Response of SFRC Columns under Blast Loads
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 141, Issue 9
Abstract
Research has shown that the addition of steel fibers to concrete results in improved postcracking tensile capacity leading to enhanced toughness, ductility, and damage tolerance. These performance enhancements make steel fiber-reinforced concrete (SFRC) an ideal material for use in the blast-resistant design of structures. Research in the literature is conflicting on the performance of SFRC at high strain rates. There is also very limited research on the performance of SFRC structural components under blast loads. This paper presents the results of a research program investigating the blast performance of reinforced concrete and steel fiber-reinforced concrete columns. In the experimental program half-scale columns were constructed and exposed to different simulated blast pressure–impulse combinations using the state-of-the art shock-tube testing facility at the University of Ottawa. The test parameters included transverse reinforcement spacing (nonseismic and seismic detailing) as well as steel fiber content (0 to 1.5% by volume of concrete). The results show that SFRC improves the blast performance of columns in terms of maximum and residual displacements as well as damage tolerance and elimination of secondary blast fragments. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that the use of seismic detailing improves blast performance. Finally, the paper examines the suitability of using single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) analysis to predict the blast response of the SFRC columns tested in the research program.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Bekaert for providing the steel fibers and King Packaged Materials Company for providing the SCC materials used in this study.
References
Aoude, H. (2008). “Structural behaviour of steel fibre reinforced concrete members.” Ph.D. thesis, McGill Univ., Montreal.
Aoude, H., Cook, W. D., and Mitchell, D. (2009). “Behavior of columns constructed with fibers and self-consolidating concrete.” ACI Struct. J., 106(3), 349–357.
Banthia, N. (2008). “Enhancing impact and blast resistance of concrete with fiber reinforcement.” “Resilience of cities to terrorist and other threats.” NATO Science for Peace and Security Series C: Environmental Security, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Moscow, 171–187.
Banthia, N., Mindess, S., and Trottier, J.-F. (1996). “Impact resistance of steel fiber reinforced concrete.” ACI Mater. J., 93(5), 472–479.
Bao, X., and Li, B. (2010). “Residual strength of blast damaged reinforced concrete columns.” Int. J. Impact Eng., 37(3), 295–308.
Barros, J. A. O., and Figueiras, J. A. (1999). “Flexural behavior of SFRC: Testing and modeling.” J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 331–339.
Bindiganavile, V., Banthia, N., and Aarup, B. (2002). “Impact response of an ultra-high strength cement composite.” Proc., Annual Conf. of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering, Canadian Society for Civil Engineering, Montreal.
Canadian Standards Association (CSA). (2004). “Design of concrete structures.” CSA A23.3-04, Mississauga, ON, Canada.
Carriere, M., Heffernan, P. J., Wight, R. G., and Braimah, A. (2009). “Behaviour of steel reinforced polymer (SRP) strengthened RC members under blast load.” Can. J. Civ. Eng., 36(8), 1356–1365.
Crawford, J. E. (2013). “State of the art for enhancing the blast resistance of reinforced concrete columns with fiber-reinforced plastic.” Can. J. Civ. Eng., 40(11), 1023–1033.
Fujikura, S., and Bruneau, M. (2011). “Experimental investigation of seismically resistant bridge piers under blast loading.” J. Bridge Eng., 63–71.
Fujikura, S., Bruneau, M., and Lopez-Garcia, D. (2008). “Experimental investigation of multihazard resistant bridge piers having concrete filled steel tube under blast loading.” J. Bridge Eng., 586–594.
Gopalaratnam, V. S., and Shah, S. P. (1986). “Properties of steel fiber reinforced concrete subjected to impact loading.” ACI J., 83(1), 117–126.
Jacques, E. (2014). “RCBLAST version. 0.5.1.” 〈http://www.rcblast.ca/〉 (Apr. 10, 2014).
Jacques, E., Lloyd, A., and Saatcioglu, M. (2013). “Predicting reinforced concrete response to blast loads.” Can. J. Civ. Eng., 40(5), 427–444.
Légeron, F., and Paultre, P. (2003). “Uniaxial confinement model for normal and high strength concrete columns.” J. Struct. Eng., 241–252.
Li, B., Nair, A., and Kai, Q. (2012). “Residual axial capacity of reinforced concrete columns with simulated blast damage.” J. Perform. Constr. Facil., 287–299.
Li, V. C. (2002). “Large volume high-performance applications of fibers in civil engineering.” J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 83(3), 660–686.
Lloyd, A. (2010). “Columns under shock tube induced shock wave loading.” Master’s thesis, Univ. of Ottawa, Ottawa.
Lok, T. S., and Pei, J. S. (1998). “Flexural behavior of steel fiber reinforced concrete.” J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 86–97.
Lok, T. S., and Xiao, J. R. (1999). “Steel-fiber-reinforced concrete panels exposed to air blast loading.” Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng. Struct. Build., 134(4), 319–331.
Lok, T. S., and Zhao, P. J. (2004). “Impact response of steel fiber-reinforced concrete using a split Hopkinson pressure bar.” J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 54–59.
Magnusson, J., and Hallgren, H. (2010). “Air-blast-loaded, high-strength concrete beams. Part 1: Experimental investigation.” Mag. Concr. Res., 62(2), 127–136.
Malvar, L. J., and Ross, C. A. (1998). “Review of static and dynamic properties of concrete in tension.” ACI Mater. J., 95(6), 735–739.
Marson, J., and Bruneau, M. (2004). “Cyclic testing of concrete-filled circular steel bridge piers having encased fixed-based detail.” J. Bridge Eng., 14–23.
Morrill, K. B., Malvar, L. J., Crawford, J. E., Hegemier, G., and Seible, F. (2001). “Full-scale testing of reinforced concrete column retrofits to resist blast loads.” Proc., 10th Int. Symp. on Interaction of the Effects of Munitions with Structures, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, San Diego.
Naaman, A. E., and Gopalaratnam, V. S. (1983). “Impact properties of steel fiber reinforced concrete in bending.” Int. J. Cem. Compos. Lightweight Concr., 5(4), 225–233.
National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP). (2010). “Blast-resistant highway bridges: Design and detailing guidelines.”, Washington, DC.
Saatcioglu, M., Lloyd, A., and Jacques, E. (2011). Focused research for the development of a CSA standard on design and assessment of buildings subjected to blast loads, Hazard Mitigation and Disaster Management Research Centre Publication, Univ. of Ottawa, Ottawa.
Saatcioglu, M., Ozbakkaloglu, T., Naumoski, N., and Lloyd, A. (2009). “Response of earthquake-resistant reinforced-concrete buildings to blast loading.” Can. J. Civ. Eng., 36(8), 1378–1390.
U.S. Department of Defense. (2008). “Structures to resist the effects of accidental explosions.”, Washington, DC.
Wang, N., Mindess, S., and Ko, K. (1996). “Fiber reinforced concrete beams under impact loading.” Cem. Concr. Res., 26(3), 363–376.
Wang, Z. L., Liu, Y. S., and Shen, R. F. (2007). “Stress-strain relationship of steel fiber-reinforced concrete under dynamic compression.” Constr. Build. Mater., 22(5), 811–819.
Williamson, E., Bayrak, O., Davis, C., and Williams, D. (2011a). “Performance of bridge columns subjected to blast loads. I: Experimental program.” J. Bridge Eng., 693–702.
Williamson, E., Bayrak, O., Davis, C., and Williams, D. (2011b). “Performance of bridge columns subjected to blast loads. II: Results and recommendations.” J. Bridge Eng., 703–710.
Xu, H., Mindess, S., and Banthia, N. (2006). “The impact response of normal and very high strength FRC round panels.” RILEM Proc., PRO 49: Int. RILEM Workshop on High Performance Fiber Reinforced Cementitious Composites (HPFRCC) in Structural Applications, RILEM, France, 561–570.
Yalcin, C., and Saatcioglu, M. (2000). “Inelastic analysis of reinforced concrete columns.” Comput. Struct., 77(5), 539–555.
Zhang, L., and Mindess, S. (2011). “Dynamic compressive toughness of high strength fiber reinforced concrete.” ACI Special Publication 281, American Concrete Institute (ACI), Farmington Hills, MI, 7.1–7.21.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 4, 2013
Accepted: Sep 11, 2014
Published online: Oct 6, 2014
Discussion open until: Mar 6, 2015
Published in print: Sep 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.