbauer, H. N. (2011). “Hazard potential of zones of weakness in gravity dams under impact loading conditions.” Front. Archit. Civ. Eng., 5(1), 90–97.
LS-DYNA. (2001). Livermore software technology corporation, LS-DYNA user’s manual, version 960, Livermore, CA, 1–2.
Lu, Y., and Wang, Z. (2006). “Characterization of structural effects from above-ground explosion using coupled numerical simulation.” Comput. Struct., 84(28), 1729–1742.
Lu, Y., Wang, Z., and Chong, K. (2005). “A comparative study of buried structure in soil subjected to blast load using 2D and 3D numerical simulations.” Soil Dyn. Earthquake Eng., 25(4), 275–288.
Ma, G. W., Huang, X., and Li, J. C. (2010). “Simplified damage assessment method for buried structures against external blast load.” J. Struct. Eng., 603–612.
Parisi, F., and Augenti, N. (2012). “Influence of seismic design criteria on blast resistance of RC framed buildings: A case study.” Eng. Struct., 44, 78–93.
Rajendran, R., and Lee, J. M. (2009). “Blast loaded plates.” Marine Struct., 22(2), 99–127.
Riedel, W. (2000). “Beton unter dynamischen Lasten: Meso-und makromechanische modelle und ihre parameter.” Doctoral thesis, Institut Kurzzeitdynamik, Ernst-Mach-Institut, der Bundeswehr Munchen, Freiburg, Germany (in German).
Riedel, W., Thoma, K., and Hiermaier, S. (1999). “Penetration of reinforced concrete by BETA-B-500 numerical analysis using a new macroscopic concrete model for hydrocodes.” Proc., 9th Int. Symp. on Interaction of the Effects of Munitions with Structures, Berlin-Strausberg, Germany, 315–322.
Spranghers, K., Vasilakos, I., Lecompte, D., Sol, H., and Vantomme, J. (2013). “Numerical simulation and experimental validation of the dynamic response of aluminum plates under free air explosions.” Int. J. Impact Eng., 54, 83–95.
Tang, E. K. C., and Hao, H. (2010). “Numerical simulation of a cable-stayed bridge response to blast loads, Part I: Model development and response calculations.” Eng. Struct., 32(10), 3180–3192.
Tian, L., and Li, Z. X. (2008). “Dynamic response analysis of a building structure subjected to ground shock from a tunnel explosion.” Int. J. Impact Eng., 35(10), 1164–1178.
Tu, Z., and Lu, Y. (2009). “Evaluation of typical concrete material models used in hydrocodes for high dynamic response simulations.” Int. J. Impact Eng., 36(1), 132–146.
Van der Veen, W. A. (2003). “Simulation of a compartmented airbag deployment using an explicit, coupled Euler/Lagrange method with adaptive Euler domains.” NAFEMS.
Wang, W., Zhang, D., Lu, F., Wang, S. C., and Tang, F. (2013). “Experimental study and numerical simulation of the damage mode of a square reinforced concrete slab under close-in explosion.” Eng. Fail. Anal., 27, 41–51.
Wang, Z., Lu, Y., Hao, H., and Chong, K. (2005). “A full coupled numerical analysis approach for buried structures subjected to subsurface blast.” Comput. Struct., 83(4–5), 339–356.
Yu, T. (2009). “Dynamical response simulation of concrete dam subjected to underwater contact explosion load.” Comput. Sci. Inf. Eng., 769–774.
Zakrisson, B., Wikman, B., and Häggblad, H. A. (2011). “Numerical simulations of blast loads and structural deformation from near-field explosions in air.” Int. J. Impact Eng., 38(7), 597–612.
Zhang, A., Zeng, L., Cheng, X., Wang, S., and Chen, Y. (2011a). “The evaluation method of total damage to ship in underwater explosion.” Appl. Ocean Res., 33(4), 240–251.
Zhang, A., Zhou, W., Wang, S., and Feng, L. (2011b). “Dynamic response of the noncontact underwater explosions on naval equipment.” Marine Struct., 24(4), 396–411.
Zhang, S., Wang, G., Wang, C., Pang, B., and Du, C. (2014). “Numerical simulation of failure modes of concrete gravity dams subjected to underwater explosion.” Eng. Fail. Anal., 36, 49–64.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 29 • Issue 4 • August 2015
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 22, 2013
Accepted: Jan 29, 2014
Published online: Jan 31, 2014
Discussion open until: Jan 19, 2015
Published in print: Aug 1, 2015
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.