PSH14 Proceeding

6th International Conference on
PROTECTION OF STRUCTURES AGAINST HAZARDS
16-17 October 2014, Tianjin, China
Hosted by:
Tianjin University and Curtin University Joint Research Center
on Structural Monitoring and Protection
Tianjin University, Tianjin, China
Tianjin Chengjian University, China
Curtin University, Perth, Australia
Support Organisations:
National Natural Science Foundation of China
International Association of Protective Structures
Centre for Hazards Research, National University of Singapore
ISBN: 978-981-09-0084-7
2014
Organised & Managed by:

CI-Premier Conference Organisation, Singapore
Editors
Prof Z.X. Li
Prof H. Hao
A/Prof T.S. Lok
Dr C.Q. Wu
Hosted by:






i
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Cover picture taken from paper by N. Ishikawa et al submitted to this
6th Intl Conference on Protection of Structures against Hazards, 2014
ISBN: 978-981-09-0082-3
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ii
FOREWORD
This sixth International Conference on Protection of Structures against Hazards returns to
China after a successful forum in Singapore in 2012. The International Advisory Committee
felt, after careful deliberation, that the volume of top-tier research conducted in China
warrants a return to the Middle Kingdom. Eminent members of the Committee have also
taken into account the successful collaboration between Tianjin University and Curtin
University Australia at the Joint Research Centre of Protective Structures. This is a significant
recognition by the group of the increasing volatility as disasters and incidents made
headlines around the World. The Joint Research Centre addresses issues that are relevant in
todays porous globe. Thus, the need for high-level research is more important now than
ever compared to the last twenty years, and it is appropriate that this International
Conference is held in Tianjin, China.
Catastrophic consequences could occur very suddenly due to inadequate provisions or lack
of understanding of the performance of materials/structures subjected to loading that may
not be well understood. To date, extensive research, testing and advanced computational
modelling have provided us with better ideas on the performance of
structures/components. This Conference provides a platform for individuals from a diverse
background to exchange ideas and to interact productively over two days of intensive
debate on complex issues.
The Conference addresses topics related to the protection of buildings, components and
occupants subjected to hazardous effects. Solutions are presented and these address many
issues encountered by expert engineering providers. It is hoped that this platform would
enable contributors to better safeguard infrastructure and people from hazardous effects.
We wish to express our deep appreciation to members of the International Advisory
Committee and to the Local Organising Committee for their unstinting support of the
Conference. We are also grateful to the sponsors for their much-needed funds, and to the
Secretariat for their personal sacrifice and working diligently to bring this Conference to
participants from all over the world. We are immensely appreciative of the support of
authors and friends of this continuous series of successful Conferences.
Prof Z.X. Li
Tianjin University and Curtin University Joint Research Center of

Structural Monitoring and Protection.
Prof H. Hao
Tianjin University and Curtin University Joint Research Center of

Structural Monitoring and Protection.
A/Prof T.S. Lok
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Dr C.Q. Wu
University of Adelaide, Australia.
October 2014
iii

Conference International Advisory Committee
Prof. Alex Remennikov, University of Wollongong, Australia

Dr Andrew Tyas, Sheffield University, United Kingdom
Prof. Andrew Whittaker, State University of New York at Buffalo, USA
Prof. Brian Uy, University of New South Wales, Australia
Prof. Chan Ghee Koh, National University of Singapore, Singapore
Dr Chengqing Wu, University of Adelaide, Australia
Prof. Daniel Ambrosini, National University of Cuyo, Argentina
Prof. David Yankelevsky, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology lsrael
Prof. David Thambiratnam, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
Prof. Gabi Ben-Dor, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
Prof. Ghani Razaqpur, McMaster University, Canada, Canada
Prof. Guoqiang Li, Tongji University, China
Prof. Guowei Ma, The University of Western Australia, Australia
Prof. Guoxing Lu, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Prof. Hani Salim, University of Missouri, USA
Prof. Ioan Nistor, University of Ottawa, Canada
Prof. James Davidson, Auburn University, USA
Prof. Jan Holnicki-Szulc, Inst. of Fundamental Technological Research, Poland
Prof. Jian Wen Liang, Tianjin University, China
Mr John Crawford, Karagozian & Case, USA
Prof. Leopold Kruszka, Gen Jaroslaw Dabrowski Military University of Technology, Poland
Prof. Mark Stewart, The University of Newcastle, Australia
Prof. Masuhiro Beppu, National Defense Academy, Japan
Assoc Prof. Nawawi Chouw, The University of Auckland, New Zealand
Prof. Emeritus Nobutaka Ishikawa, National Defense Academy, Japan
Prof. Norbert Gebbeken, Universitaet der Bundeswehr Muenchen, Germany
Prof. Petr Prochazka, Czech Technical University, Czech Republic
Prof. Priyan Mendis, University of Melbourne, Australia
Prof. Qihu Qian, Chinese Academy of Engineering, China
Prof. Qin Fang, PLA University of Technology, China
Prof. Qingming Li, University of Manchester, United Kingdom
Prof. Ser Tong Quek, National University of Singapore, Singapore
Prof. Xiaowei Chen, Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics, China
Prof. Xiuli Du, Beijing University of Technology, China
Prof. Yan Xiao, Hunan University, China
Prof. Yang Ding, Tianjin University, China
Prof. Yong Lu, The University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Prof. Yong Yuan,Tongji University, China
Prof. Yoshimi Sonoda, Kyushu University, Japan
Prof. Zhiye Zhao, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Conference Committee
Conference PSH14 Chairmen:
Prof Zhong-Xian Li and Prof Hong Hao

Tianjin University and Curtin University Joint Research Center on Structural Monitoring and Protection
PSH Series Advisor: Dr T S Lok, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
PSH Series Member: Prof Linhai Han, Tsinghua University, China
Conference Director: Er John S Y Tan, CI-Premier Conference Organisation, Singapore
Secretariat: Ms Peggy Teo, CONLOG Singapore
Members: Mr Chirag Baxi, India; Ms Amanda Quek, Singapore; Dr Yu Yue, China; Prof Liu Ge, China
iv

1617 October 2014, Tianjin, China
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword
Table of Contents
Iii
Iv
v
Keynote Papers
Low-damage seismic design with structural movability
Nawawi Chouw*
The perils of adding resilience to the infrastructure

John E. Crawford*, Shengrui Lan and Timothy Brewer
11
Protective glazing a challenge to numerical simulation

Norbert Gebbeken and Tim Bermbach
25
On-line impact load identification for adaptive impact absorption

Jan Holnicki-Szulc*, Krzysztof Sekua and Cezary Graczykowski
35
Protective steel structures against wooden debris hazards

Nobutaka Ishikawa*, Hajime Shibuya, Satoshi Katsuki and Takahisa Mizuyama
45
Efficient progressive collapse analysis of buildings: concept and numerical study

C. G. Koh*, C. G. Tay and R. J. Y. Liew
59
Development of the Canadian standard for design of buildings under blast loads
{abstract only}
A. G. Razaqpur and Simon Foo
71
Climate change hazards, risk, and climate adaptation engineering

Mark G. Stewart
73
Special Session
- Underground structures against hazard: modeling and experiment
Shaking table test on upgrading seismic performance of tunnel with steel fiber
Zhiyi Chen*, Yueyang Li and Jianshu Wei
89
The validation and study of lateral stiffness reduction factors of shield tunnel segment joint
Hengyang Hu*, Yong Yuan and Haitao Yu
99
Quasi-static compressive mechanical behavior of EPS-cement composite for impact resistance

Chen Li, Hongbo Zhu* and Meizhu Yan
105
Influence of rotational restraints on fire behaviour of rc elements

Limin Lu*, Yong Yuan and Luc Taerwe
115
3D seismic response analysis of large-span subway station in soft soil area

Feiqi Ou*, Haitao Yu and Yong Yuan
123
Scale fire design for a reduced scale structural fire-resistance experiment

Jun-Nan Qiu*, Yong Yuan, Kirsten Dekoning and Zhao-Ming Liu
131
Special Session
- Underground structures against hazard: modeling and experiment
Thermo-mechanical damage constitutive model and spalling of scc exposed to high
temperatures
Jin Tao*, Yong Yuan and Luc Taerwe
141
Flexural behavior of immersion joint under quasi-static loading

Wenhao Xiao*, Yong Yuan and Haitao Yu
149
Large-scale shaking table test study on seismic characteristics of gradient-changing slope

Xiao Yan*, Juyun Yuan, Haitao Yu and Yong Yuan
157
Key points on new "standard for structural fire-resistance design of underground public
building"
Yong Yuan, Jun-Nan Qiu* and Yan-Xuan Cui
165
Fire scenario research of performance-based fire design for underground structure

Yong Yuan, Yan-Xuan Cui*, Jun-Nan Qiu and Yao Liu
173
Special Session
- High-speed impact and energy absorption
Multiobjective crashworthiness optimization for functionally graded foam-filled tubes
under oblique loads
Guangyao Li*, Zheshuo Zhang, Guangyong Sun, Fengxiang Xu and Xiaodong Huang
177
A smeared constitutive model for reinforced concrete and its application in seismic analysis
Pian Chao*, Zhihua Wang, Yiding Zhang and Guoyun Lu
185
Dynamic behaviour of auxetic metamaterials

Jianhu Shen*, Shiwei Zhou, Xiaodong Huang, Xin Ren, Dong Ruan and Yimin Xie
191
Compressive characterization of magnesium matrix composites reinforced with sic particles

over wide range of strain rates
Jing Xiao*, Dong Wei Shu and I. R. Ahmad
201
Experimental study on dynamic bond behavior of CFRP-to-steel

Jin Yang, Jingsi Huo*, Yuan Lu and Yan Xiao
207
Special Session
- Holistic consideration of structural performance in strong earthquakes
Seismic response analysis of cable-sliding modular expansion joints' effect in limiting
relative displacement subjected to near-fault ground motion
Kang Gao*, Xinzhe Yuan, Jingyu Wang and Wancheng Yuan
213
Experimental investigation of the interacting force at the primary-secondary structure

interface
Ellys Lim* and Nawawi Chouw
221
Security analysis of nuclear containment subjected to large-scale commercial aircraft crash

Feng Lin*, Hai Tang and Xianglin Gu
229
Effect of fibre length on the dynamic properties of coconut fibre reinforced concrete
composite
Wenjie Wang* and Nawawi Chouw
237
vi
Special Session
- SHM techniques for protection of structures against hazard
A fast structural damage identification method based on virtual distortion method
-frequency domain
Qingxia Zhang*, ukasz Jankowski and Zhongdong Duan
245
Special Session
- Structural protection against fire hazards
Fire-resistance design strategies for large-volume space with steel spatial structure
exposed to localized fires
Yong Du*
251
Progressive collapse mechanisms of steel frames under various fire scenarios

Jian Jiang*, Guo-Qiang Li and Asif Usmani
259
Strut model for buckling analysis of web-posts in steel beams with circular web openings
in a fire
Peijun Wang*, Xudong Wang and Mei Liu
267
Technical Papers
Protection and strengthening of environmentally deteriorated concrete bridges
Riyad Aboutaha* and Ossama Salem
279
Numerical evaluation of the performance of one-way axially loaded masonry walls

under blast loads
Sayed A. Alhayawei, Mohamed A. N. Abdel-Mooty* and Mohamed E. Issa
287
Theoretical study of foam insulated concrete sandwich panel behaviour for extreme load
events
Fengtao Bai and James Davidson
297
Full 3D numerical analysis of a mountain tunnel under seismic loadings

Juntao Chen*, Haitao Yu and Yong Yuan
307
A study on blast resistance of architectural glass curtain wall

Xing Chen*, Suwen Chen and Guoqiang Li
313
Effect of charge shape on damage from potential explosive attacks

J. Keith Clutter and Michael W. Stahl
323
Experimental evaluation of the performance of rc frames in resisting progressive collapse

Waleed El Sayed, Mohamed A. N. Abdel-Mooty* and Mohamed E. Issa
337
Multihazards assessment and mitigation: Reliability vs. Risk

Mohammed M. Ettouney* and Sreenivas Alampalli
349
Laboratory tests of dynamic material properties of EPS13 AND EPS28

Hong Hao, Dylan Hughes, Yanchao Shi, Jian Cui, Wensu Chen and Zhong-Xian Li
359
Numerical investigation of inertia effect on concrete material properties in dynamic

splitting tensile tests
Yifei Hao*, Hong Hao and Gang Chen
369
Experimental study on dynamic behavior of reinforced concrete plane frame under small
impact load
Qing-Feng He*, Yi-Ren Liu and Wei-Jian Yi
379
vii
Technical Papers
On the effectiveness of ventilation in high explosive storage chambers to mitigate blasting
effect
Francisco Hernandez*, Hong Hao and Madhat Abdel-jawad
387
Permeability effect of steel frame dam on debris flow impact load

Toshiyuki Horiguchi* and Satoshi Katsuki
397
Numerical analysis on dynamic performance of tubular k-joint under impact loads

Yufen Hua, Hui Qu*, Jingsi Huo and Ran Feng
405
Experimental study on exterior precast concrete frames under column removal scenarios
Shaobo Kang* and Kang Hai Tan
411
Quasi-static compressive mechanical behavior of EPS-cement composite for impact resistance

421
Validation of flacs regarding the calculation of vapour cloud explosion overpressures on

congested regions
Jingde Li*, Guowei Ma and Madhat Abdel-jawad
431
Numerical analysis of uniaxial compression and four-point bending tests of ultra-high

performance concrete
Jun Li, Chengqing Wu*, Hong Hao and Yu Su
439
Catenary action analysis of simply supported steel beams for bi-linear hardening material
Liu-Lian Li*, Guo-Qiang Li and Yong Lu
447
Experimental study on the confined masonry wall subjected to inside gas explosion
Zhan Li*, Yadong Zhang, Qin Fang, Li Chen and Shigang Yang
455
The study of impact loads on derailed train impacting adjacent structures

Yanhui Liu*, Chang Yang and Shichun Zhao
465
Explanation for different failure modes of single-layer reticulated domes subject to interior
blast loading
Jialu Ma, Xudong Zhi, Chengqing Wu and Feng Fan
473
An experimental study to assess the use of cylindrical bars as blast barriers

Jean-Eudes Niollet*, Steeve Chung Kim Yuen, Gerald N. Nurick and Gregory Girault
479
3D seismic response analysis of large-span subway station in soft soil area

Feiqi Ou*, Haitao Yu and Yong Yuan
489
Cost-benefit and reliability analysis of climate change effects on concrete structures in China
Lizhengli Peng* and Mark G. Stewart
495
Numerical simulation of progressive collapse of light steel frame structure under fire and blast
Baoxin Qi*, Shi Yan, Xuelei Jiang and Wenxin Zhang
505
Testing apparatus for the spatial and temporal pressure measurements from near-field free
air explosions
S. E. Rigby*, A. Tyas, S. D. Clarke, S. D. Fay, J. A. Warren, I. Elgy and M. Gant
515
Validation of semi-empirical blast pressure predictions for far field explosions is there
inherent variability in blast wave parameters?
S. E. Rigby*, A. Tyas, S. D. Fay, S. D. Clarke and J. A. Warren
523
viii
Technical Papers
The recent studies of energy absorption under dynamic loading
Changjian Shen and Guoxing Lu*
533
Damage analysis of reinforced concrete slabs under close-in explosions

Yanchao Shi*, Zhenhui Liu and Zhong-Xian Li
543
Numerical prediction of blast wave effect due to the description of the explosive loading
Piotr W. Sielicki
551
Experimental study of local damage resistant performance of fiber reinforced cementitious

composite plates subjected to high velocity impact
Hironori Ueno*, Masuhiro Beppu and Atsuhisa Ogawa
557
Response of CFRP reinforced concrete masonry unit wall against small stand-off distance
mail bomb
Jun Wan* and Chengqing Wu
565
Behavioral analysis of square concrete filled steel tube under blast load
Hongwei Wang*, Peng Li, Zhibin Li and Yasheng Wang
573
A study of suspension bridge subjected to blast loads

Jingyu Wang , Kang Gao*, Fengming Wang and Wancheng Yuan
581
Performance of water tank under static and dynamic pressure loads

Yonghui Wang*, J. Y. Richard Liew and Siew Chin Lee
589
Depth of penetration and structural destruction analyses of mass abrasive projectile

high-speed penetrating into concrete target
H. Wu*, X. W. Chen, Q. Fang, L. L. He
599
Projectile penetration of ultra-high performance cement based composites at 1150M/S to

1320M/S
H. Wu*, Q. Fang, X. W. Chen, J. Z. Liu and Z. M. Gong
605
Experimental study on the response of ultra-high performance reinforced concrete

columns under blast loading
615
Juechun Xu, Chengqing Wu*, Hengnbo Xiang, Yu Su, Zhong-xian Li, Qin Fang, Hong Hao,
Zhongxian Liu, Yadong Zhang and Jun Li
Analysis on dynamic responses and failure modes of liquid-filled pipeline structures under
blast loading
Shi Yan*, Xuelei Jiang, Baoxin Qi and Wenxin Zhang
623
Robustness of bolted-angle connections against progressive collapse

Bo Yang* and Kang Hai Tan
631
Analysis on energy dissipation of recycled aggregate concrete under dynamic compression

loading
Shuisheng Yu, Yubin Lu and Yong Cai
641
Nonlinear fitting research of bridge probabilistic demand model parameters

Xinzhe Yuan*, Yutao Pang, Guoyu Shen and Wancheng Yuan
649
A comparison of different blast methods used in dynamic response analysis for single-layer
reticulated shell subjected to blast loading
Ximei Zhai* and Zhenyu Sun
655
ix
Technical Papers
Field test on monolithic tempered glass window response under explosive loads
Xihong Zhang*, Hong Hao and Zhongqi Wang
665
Shear properties of organic anchorage adhesive for post-installed rebar post-elevated

temperatures
Yu Zhang*, Guo-Biao Lou, Ke-Peng Chen and Guo-Qiang Li
673
Numerical analyses on crack and damage modes of rc structural components to external loads
with XFEM
Yuefei Zhang, Qin Fang and Li Chen*
683
Safety assessment of underground facilities in rock mass subjected to shock load

Hongyuan Zhou, Zhiye Zhao* and Xiaojuan Wang
695
Index of Authors
xi
Contents of previous conferences
xv
PSH 14
Keynote Papers
th
6 International Conference on
Protection of Structures against Hazards
LOW-DAMAGE SEISMIC DESIGN WITH STRUCTURAL MOVABILITY

Nawawi Chouw*
The University of Auckland
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Private Bag 92019,
Auckland 1142, New Zealand
e-mail: <n.chouw@auckland.ac.nz> webpage: http://www.uaceer.auckland.ac.nz/
uoa/home/ceer/uaceer-our-people/uaceer-director
Keywords: low-damage design, uplift, slip-friction connectors, soil-structure interaction
Abstract. In conventional seismic design, structures are assumed to be fixed at

the base. To have an economically feasible structure and at the same time to
reduce the impact of earthquake loading, minor damage is tolerated. In a multistorey building the tolerated minor damage is in the form of controlled plastic
hinge development at predefined locations, e.g. ends of the beams, so building
collapse can be avoided and the safety of the occupants is ensured. Observations
of damage to structures following major earthquakes indicate that partial and
temporary uplift of structures has proven beneficial in some cases. This
contribution presents recent developments in low-damage seismic design based
on facilitation of rigid body movements of structural elements. The results confirm
that the impact of earthquakes can indeed be reduced significantly.
Consequently, low damage to structures can be realized through application of
these engineering principles.
1
INTRODUCTION
Although almost all conventional structures are supported by subsoil, the influence of soil is
normally ignored due to the intrinsic difficulty in incorporating the soil effects in the design analysis.
However, for simplicity the structure is usually assumed to be fixed at the base. To ensure safety of
the occupants, and to provide an economically feasible structure, controlled minor damage to the
structure is tolerated. In the case of buildings, development of plastic hinges in the beams at the
beam-column joint is accepted by designing the beams to be weaker than the columns. Analyses
1
following major earthquakes, e.g. the 1995 Kobe earthquake and the 2011 Christchurch
2
earthquakes , confirmed the safety of occupants in most buildings was mostly assured and damage
occurred at the locations intended in design. In some cases the buildings had external damage that
was hardly visible. However, the damage inside the building could be so severe that the cost of repair
would be as high as that of a new building. Following the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes a large
number of buildings, even though they were still standing, became unusable due to the damage and
consequently more or less paralyzed the functioning of the whole Christchurch CBD.
Observations of damage to structures, following major earthquakes, reveal that partial and
3
temporary uplift at the base has proven beneficial in some cases. Housner came to this conclusion
following his evaluation of damage to water tanks following the 1960 Chilean earthquakes. This early
observation has triggered a number of investigations into the influence of uplift on the seismic
performance of structures. However, to limit the complexity the studies mainly focused on simple rigid
single degree-of-freedom (SDOF) structures. Most studies were performed numerically. As of today
______________________________
*
Director of the University of Auckland Centre for Earthquake Engineering Research
1
Nawawi Chouw
only a very small number of structures have been built with the capacity to rock and partially uplift
4
temporarily, e.g. the South Rangitikei Viaduct in North Island in New Zealand. Instead of fixing the
bridge pier to the ground, the bridge is permitted to rock in the out-of-plane direction when it
experiences a strong earthquake. Figure 1 shows another example of a designed rocking capacity, a
5
large chimney at Christchurch airport in the South Island in New Zealand. Despite experiencing the
intense February 2011 Christchurch earthquakes and a large number of strong aftershocks, no
6
damage was observed one year after the Christchurch earthquakes . Uplift is still considered by many
people to be the early stage of an eventual collapse mechanism and thus should be avoided.
Allowing a structure to move as a rigid body will, depending on the flexibility of the structure, limit
or even eliminate seismic forces activated in the structure which are the cause of plastic deformations,
i.e. the source of damage to the structure. To further reduce the impact of earthquakes the rigid body
movements can be reduced by energy dissipating mechanism, e.g. slip-friction connectors at the base
of a shear wall. This paper provides an overview of recent research on future earthquake-resistant
structures. In contrast to current seismic design, the structure is free to move without restriction in
response to the induced loads. Whenever separation in a structure takes place, the influx of the
earthquake energy will be temporarily terminated. Hence, the structure experiences lower seismic
loading. Instead of relying on structural deformations, rigid body movement will be activated. Since
the structure resists lower loading due to mobilization of rigid body motions, lower stresses will
develop in the structure, and minimal, if any, damage to the structural members can be anticipated.
The major benefit is that low-damage structures will be much more likely to be realized and thus
structures will remain functional in the post-earthquake recovery period.
Figure 1: Rock-able chimney
STRUCTURES WITH PARTIAL AND TEMPORARY UPLIFT
Temporary and partial separations can be facilitated not only at the base of the structure, (at
the interface between footing of a building and the supporting foundation soil) but also at the
base of a shear wall of a multi-storey building. Separations can also be facilitated at the interface
between almost all the structural members. The following sections describe some research
activities currently performed at the University of Auckland Centre for Earthquake Engineering
Research in New Zealand.
2.1 Multi-storey building
Figure 2 shows a model of a multi-storey building on sand in a box. To simulate possible
development of plastic deformations at predefined locations, artificial plastic hinges have been
7, 8
(2013). The ground excitation was simulated
installed. Details can be obtained from Qin et al.
9
based on the Japanese design spectrum which was developed from strong motions recorded at
2
Nawawi Chouw
the ground surface in the 1995 Kobe earthquake. Observations of damage to structures in the
2011 Christchurch earthquakes reveal, however, that the damage observed did not reflect the
ground motions recorded in the vicinity of the structures. The analyses of the damage, in relation
to the surrounding ground shaking, suggest that the actual foundation excitation of the structures
and the surface ground motions in the vicinity of the structures were not the same. Some
10
preliminary results have been presented in Qin et al. (2014).
Figure 2: Model of a multi-storey building on sand
u (mm)
t (s)
Figure 3: Influence of uplift and plastic soil deformation on the top displacement
Figure 3 displays the influence of both the temporary partial base uplift and the plastic
deformation of supporting sand on the horizontal displacement at the top of the building. The
results clearly show that following current design specifications, with an assumption of a fixed
base (dotted line), will lead to significant permanent displacement due to development of plastic
hinges in the building. When uplift on a rigid base is permitted (dashed line) the residual
displacement can be reduced by more than 50%. This result confirms the involvement of rigid
body motions in the response that leads to lower plastic deformation of the structural members.
When a sand foundation is considered, uplift and deformation of the supporting soil further
reduce the impact of the earthquake (solid line). Plastic deformation of the structural members is
reduced significantly.
Figure 4 shows the corresponding relationships between bending moment at the base of the
lowest column and the horizontal displacement at the top of the building. The permanent top
Nawawi Chouw
displacement due to plastic deformation of structural members in the building in the case of both
a fixed-base structure and upliftable structure can be clearly seen.
M (Nm)
(a)
u (mm)
M (Nm)
u (mm)
(b)
M (Nm)
u (mm)
(c)
Figure 4: Influence of uplift and plastic soil deformation on the moment-displacement relationship.
(a) Uplift on rigid base, (b) uplift on sand and (c) fixed base
Nawawi Chouw
2.2 Shear wall with slip-friction connectors and shear keys

Figure 5 shows a full-scale timber shear wall under cyclic loading using a hydraulic actuator
(see top left of the figure). In contrast to a conventional timber shear wall with connectors as holddowns, the wall under test can partially and temporarily uplift. To control the uplift movement slipfriction mechanisms can be installed at the base of a shear wall. Whenever uplift takes place
friction forces will be generated and thus the movement will be impeded. To provide a specific
targeted movement and moment resistance at the base, the locations of the shear keys need to
be determined. The rigid body movement activated can ensure an almost elastic behaviour of the
shear wall during the entire excitation.
Actuator
Timber shear wall
Slip-friction connector
Shear keys
Figure 5: Upliftable shear wall with slip-friction connectors

100 x Mrp/Mr (-)
(a)
(b)
(o)
Figure 6: Influence of uplift, slip-friction connectors and shear keys on (a) restoring moment and
(b) nail deformation from
Figure 6(a) shows the influence of the angle of the shear keys on the relationship between the
ratio of the restraining moment Mrp to the overturning moment Mr depending on the friction coefficient
. The relationship shows the effect of and on the percentage contribution of the shear keys to the
11, 12 and 13
.
overall moment resistance of the wall. Details of the research are described in Loo et al.
Nawawi Chouw
Figure 6(b) shows the consequence of an uplifting shear wall for the stress development in the
wall, as represented by the deformation of the nails. The flexible shear wall of plywood sheathing is
nailed to time framing. The impact of a number of strong earthquakes on the nail connections is
evaluated when the wall is fixed at the base and when it is permitted to uplift with the involvement of
slip-friction connectors. The results clearly show that the conventional hold-down connectors, that fix
the wall to the foundation, will transfer the earthquake loading to the nail connections via relative
deformation of the wall, consequently, the nails are strongly displaced. When the wall is permitted to
move rigidly, the deformation of the wall is strongly constrained and consequently the nail deformation
can be significantly reduced and becomes almost independent of the characteristics of the ground
excitation.
2.3 Fluid storage tanks
Figure 7 shows a model of a liquid storage tank with uplift capability on a shake table. The
research focused on the effectiveness of a design philosophy that allows the structure to activate
its rotational rigid body movement, including the interaction between tank, liquid and the rigid
base.
Figure 8 shows the consequence of uplift for the development of axial stress along the wall of
14, 15 and 16
the tank
. At the locations of the largest stress, allowing the tank to uplift can significantly
reduce the stress development, and thus limit possible damage to the tank, e.g. elephant foot
deformation.
Figure 7: Liquid storage tank with uplift capability
Fixed base
With uplift
Figure 8: Influence of uplift on the outer surface axial stress along the tank wall
Nawawi Chouw
2.4 Wall with multiple uplift ability

Figure 9 shows a wall with uplift capacity at the interface of each structural member. The wall
can be rapidly constructed without significant engineering skill. The in plane horizontal resistance
of the wall is determined by the interlocking keys and the strength of the coconut fibre reinforced
concrete blocks. Since no mortar is used, each block can move rigidly relative to the adjacent
blocks. Whenever the wall experiences strong earthquake excitation, relative rigid body
movements throughout the entire wall will be generated and thus energy flux into the wall will be
terminated at many locations. The coconut fibre has the capability not only to distribute cracking
in the concrete blocks, it also increases the material damping significantly.
Figure 9: Shear wall of multiple structural elements with uplift capacity
Figure 10: Influence of multiple uplifts on wall response (a) without and (b) with coir rope
Nawawi Chouw
To limit the uplift movement of the blocks, coir ropes are placed through the blocks (see top
right of Figure 9). Figure 10 shows the relationship between base shear Q and the top
displacement u. Three different peak ground accelerations of 0.1 g, 0.2 g and 0.3 g are
considered. The corresponding responses are presented in red, blue and green, respectively.
The constraint of uplift movement can be clearly seen from the largest PGA considered. Details
17-21
are given in Ali et al.
.
A similar concept has been applied to bridge structures. Additional experimental work
confirmed that the low-damage earthquake-resistant design philosophy can also be applied to
22, 23
reduce possible damage to bridge structures, see e.g. references
.
CONCLUSIONS
Some research activities at the University of Auckland Centre for Earthquake Engineering
Research on future low-damage earthquake-resistant design approaches have been introduced.
Instead of resisting the impact of earthquakes through structural deformation the structure can be
designed to move rigidly and thus deformations within the structure can be reduced significantly.
Rigid body motion can be facilitated at the base of the structure or throughout the structure. Since
relative deformation within the structure is limited, the development of stresses in the structure
can be reduced significantly. Consequently, much less damage to structure can be ensured.
Another advantage of the proposed low-damage design philosophy is that the structure will
more likely assure the safety of the occupants as well as people in the vicinity. The philosophy
also improves the functionality of the structure following a seismic event and thus reduces
possible down time of the structure to the benefit of the whole community.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author would like to thank the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment for the
support through the Natural Hazards Research Platform under the Award 3703249.
REFERENCES
th
[1] N. Chouw, Effect of the earthquake on 17 of January 1995 on Kobe, Proceedings of the DACH
meeting of the German, Austrian and Swiss Society for Earthquake Engineering and Structural
Dynamics, 135-169 (1995).
[2] N. Chouw, H. Hao, Pounding damage to buildings and bridges in the 22 February 2011
Christchurch earthquake. International Journal of Protective Structures 3(2) (2012), 123-139.
[3] G.W. Housner, The behaviour of inverted pendulum structures during earthquakes, Bulletin of the
Seismological Society of America 53(2), 403-417 (1963).
[4] J. Beck, R. Skinner, The seismic response of a reinforced concrete bridge pier designed to step,
Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics; 2 (4) (1973), 343-358
[5] R.D. Sharpe, R.I. Skinner, The seismic design of an industrial chimney with rocking base. Bulletin
of the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering 16(2) (1983), 98-106.
[6] N. Chouw, K. McCue, An upliftable structure in the 2010-2012 Canterbury earthquake swarm,
Newsletter of the Australian Earthquake Engineering Society, http://www.aees.org.au/
Newsletters/AEES_2012_3.pdf. September 2012
[7] X. Qin, Y. Chen, N. Chouw, Effect of uplift and soil nonlinearity on plastic hinge development and
induced vibrations in structures, Advances in Structural Engineering 16 (1) (2013), 135-147
[8] X. Qin, N. Chouw, Prediction of seismic induced forces in an upliftable structure, Proceedings of
the Australian Earthquake Engineering Society Conference, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, 15 - 17
November 2013.
[9] Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE), Earthquake resistant design codes in Japan, Maruzen,
Tokyo (2000).
[10] X. Qin, N. Chouw, N. Effect of SFSI on the response of soil. In: Soil Liquefaction during Recent
Large-Scale Earthquakes (Eds. R. Orense, I. Towhata, N. Chouw), the University of Auckland,
Auckland, 2 - 3 December 2013, 197-204 (2014).
[11] W.Y. Loo, P. Quenneville, N. Chouw, A numerical approach for simulating the behaviour of timber
shear walls, Structural Engineering and Mechanics 42(3) (2012a): 383-407
Nawawi Chouw
[12] W.Y. Loo, P. Quenneville, N. Chouw, A numerical study of the seismic behaviour of timber shear
walls with slip-friction connectors, Engineering Structures 34 (2012b), 233-243
[13] W.Y. Loo, C. Kun, P. Quenneville, N. Chouw, Experimental testing of a rocking timber shear wall
with slip-friction connectors, Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics (in print), DOI:
10.1002/ eqe.2413
[14] M. Ormeo, T. Larkin, N. Chouw, Comparison between standards for seismic design of liquid
storage tanks with respect to soil-foundation-structure interaction and uplift, Bulletin of the New
Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering 45 (1) (2012a), 40-46.
[15] M. Ormeo, T. Larkin, N. Chouw, Influence of uplift on liquid storage tanks during earthquakes,
Journal of Coupled Systems Mechanics 1 (4) (2012b), 311-324.
[16] M. Ormeo, T. Larkin, N. Chouw, Experimental investigation of the stresses in a tank shell
th
resulting from uplift during earthquakes. Proceedings of the 10 International Conference on
Urban Earthquake Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan, 1 - 2 March 2013.
[17] M. Ali, R. Briet, N. Chouw, Dynamic response of mortar-free interlocking structures, Construction
and Building Materials 42 (2013a), 168-189
[18] M. Ali, X. Li, N. Chouw, Experimental investigations on bond strength between coconut fibre and
concrete, Materials and Design 44 (2013b), 596-605
[19] M. Ali, N. Chouw, Experimental investigations on coconut-fibre rope tensile strength and pullout
from coconut fibre reinforced concrete, Construction and Building Materials 41 (2013), 681-690
[20] M. Ali, R.J. Gultom, N. Chouw, Capacity of innovative interlocking blocks under monotonic
loading. Construction and Building Materials 37 (2012a), 812-821.
[21] M. Ali, A. Liu, S. Hao, N. Chouw, Mechanical and dynamic properties of coconut fibre reinforced
concrete, Construction and Building Materials 30 (2012b), 814-825.
[22] Y. Chen, C. Kun, N. Chouw, T. Larkin, The experimental investigation of bridge with footing uplift
under near-fault earthquake. Proceedings of the Australian Earthquake Engineering Society
Conference, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, 15 - 17 November 2013.
[23] C. Kun, Y. Chen, T. Larkin, N. Chouw, An experimental investigation of the seismic response of a
bridge due to simultaneous horizontal and vertical excitations, Proceedings of the Australian
Earthquake Engineering Society Conference, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, 15 - 17 November
2013.
th
THE PERILS OF ADDING RESILIENCE TO THE

INFRASTRUCTURE
John E. Crawford*, Shengrui Lan* and Timothy Brewer*
*
Karagozian & Case

700 N. Brand Blvd., Suite 700, Glendale, CA 91203
e-mail: <crawford@kcse.com> webpage: http://www.kcse.com
Keywords: Disproportionate collapse, resilience, protective design, blast, testing, global

response
Abstract. Adding resilience to the infrastructure, vis--vis reducing risks related to

disproportionate collapse and failure of the structure framing system of a facility, has
become a hot topic in the engineering design communities in several countries, but
particularly in the U.S. The idea is to address a perceived weakness in design
standards related to the potential for a framing system to fail given some
unanticipated loading. However, the addition of such resilience is not without its
perils, particularly with respect to a clear statement of what is to be achieved and
how it is to be accomplished. This paper describes some key aspects and
complexities of the issues that need to be addressed and the perils associated with
doing so.
1.0
INTRODUCTION
Traditionally, the structural engineering community has adopted practices, guidelines, and design
codes that are soundly based in experience, practicality, and structural mechanics. This is usually
accomplished as a consensus effort and is soundly based on tests, theory, analysis, and practice.
However, with the advent of the increased usage by structural engineering practitioners of nonlinear
finite element (FE) analysis codes and their integrations into the design process, especially related to
tackling extremely complex design/analysis problems (e.g., progressive collapse and blast effects
analyses), this tradition and the soundness of the engineering practiced is beginning to wane, much to
the detriment of the community and the efficacy of the resulting designs. By this, it is meant that:
There is an inherent lack of understanding in the engineering community pertaining to the
applicability of standard engineering analysis toolsthat is, of the sort commonly used in more
advanced design procedures (for instance, for designing seismic resistant high rise buildings)
for predicting collapse and blast response and vulnerability.
The sparseness of relevant test data makes it difficult to effectively address collapse behaviors
and is troubling on two counts: (1) the lack of basic behavioral datapertaining to general and
disproportionate collapse response, especially as related to specific design parameters (e.g.,
span, beam and slab reinforcement) and the resistance afforded by different aspects of the
design (e.g., the resistance afforded by diaphragms and walls as opposed to the beams, the
influence of the number of floors)makes it nearly impossible to produce an effective approach to
addressing disproportionate collapse problems; and (2) the dearth of data makes it difficult to
evaluate and validate the soundness of analysis procedures and design methodologies.
While high-fidelity physics-based (HFPB) FE models have shown promise in predicting collapse
behaviors, it is unrealistic to expect that the results produced by non-experts using these
advanced forms of physics-based (i.e., nonlinear) FE modelingfor example, where materials are
11
John E. Crawford, Shengrui Lan and

a Timothy Brewer
allowed to plasticize, fracture, and fail; loads that may cause catastrophic failure are applied; and
strain rates and gradients are extremewill
extreme
be reliable enough
nough to use as the basis of design, or
even for the development of appropriate design/analysis tools.
The issues associated with complexity and lack of data are particularly of concern for designs
intended to accommodate the distress that could occur were
were the sort of extreme event that might
cause a building to collapse were to transpire. The types of analyses required to evaluate such
collapse vulnerabilities (e.g., even for the most simplistic extreme loading, for instance, related to
assessing whetherr removal of a single column causes the buildings framing system to collapse) is
beyond the skill of most analysts and available analysis software, and would require computer
resources that are likely too cost-prohibitive
cost
and impractical except in an R&D setting.
This paper focuses on the perils of adding resilience to key elements of the infrastructure in
regards to lessening the risks of collapse due to unforeseen loadings of the structural framing systems
comprising them. This concern has increasingly
increasingly become part of the design process, even though the
manner of its address and even what constitutes its address are open questions.
The present day de facto standard presented by design guides, such as those developed by the
US government (e.g., UFC 4-023
23-03),
03), rely on a methodology that by and large is an outgrowth of the
methodology developed to address the Ronan Point failure (Figure
(
1a).
a). This Ronan
Rona Pt. methodology
(e.g., as stated in the UFC) imposes an additional burden on the design process, whereby tie force
minimums and alternate load path requirements are incorporated into the standard design process.
However, while this seems a sound way to address disproportionate collapse vulnerability (DCV) for
structural systems such as those similar to the one at Ronan Pt. (i.e., tied precast panels), it does not
provide a sound approach to mitigating the DCV associated with the bulk of the structural systems
sy
found throughout the infrastructure, such as those used in office buildings, sports venues, hotels,
government buildings, transportation hubs, and the like. These structural framing systems have as a
backbone a beam and column framework, whose collapse
collapse resistance is augmented significantly by
the shear walls and diaphragms cast integrally with it.
To distinguish these structural systems from those like Ronan Pt., they are herein denoted as
structural framing systems. One glaring difference between structural
structural framing systems and systems
like the Ronan Pt. one is the key role that in-plane
in plane forces and catenary action play in framing systems
in resisting collapse. Another key difference is the inherently high level of continuity and connection
achieved by the cast in place construction of RC framing systems.
At present, creating a general design methodology to realistically address disproportionate
collapse risks is both perilous and unrealistic. We have a ways to go just to be able to effectively
characterize
racterize the global response behaviors of framing systems and identify their crucial response
modes. While the responses of such systems can be addressed with HFPB FE models, these models
are unwieldy at best and generally so large and complex as to be impractical
impractical for most organizations to
operate effectively. More standard FE models, of the sort regularly used in the design of framing
systems, are likely to be inappropriate for use in collapse analysis and produce erroneous and
misleading results.
(a) Ronan Point (1968).
(b) Construction of Skyline Plaza (1973).
12

a Timothy Brewer
(c) Marine barracks, Lebanon (1983).
(d) Murrah building (1995).
(e) Khobar Towers (1996).
Figure 1: Examples of the sorts of damage to building framing systems of interest in study global
response and collapse vulnerabilities; the damage shown resulted from a variety of insults including
those imparted by blast, poor design/construction, fire, and impact.
impa
(f) Bankers Trust building (2001); while the

structural system performed well as a result of
the damage imparted by the impacts of WTC
debris, the building was later demolished.
(g) WTC7 building (shown a few hours before

its collapse), which was caused by an unchecked
fire on its upper floors (2001), which was initiated
as a result of the WTC attack.
13

a Timothy Brewer
(h) The damage imparted to the underground

parking structure in the first WTC attack (1993).
(i) Marriott Hotel, Jakarta (2003), which

suffered
d little damage to its structural system.
(j) High-rise
rise building, Spain (2009),
demonstrating the fall-off
off in damage with height.
(k) Oslo, Norway (2011).
Figure 1: Examples of the sorts of damage to building framing systems of interest in study global
response and collapse vulnerabilities; the damage shown resulted from a variety of insults including
those imparted by blast, poor design/construction, fire, and impact
impact (continued).
Thus, little in the way of practical analysis tools are available to address DCVs. Substantial efforts
will be needed to develop analysis tools that can effectively compute global system responses and
the failure thresholds associated with them. However, many steps (e.g., in the form of establishing
best practices and better component designs) can and should be taken now to address DCV.
Unfortunately, the introduction of the Ronan Pt. approach to addressing DCV seems to have blinded
the community
ommunity to the more practical and immediate steps that can be taken to mitigate DCV.
1.1
Scope of global response problem
The scope of the issues associated with reducing the collapse vulnerability of framing systems is
large, particularly so because of:
The
he lack of a definitive understanding of the basic phenomena associated with global response.
The complexities and difficulties of conducting studies pertaining to characterizing the risks
associated with disproportionate collapse vulnerabilities (DCV) and general collapse
vulnerabilities (GCV), and identifying appropriate and effective methods (i.e., design guidelines,
etc.) to address them.
The lack of data of sufficient applicability and quality to support these identification efforts and
validate design/analysis
/analysis procedures.
The difficulties of present-day
day analytic tools have in providing results appropriate, realistic, and
accurate enough to support the design effort. This is mostly related to the tools either not
effectively computing the extant global behaviors or if capable enough in this regard requiring too
large and complicated an analytic model to be practical.
14
John E. Crawford, Shengrui Lan and Timothy Brewer
The magnitude of the needed efforts is compounded by the generally unknown nature of the extreme
threats to be considered (i.e., what risks are to be considered and why), the costs and large scale
nature of relevant tests, and the marked variability of the design concepts exhibited by the elements
of infrastructure whose collapse risks are likely be in most need of address.
1.2
Examples
By way of depicting the scope of the problem associated with determining global
response/collapse modes and evaluating collapse vulnerabilities, some examples of the damage
associated with the types of global response modes of interest are shown in Figure 1. In this figure,
responses for different kinds of building framing systems are shown. These examples of global
response (and sometimes failure of a framing system) manifest several forms of collapse vulnerability,
as well as situations where collapse did or did not occur in spite of the severe damage imparted to the
framing system.
Even for those building framing systems that survived relatively unscathed, the margin for survival
related to the global response engendered might have been razor thin; we just dont really know. In
some cases, its relatively obvious that the framing system would survive the damage imparted, while
in others reaching any conclusion as to the resistance margin to collapse is much more problematic.
The key issue in this regard is that assessing resilience requires a much better understanding of the
circumstance associated with actual system failure and developing an effective means to compute
when it occurs for a variety of situations.
The issues related to having effective analysis tools are particular acute for the design process,
where it is important to have tools that can accurately discern the benefits of changes in detailing and
other likely quite localized changes, as they reduce the risks of a global collapse. It is this level of
local fidelity and the validity of the resulting global response that are crucial to making specific
changes in the design to enhance the resilience of the framing system.
As may be observed in the behaviors alluded to in the photos of Figure 1, many more building
systems survive than fail (i.e., the structural framing system does not exhibit a major failure). This
apparent resilience may be attributed to two major factors related to the influence on the global
response of the structural framing system: (1) the type of design employed for the framing system
and the quality with which it is constructed and (2) the magnitude and type of loading imparted to the
building system (e.g., for a blast load, the size and location of the charge in relationship to the framing
system). In other words, the global response engendered is driven principally by two factors: the
threat and the design employed for the structural framing system. Both are problematic in the sense
of what threat(s) should be employed and what factors ensure a robust design and how can these be
realized.
1.3
The challenge
Global responses sufficient to cause collapse/failure of the structural framing system of a facility
present major challenges to the engineering community vis--vis:
Identifying the important issues associated with global response and collapse risks that need
addressing for framing systems in general and in creating the sort of approach to design needed
to ensure sufficient resilience (i.e., against collapses) is embodied in the design of a specific
facility
Developing of effective design protocols and methods to address issues associated with global
response and collapse vulnerabilities
Developing design/analysis tools of sufficient capability to support whatever design and
assessment process is adopted
Developing test data that improves our understanding of important global response modes and
the collapse vulnerabilities associated with them and that are suitable for validating design and
analysis methods
Developing threat scenarios (and the loading conditions to characterize them) that engender the
sorts of global response/failure modes that should be considered in the design process
associated with addressing DCV risks. For example, sudden removal of a column from the
framing system has become a de facto standard in many designs for incorporating DCV risk
reduction in U.S. framing systems. Is this really the only (or even the most important) DCV risks
worth addressing? The examples given in Figure 1 would seem to indicate otherwise.
These challenges are made much more difficult by the diffuse nature of the problem and the lack
of specificity inherent in such a concept as adding resilience to the infrastructure. All of which is
compounded by the difficulty at getting at the overall cost-benefit of doing so, which may be attributed
15
to the lack of a transparent connection between the cost expended and the DCV or GCV risk
reduction gained.
2.0
INHERENT VARIABILITY ASSOCIATED WITH DCV RISKS
Determining important global response modes and collapse vulnerabilities for a particular framing
system is made considerably more complex by the inherent and widespread variability of framing
systems. Framing systems often deviate markedly from the sort of relatively uniform layout exhibited
in Figure 2a, which are often the focus of DCV studies. It is much more likely that important
irregularities in global response will be introduced by the design, some of which may be quite
profound, such as for the other systems depicted in the rest of Figure 2.
Concerns about lateral resistance

for this portion of the building
Column tree
Portion of the
whole of the
framing system
(a) Example of the sorts of regular framing that is often the focus of global response studies.
Figure 2: Influence of framing system irregularities can be profound on global response/failure
modes.
16
(b) Example of irregular framing, here for a building whose appearance reflects the irregularity.
Figure 2: Influence of framing system irregularities can be profound on global response/failure
modes (continued).
This difficulty is greatly compounded by the variability of the natural, accidental, and malicious
(NAM) events that impart the sort of extreme and exceedingly rare (EER) threats to buildings that
might cause the framing system to fail, vis--vis the global response modes they might give rise to.
Thus, addressing DCV risks for framing systems presents a severe challenge just from the inordinate
variabilities presented by framing systems and the threats that might be considered. Moreover, at
17
least with respect to the DCV risks related to terrorist bombing, irregular framing is probably more
likely to be encountered, being more predominate in the kinds of iconic facilities that are likely to be
targets. Irregular framing systems are likely to give rise to much more complex global response
modes and greatly exacerbate concerns about the adequacy of the present design/analysis
procedures, especially as they are applied in the U.S.
2.1
Importance of design details
Similarly, the design process/code employed in developing specific design details can markedly
influence a systems resilience. For instance, the different design details shown in Figure 3 exemplify
the sort of design variations that are encountered in practice, which can have a significant impact on
the resilience exhibited by the structural system. In this regard, detailing best practices guides affords
an excellent and practical way to add resilience to the framing system.
For example, in some situations the version of the ACI code employed in the design may have a
profound effect on the reinforcement employed for an RC spandrel beam as it passes over the top of
a column. In the design shown in Figure 3a, the flexure steel is discontinued over the top of the
column (as was permissible at the time) and provides little capacity for the framing system to survive a
missing column. This sort of design is in marked contrast to the spandrel reinforcement shown in
Figure 3b, which conforms to the current ACI code provisions for reinforcement continuity.
These sorts of updates to the ACI code were largely enacted to improve seismic resistance, where
now some of the reinforcement over the top of the column must be continuous. The continuity
provisions of the ACI code (i.e., for the design of reinforced concrete framing systems) provide for a
considerable enhancement to the resilience of an RC framing system. Such a situation clearly
illustrates that differences in design details can markedly influence resilience. Such prescriptive
provisions to design codes provide a highly effective means to introduce resilience against collapse
into infrastructure design. Moreover, such provisions being load independent and prescriptive make
them quite easy to implement.
In a similar vein, the resilience exhibited by steel framing systems is also highly influenced by the
detailing used in the design; an example illustrating this is given in Figure 3c/d. Here, two different
types of steel connection designs are shown (i.e., as regard to their robustness and resilience that
would be exhibited in situations where collapse is of concern). While both types of connections can
satisfy baseline design requirements, the more resilient type of connection (Figure 3c) would be
expected to perform much better in reducing DCV risks.
Similarly, the detailing employed throughout steel framing systems may significantly impact the
resilience afforded by the system. The detailing employed in the portion of the steel framing system
shown in Figure 3e presents an example of the various aspects of a buildings framing design where
changes in details can markedly change the resilience exhibited by the system. In this particular
example, little in the way of resilience is exhibited by the design choices made.
2.2
Methodology selection
While any building framing system could collapse given a sufficient magnitude of extreme load,
such as might be generated by a blast (Figure 1c), fire (Figure 1g), or construction problem
(Figure 1b), the trick in formulating a design procedure to address DCV risks from NAM/EER threats
is twofold:
18
Flexure steel ends as it

passes over the column
(a) RC connections: discontinuous reinforcement employed for the spandrel beams (pre 1976 ACI
code).
Continuous rebar
over column
(b) RC connections: continuous reinforcement employed for the spandrel beams (post 1976 ACI
code), the type of connection likely to enhance resilience.
Figure 3: Differences in design details can have a profound impact on resilience.
19
Side plate connection.
RBS connection.
WUF connection.
(c) Steel connections: connections that provide continuity of the sort that enhances resilience.
Figure 3: Differences in design details can have a profound impact on resilience (continued).
20
Pinned connections.
Seated connections.
(d) Steel connections: connections unlikely to enhance resilience.
Metal deck
Welded wire
fabric
Shear studs for

composite action
Upper part
of seated
connection
Joist and flooring
systems may offer little
continuity
Underside of seat support
(e) Steel framing systems: obtaining continuity and resilience and determining its robustness are
issues of considerable complexity in most steel framing systems, as this design exemplifies.
Figure 3: Differences in design details can have a profound impact on resilience (continued).
Step 1. Select those EER threats representative of a balanced approach to assessing the
resilience of framing systems. This suite would vary depending on the use, importance, and type
of framing system employed, although in general it would be intended to exercise a design in
21
such a way that its resilience could be assessed and related deficiencies addressed. In this
regard, resilience could be defined in terms of life safety or perhaps in terms of levels of
protection. In any case, it is important that the suite of threats addressed not be too small or
unimportant (so as to be irrelevant), or too large and onerous to prevent any protections (i.e., to
cause the resulting framing system design to become so impractical as to prevent its being
employed). The intent is to address EER threats, though extremely rare, that present a realistic
level of risk, one that is deemed sufficient that design codes should address.
Step 2. Formulate a design process that is both practical and transparent in its address of DCV
risks, including establishing the importance of the risks to be considered and the relevance of
those considerations to addressing the risks identified.
Such a balanced approach is difficult to achieve, and at least in terms of collapse risks needs to be
more thoroughly examined as to the best way to address. In this regard, more test results, analytic
studies, and design examples pertaining to the global response of structural systems are needed.
However, at least these steps recognize the importance of using a risk-based approach to addressing
DCV, as opposed to the risk-independent approach of the UFC, which fosters a whole slew of
problems related to the relevance of the DCV problem addressed. In addressing DCV, the relevance
of the mitigation measures taken in the design process should be clear to all the stakeholders. This is
nearly impossible if a risk-independent DCV approach is employed. Moreover, such an approach has
the high likelihood of ignoring actual risks in favor of checking off the procedural steps advocated by
the UFC.
In considering collapse risks, the central problem needing to be addressed represents determining
a suitable combination of resilient design and design-basis loading that is pertinent to a particular
building and the level of collapse risk the owner is willing to accept. In this regard, collapse risk
problems would then have several aspects to be considered in the design process related to global
response modes, including: (1) determining the global response modes and collapse vulnerability of
a particular design for a specific form of loading (i.e., a loading that represents some suite of EER
threats), (2) determining the cost associated with addressing particular vulnerabilities, (3) evaluation
of the reduction in collapse vulnerability afforded by different design options, (4) identifying the forms
of EER threats to be considered, their likelihood, and their conversion to some form of loading for use
as the basis of design (BoD), and (5) identification of those risks to be mitigated and those accepted.
The first three of these can be addressed relatively accurately by the engineering community, while
the latter two (i.e., related to risks) require the concerted effort of a much broader community.
2.3
Test design
Three tests programs pertaining to measuring global response and failure modes of structural
framing systems are known, where full-fledged RC structural systems were used as the test articles
two of these programs were conducted by K&C (Figure 4 a/b/c) for the US government and
concerned the global behaviors of full-scale structural framing systems; the other program involved a
half-scale framing system that was tested by Professor Xiao at Hunan University. These test
structures are shown in Figure 4. Several tests concerning blast and sudden column removal loads
were run for each program. These tests indicated the strong influence asserted by the diaphragms in
resisting collapse and the importance of achieving catenary-like response in terms of the robustness
achieved in resisting system collapse. These tests also demonstrate that results from component
(e.g., beam/column subassemblies), as opposed to system tests, can be quite misleading with
regards to actual collapse resistance afforded by a structural framing system.
22
First column removed
Second column removed
(a) Test Structure 1 (full-scale portion of an RC framing system).
First column removed
Second column removed
(b) Test Structure 2 (full-scale)
Concern that this

tie force could
fail this column
causing collapse
Failed column The shear wall added to the corner

columns prevented tie force and drift
collapse failure modes
(c) This structure represents a full scale

specimen of a flat slab framing system.
(d) RC framing system tested at Hunan

University (-scale).
Figure 4: Known examples of global response tests of RC framing systems.
23
2.4
R&D needed
The term relatively accurately itself reflects the need to perform more R&D studies pertaining to
the nature of collapse and developing design/analysis methods that effectively address weaknesses
in the design process that have heretofore made it difficult for resilience to be added to the
infrastructure. For example, better analysis tools are needed for computing global responses, which
at present are woefully inadequate to use in evaluating many forms of global response/failure modes.
Even the definition of the term resilience gives little direction as to its impact on an actual design.
3.0
CONCLUSION
A necessary adjunct to realizing resilient infrastructure is the capability to predict global response
and failure modes of structural framing systems when subjected to extreme loading conditions (e.g., a
terrorist bombing). In general, this requires: (1) transforming the various forms of extreme
phenomena to be considered into some form of loading suitable for evaluating the responses for the
structural system of interest, and (2) computing responses for the structural system given these load
characterizations. With regard to obtaining an overall enhancement of resilience, another major
concern arises which is the selection/characterizing of the particular extreme phenomena to be
considered and the consequence of ignoring those not considered. Even the very notion of adding
resilience to the infrastructure is fraught with complications related to what is meant. Moreover, in
recent years, it has become apparent that the engineering community is struggling to effectively
characterize the loadings and consequent responses engendered by extreme loads. As a
consequence, society in general has been left with an unsuspectedly vulnerable infrastructure.
This legacy of vulnerability coupled with an aging infrastructure have resulted in a largely unknown
set of risks to the populous for which in general we know how to address but are stymied by a process
that is not geared to address such issues. These circumstances are emblematic of a growing
problem concerning the inadequacy of the infrastructure in its ability to sustain the performance
expected in an extreme event (e.g., natural disaster), namely that over-simplified, misused, and
misunderstood design/analysis methods exacerbate vulnerabilities by hindering an understanding of
actual structural response and vulnerabilities and inhibit the use of new technologies that might more
effectively redress existing vulnerabilities.
One way for the engineering community to help in these matters is to develop simulation tools that
more accurately compute the vulnerability of elements of the infrastructure up to states of severe
damage and can compute effective safety margins against DCV as a function of design details (and at
least localized failure). In addition to these sorts of analysis tools, other tools are needed to more
accurately characterize the actual risks presented by EER loads (especially related to rarity and
consequence). In this regard, accidental, natural, and malicious forms of hazards are to be
addressed by developing standards for characterizing such EER loads in a way that the performance
of various structural framing systems can be evaluated. Finally, general studies can be conducted of
typical framing systems that are representative of key elements of the infrastructure to identify design
concepts and strategies that offer resilience and ones that do not. This would include studies of
framing systems typical of those used for transportation and utility networks (e.g., major bridges,
tunnels, airports, power generation stations and distribution facilities), gathering places (e.g., sports
venues, concert halls), and office buildings (e.g., legacy structures, commercial and government
offices). The intent here would be to develop best practices guides and hardening concepts for key
structural components that are pertinent to developing resilient designs for framing systems. Both
offer eminently doable approaches to realizing resilience in the design process while still employing
existing technology and engineering skills.
In a similar vein, the development of loading scenarios and characterizations that better reflect the
uncertainties and consequences of rare and extreme hazards (i.e., in the form of some sort of loading
suitable for performing an analysis pertinent to addressing DCV risks) seems to be an area that is
even more in need of redress. Here, quantifying the risks associated with such events is a key step
needed so that some form of priority in their address can be established.
In conclusion, adding resilience in some general way to key elements of the infrastructure is
neither straightforward nor easily accomplished. Several basic efforts are needed if such a notion as
resilient design is to be effected soundly. These include: improved understanding of global response
behaviors of framing systems (i.e., how do they fail and what response mechanisms can be employed
to inhibit failure); development of analysis tools that can effectively predict responses and failure
margins pertinent to characterizing DCV for most framing system designs; and establishing a design
methodology representing a true risk reduction approach to addressing DCV that can be employed by
at least the elite design firms.
24
th
PROTECTIVE GLAZING A CHALLENGE TO NUMERICAL

SIMULATION
University of the Bundeswehr Munich, Institute of Engineering Mechanics and Structural
Mechanics
Werner-Heisenberg-Weg 39, 85577 Neubiberg, Germany
e-mail: <norbert.gebbeken@unibw.de>, <tim.bermbach@unibw.de>
webpage: http://www.unibw.de/baustatik
Keywords: laminated glass, air blast load, material modelling, secondary debris, shock
tube experiments
Abstract. Contemporary architecture highlights building envelopes made of

glass. Facade technology has become a new field of technology in the last years.
However these facades are vulnerable when hurricanes, tornados or blast have to
be taken into account. Therefore, protective glazing is an important field of
research and development. Surprisingly, there are papers that are inconsistent in
the research results. This is amongst others due to the fact that no guidelines for
testing exist. Another problem is the interpretation of test results. The present
paper will discuss the state of the art in design as well as research and
development. Own projects and studies will be presented.
1
INTRODUCTION
The rising use of glass as building envelope requires considerations concerning the resistance
against extraordinary loads. The article focusses exemplarily on laminated glass exposed to an
air blast wave. Firstly, the idealization of this high dynamic load and the general response of the
composite are discussed. When a numerical model is assembled chosen material laws must be
able to reproduce characteristics leading to specific observations. The components of laminated
glass (glass, interlayer) show peculiarities in terms of material behavior. Furthermore the user
has to select an approach corresponding to the objective of the analysis. The scope of the task
defines accuracy, the level of detail and consequently numerical methods needed for
accomplishment. Finally, attention is turned on the adhesive bond among composite layers which
represents an important factor in regard to initial and residual load carrying capacity. Conclusions
from planned shock tube testing shall be applied on computational contact modelling.
2
STRUCTURES LOADED BY AIR BLAST WAVES
2.1 Air Blast Wave Modelling

Air blast waves result from a rapid release of energy. The magnitude of the overpressure of an
air blast wave arriving at a specific location depends on the distance and on the size of the
charge. An idealized free-air blast form of a pressure-time function at a certain distance from the
explosive is shown in Figure 1.
25
Figure 1: Pressure-time curve for a free-air blast wave
The main characteristics of a free-field air blast wave are the following:
The shock wave of the air blast reaches the point under consideration at the arrival time
ta,
The pressure attains its maximum (peak overpressure pmax) very fast (extremely short rise
time). Then it starts decreasing until it reaches the reference pressure p0 (in most cases
the atmospheric pressure),
The duration of the positive phase td is the time taken to reach this reference pressure.
After this point the pressure drops below the reference pressure until it reaches the
maximum negative pressure pmin. The duration of the negative phase is denoted as tn,
The overpressure impulse (positive impulse) is the integral of the overpressure curve over
the positive phase td.
The idealized form of the pressure wave can be significantly altered by the morphology of the
medium encountered along its propagation. For instance, the incident peak pressure can be
magnified up to 14 times if the wave is reflected at a rigid obstacle. The reflection effects depend
1
on the geometry, material, size, and angle of incidence (see Gebbeken for further information).
The situation is much more complicated if there are several reflection boundaries as it happens in
urban environments.
A widely used way of describing the shape of the air blast pulse is the so-called modified
Friedlander equation, which proposes a function for the positive phase of the air blast wave. The
pressure p at time t can be calculated by
t
p (t ) = po + p max 1
td
bt
td
.
(1)
All parameters of Equation (1) can be taken from several diagrams and equations (e.g.
2
Kingery ). The parameters are available for incident and reflected waves for spherical free-field
as well as for hemispherical charge conditions.
The negative phase (peak pressure and duration) can be described with a diagram proposed
3
by Drake , obtained from experimental data. A bilinear function for the negative part of the air
blast wave is used in this work.
The decay of the pressure-time function can be adjusted with the form parameter b of
4
Equation (1). Several diagrams from the literature can be used for this parameter (e.g. Baker ).
2.2 Laminated Glass Failure due to Air Blast Load
Laminated glass is built of two or more float, annealed or toughened glass panels combined
with one or more polymeric interlayers. Secondary debris of glass is the most probable cause for
26
injuries in case of an explosion event. The aim of laminated glass is the reduction of ejected glass
5
splinters in case of failure by its adhesive bond. According to Larcher , the failure of a laminated
glass pane can be subdivided in five phases as shown in Figure 2:
Figure 2: Schematic failure of laminated glass
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
Elastic behavior, intact glass plies,

The first glass ply is broken, the other is still intact,
The second glass ply fails; the interlayer behaves elastically,
The interlayer acts as membrane,
The interlayer fails by reaching its failure strength or by cutting of glass fragments.
Phase (1) and the first fragile failure of glass can be modelled with either analytical or
numerical methods. However simulation of phases (2) to (5) is more complex.
Besides the global behavior of the composite, local effects have to be considered as well.
During phase (2) bending stresses are relocated to the intact cross-section. Even in phase (3) the
composite bears bending as compressive stresses are transmitted among remaining glass
fragments while the interlayer is acting as tie bar. Analogous to tension stiffening of reinforced
concrete, these fragments cause a tension stiffening effect in phase (4).
3
MATERIAL MODELLING OF LAMINATED GLASS COMPONENTS
Choosing or implementing a material model for laminated glass the specific characteristics of its
components have to be understood. Depending on desired accuracy of the model or investigated
event these characteristics should be taken into account.
3.1 Material Law Considerations for Glass
Glass behaves linear elastic until brittle failure. The designation of tensile strength differs in a
theoretical and a practical value. Theoretical tensile strength of glass is determined by the
strength of chemical bonds on molecular level and can be calculated with up to 30.000 MN/m. In
common testing glass never reaches this theoretical value as micro cracks on the surface of
glass plies are pervasive and initiate failure by crack propagation. This leads to a reduced
practical allowed tensile strength of 75 to 150 MN/m.
Therefore the practical tensile strength of glass can be interpreted less as material constant
but rather as measure of surface quality. The distribution of micro cracks and consequently the
tensile strength on a surface of a glass ply can be described by a Weibull distribution, which
corresponds to the figurative failure of the weakest link within a chain. Against this background
failure may be initiated from less loaded locations.
As failure criterion of brittle materials the maximum principal normal stress theory by Rankine
is widely spread. However the tensile strength of glass is dependent on a multiaxial stress state,
6
which has been discovered in material testing by Siebert . Regarding the tensile strength an
increase of 20 % in comparison to uniaxial tests could be measured in multi axial testing.
27
Beside material constants further propagation after generation of an initial crack is dependent
on the factor of stress intensity, which is characterised by the original crack geometry and the
local mode of stress distribution in immediate vicinity of the crack. With regard to the material
dependency temperature, air humidity and chemical composition of the glass play a role.
Thermal or chemical post-tensioning increases the mechanical resistance of the glass surface
prior cracking. In terms of elastic fracture analysis the value of post-tensioning resistance is
irrelevant, though its magnitude in manner of released energy affects the crack pattern: after
failure toughened glass shows a smooth crack pattern whereas a coarse fragmentation is typical
for annealed glass.
Loads can be transmitted across cracks by friction and compression in-crack-plane between
glass fragments. Hence the compressive strength has to be brought into focus when modelling
7
laminated glass in a failure state. Material testing by Fink shows an increase of compressive
strength with augmenting strain rate.
3.2 Material Law Considerations for polymeric Interlayers
Most commonly used interlayer materials are polyvinyl butyral (PVB), thermoplastic
polyurethane (TPU), ethylene acetate (EVA) and ionoplast polymers (IPP). Regarding the specific
temperature range being relevant for usual civil engineering applications, the properties of these
basic materials vary severely. Furthermore properties of one and the same basic material deviate
from each other as a result of different additives used in the production process.
Widening the view on the temperature range common grounds of material behavior among
different polymers are found. The transition temperature describes the start of converting a
polymer from a glassy into a viscous state when increasing the temperature. For example IPP
owns a transition temperature of about 55 C, PVB of about 12 to 20 C.
In addition the material properties of polymers show a clear strain rate dependency. Regarding
8
the testing results of Kott & Vogel an increase of the strain rate leads to a glassy behavior
although testing temperature is located above transition temperature. This phenomenon could be
interpreted as a reduction of the transition temperature.
Comparing stress-strain-curves of uniaxial tensile tests the rheological behavior naturally
differs below and above the transition temperature. Above transition temperature a sloping curve
characterized by a secant modulus describes the viscoelastic stress-train-trend. Below transition
temperature a linear elastic stress-strain-trend characterized by the Youngs modulus is followed
by a sloping curve characterized by a secant modulus.
Reliable and broad testing of polymers with variable strain rate and temperature cannot be
found in literature. Concerning the second range of the stress-strain-trend below transition
9
temperature the few testing results available differ in their evaluation. Morison mentions explicitly
the recuperation of any deformations and thus assumes full elastic behaviour of the material. On
7
10
11
the contrary, Kott & Vogel , Iwasaki and Bennison observed plastic deformations. However,
plastic behavior can only be characterized if, and only if, the sample has been unloaded in order
to measure the remaining strain. This is missing in the papers. Thus, the observation of plastic
behavior is questionable.
Another important aspect related to material behavior of polymers is weathering, which has
12
13
been investigated by Ensslen and Sackmann . Hot and dry climate conditions in combination
with radiation exposure reduce moisture and plasticiser content of the interlayer and induce
imbrittlement. In an environment of high air humidity absorption of moisture due to hygroscopic
behavior can cause a reduction of tensile strength of around 85 %.
4
NUMERICAL ASPECTS
4.1 Simulation of Air Blast Waves

There are several methods of numerical modelling that can be used in order to load a
structure with an air blast wave. These methods differ in type of elements, number of finite
elements used, implicit or explicit calculation, and others. The choice among these methods
depends on the scope of the analysis and the available calculation time.
The solid TNT model describes the mechanical behavior of the explosive with a material
law, e.g. the JWL equation. A fine mesh is essential to obtain realistic results. The
calculation is therefore very time consuming. If the mesh is not fine enough, the
computed pressure and impulse are underestimated,
28
14
Compressed balloon (Larcher ). The pressure-time function resulting from a compressed

balloon can match fairly well the curve of an air blast wave. The amount of precompression can be calibrated using the resulting impulse. The calculation time is shorter
than for the solid TNT model,
15
Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics (Hiermaier ). The geometry of the explosive is
discretized as a crowd of particles. Any particle can be taken as supporting point
regarding thermodynamic and kinetic variables. Impulse is transmitted among the
particles. This method offers advantages of a Lagrangian formulation without mesh
dependency,
Load-time function. The structure is loaded by a load-time function built with the pressuretime function presented in chapter 2.1. The calculation is relatively inexpensive. However,
the method cannot represent reflections, shadowing and channelling. A load-time function
should in principle be used when the loaded structure can be considered as rigid. Large
displacements of the structure would reduce the reflected pressure load.
4.2 Finite Element Modelling Methods

For describing the laminar composition of safety glass several modelling techniques are
available. Due to the short duration of an air blast wave, full bond of the laminated layers can be
assumed. A few methods do not consider the laminar composition, so that monolithic shell or
solid elements are employed. This approach is in agreement with experimental observations (see
16
Kolling ), though there are deficiencies in reflecting crack propagation and composite behavior in
a damaged state correctly. If shell and solid elements are taken into account, a variety of possible
combinations will be found already. In the following commonly applied methods are presented.
Coupled shell elements - single stage failure criterion. This simple method consists of two
coincidently connected shell elements. The elements share the same nodes and the
center planes of both elements are superposed. Thickness, density and Youngs modulus
of the elements are calculated in such a way that combination of both represents the
laminate behaviour before failure. A single shell is representing laminate behavior in a
user-defined failure state. For example, entire failure of all glass sheets and
corresponding loss of bending stiffness at once could be assumed. The material
properties of glass including a failure criterion are attributed to one shell. The other shell
represents the polymeric interlayer with sticky glass fragments, which acts as membrane
after failure and erosion of the element mentioned firstly. Another failure state like a
remaining single glass ply as found in case of a blunt impact could be assumed as well.
In consequence shell properties have to be adapted,
Coupled shell elements - two-stage failure criterion. With this method the actual laminar
composition is regarded and an accurate bending stiffness of the composite is depicted.
Modelling of glass panels on attack side and attack averted side failing independently
from each other is possible,
Multilayer shell element. The whole composition is represented by a single shell element.
The Gau evaluation points along shell thickness are assigned to the respective material
properties,
3D solid elements. This method requires very fine meshing, particularly in throughthickness direction, which causes a long calculation time depending on the applied
integration rule,
Finite elements combined with Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics. If secondary debris on
the attack averted side is of particular interest the laminate will be discretized locally in
form of particles. This method reproduces large strains and behavior of the material after
failure. Coupling of Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics with finite elements is treated in
17
Sauer .
4.3 Simulation of Supports and Drills

Modelling of boundary conditions is crucial in order to receive the correct response of a
structure in a simulation. The behavior of the substructure and the numerical capture of local
stress concentrations may be overriding and must therefore be considered.
In facade construction glass panels are usually mounted on flexible structures. In case of a
blast wave the structure interacts dynamically with the surrounding medium. Emerging effects
29

18
have been investigated by Teich . It is found that the reduction of pressure depends on the
lowest Eigen frequency of the structure and that the peak pressure is not reduced significantly.
Furthermore the material stiffness of spot or linear supports itself may be incorporated in the
model. In the majority of cases glass panes are isolated from the support by an elastomeric or
thermoplastic layer. Relying on a detailed model the stiffness of this isolation material may be
determined to reproduce actual support conditions. Clamping supports pose a challenge to the
design against disengagement of the pane. Friction among contact surfaces may be modelled
with a specific contact formulation.
Concerning the numerical capture of stress concentrations respective regions like support
areas and drills need to be discretized in a higher resolution. A convergence study is essential so
that relevant information does not drop away due to a coarse model. The tangential-radial-ratio of
element dimensions in the area of discretisation near drills and spot supports should be kept
around 1 to avoid numerical instabilities.
5
SHOCK TUBE EXPERIMENTS
In the last quarter of 2014 shock tube testing of laminated glass panels will be conducted at
the facilities of Bundeswehr Technical Center 52 in Oberjettenberg. Test series aim at giving
input for modelling the contact among layers numerically. Investigations are focused on the bond
between glass and interlayer, the course of damage of the temperature and strain rate dependent
composite as well as the assessment of secondary debris hazard on the attack averted side.
5.1 Adhesion among Laminate Layers
19
The bond among glass and a polymeric interlayer is achieved on molecular level. Keller
mentions moisture and residual salts as main factors for a reduction of adhesion which can be the
consequences of a poor quality control during the production process. In matters of impact loads
a controlled reduced bond between the layers is favoured to gain energy dissipation of the
interlayer by local delamination in vicinity of glass cracks.
5.2 Test Set-Up
Tested composite pane is clamped in a frame which is fixed on a rigid substructure. A

preliminary assessment is necessary to determine the strength and the length of clamping. On
the one hand venting and disengagement of the pane due to large deflections has to be avoided.
On the other hand an adjusted stiffness shall reduce the risk of undesired shear failure near the
supports.
Digital Image Correlation is used to determine kinetic variables of the pane. A thermal imaging
camera records the temperature trend on the pane surface. Additional sensors quantify pressure,
air humidity and temperature.
The area on attack averted side is divided into sections against distance and angle to the
pane. The sections are covered with material directly intercepting secondary debris. A schematic
illustration of the test set-up can be found in Figure 3.
30
Figure 3: Schematic Test Set-Up
5.3 Execution
All panes tested are equal in their symmetric buildup glass - interlayer - glass but differ in
interlayer material, manufacturing technique of the lamination and finishing-treatment
finishing
of the
glass. Furthermore the composite will be tested for two temperatures. Variations
tions are summarized
in Table 1.
Interlayer and Technique of Lamination
PVB, autoclaved
PVB reduced adhesion, autoclaved
IPP, autoclaved
TPU, autoclaved
EVA, vacuum method
Glass Plies
float
toughened
annealed
Temperature of composite
12 C
25 C
Table 1:: Variation of parameters in shock tube testing

Incremental
ncremental increase of the air blast load is appropriate to validate subsequent numerical
simulations in different phases of damage. Therefore a configuration is tested several times, so
that following responses are attained varying the mass of the explosive:
Elastic behavior of the composite,

Failure of glass plies but intact interlayer
inter
and
Failure of glass and rupture of the interlayer.
3.3 Evaluation
Besides measuring signals the investigation of secondary debris and the finite state of the
damaged composite is of particular interest.
interest The areas of the surface on attack averted side
sid are
assigned to the damage categories
Intact,
Cracked glass without ejection of glass splinters,
splinters
Cracked glass with ejection of glass splinters, cohesive failure within glass layer,
layer
Cracked glass with ejection of glass splinters, adhesive failure at interface glassinterlayer and
Failure of glass and rupture of interlayer.
Intercepted glass splinters in rearward sections are collected, categorised by size and
weighed by specific section and category to determine the kinetic energy related to the areal
distribution of debris. Representative and peculiar splinters are examined microscopically at
random.
31
CONCLUSIONS
In this paper state of the art modelling of laminated glass under high dynamic loads is
presented. Simulation of phenomenological observations requires understanding of specific
material characteristics. Broad material testing of polymers with variable strain rate and
temperature needs to be undertaken as the polymeric interlayer strongly influences the response
of the laminate in the damaged state. Several numerical approaches are available and have to be
chosen dependent on the scope of analysis. The bond among composite layers will be explored
in own shock tube experiments to capture contact computationally.
REFERENCES
[1]
N. Gebbeken, T. Dge, Der Reflexionsfaktor bei der senkrechten Reflexion von Luftstowellen
an starren und nachgiebigen Materialien, Bauingenieur 2006, 81 (11), S. 496-503.
[2]
C. Kingery, G. Bulmash, Airblast parameters from TNT spherical air burst and hemispherical
surface burst, Tech. rep. Aberdeen Proving Ground, Defence Technical Information Center,
Ballistic Research Laboratory, Maryland, 1984.
[3]
J. Drake, L. Twisdale, R. Frank, W. Dass et al., Protective construction design manual, Tech.
Rep. ESL-TR-87e57, Tyndall Air Force Base, Air Force Engineering and Services Center,
Florida, 1989.
[4]
W. Baker, P. Cox, P. Westine et al., Explosion hazards and evaluation, Elsevier, Amsterdam
1983.
[5]
M. Larcher, G. Solomos, F. Casadei, N. Gebbeken, Experimental and numerical investigations of

laminated glass subjected to blast loading, In: International Journal of Impact Engineering 39
(2012), S. 42-50 - DOI 10.1016/j.ijimpeng.2011.09.006
[6]
G. Siebert, Berichte aus dem konstruktiven Ingenieurbau, 05/99: Beitrag zum Einsatz von Glas
als tragendes Bauteil im konstruktiven Ingenieurbau, Universitt der Bundeswehr Mnchen,
Mnchen, 1999.
[7]
A. Fink, Ein Beitrag zum Einsatz von Floatglas als dauerhaft tragender Konstruktionswerkstoff,
Technische Universitt Darmstadt, Diss., Darmstadt, 2000.
[8]
A. Kott, T. Vogel, IBK-Bericht. Bd. Nr. 296: Versuche zum Trag- und Resttragverhalten von
Verbundsicherheitsglas, vdf, Hochschulverlag an der ETH Zrich, Singen, 2006. - ISBN 978-37281-3073-0
[9]
C. Morison, The Resistance of laminated Glass to Blast Pressure Loading and the Coefficients
for Single Degree of Freedom Analysis of laminated Glass, Cranfield University - Defence
Academy of the United Kingdom, Diss., Cranfield, 2007.
[10] R. Iwasaki, C. Sato, J. L. Latailladeand, P. Viot, Experimental study on the interface fracture
toughness of PVB (polyvinyl butyral)/glass at high strain rates, In: International Journal of
Crashworthiness 12 (2007), Nr. 3, S. 293-298, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13588260701442249, DOI 10.1080/13588260701442249, - ISSN 1358-8265
[11] J. Bennison, G. Sloan, G., D. F. Kristunas et al., Laminated Glass for Blast Mitigation: Role of
Interlayer Properties. In: Glass Processing Days, S. 494-496, Tampere: Tamglass, 2005. - ISBN
9529186746
[12] F. Ensslen, Schriftenreihe des Instituts fr Konstruktiven Ingenieurbau. Bd. 8: Zum Tragverhalten
von Verbund-Sicherheitsglas unter Bercksichtigung der Alterung der Polyvinylbutyral-Folie,
Shaker, Aachen 2005. - ISBN 9783832244569
32
[13] V. Sackmann, Unteruchungen zur Dauerhaftigkeit des Schubverbunds in Verbundsicherheitsglas

mit unterschiedlichen Folien aus Polyvinylbutyral, Technische Universitt Mnchen, Diss.,
Mnchen, 2008.
[14] M. Larcher, F. Casadei, Explosions in complex geometries - a comparison of several
approaches, International Journal of Protective Structures 2010, 1(2), S. 169-95.
[15] S. Hiermaier, Numerische Simulation von Impaktvorgngen mit einer netzfreien
Lagrangemethode (Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics), Universitt der Bundeswehr Mnchen,
Diss., Mnchen, 1996.
[16] S. Kolling, A. Haufe, M. Feucht, P.A. Du Bois, A semianalytical model for the simulation of polymers, In: Proceedings of the 4th LS-DYNA Forum, A-II:27-52, 2005. - ISBN 3-86010-795-X
[17] M. Sauer, Berichte aus dem konstruktiven Ingenieurbau, 00/05: Adaptive Coupling of the MeshFree SPH-Method with Finite Elements for the Calculation of Impact Events, Universitt der
Bundeswehr Mnchen, Mnchen, 2000. - ISSN 1431-5122
[18] M. Teich, Interaction of Blast Waves with Flexible Structures, Universitt der Bundeswehr
Mnchen, Diss., Mnchen, 2011. - ISSN 1431-5122
[19] U. Keller, H. Mortelmans, Adhesion in Laminated Safety Glass - What makes it work? In: Glass
Processing Days, S. 353356, Tampere: Tamglass, 1999. - ISBN 952-91-0885-0
33
th
ON-LINE IMPACT LOAD IDENTIFICATION

FOR ADAPTIVE IMPACT ABSORPTION
Jan Holnicki-Szulc*, Krzysztof Sekua* and Cezary Graczykowski*
*
Institute of Fundamental Technological Research

Pawiskiego 5B, 02-106 Warsaw, Poland
e-mail: <holnicki@ippt.pan.pl> webpage: http://smart.ippt.pan.pl
Keywords: Impact Load Identification, Adaptive Impact Absorption, Real-time Systems
Abstract. The so-called Adaptive Impact Absorption (AIA) is a research area of

safety engineering devoted to problems of shock absorption in various
unpredictable scenarios of collisions. It makes use of smart technologies
including systems equipped with sensors, controllable dissipaters and specialized
tools for signal processing. One of the most challenging problems for AIA systems
is on-line identification of impact loads, which is crucial for introducing optimum
real-time strategy of adaptive impact absorption. This paper presents
development of methodology which enables real-time impact load identification. In
considered problem a dynamic excitation is generated by a mass M1 impacting
with initial velocity V0. An analytical formulation of the problem, corresponding
numerical simulations and experimental tests are presented. Two identification
algorithms based on measured response of the impacted structure are proposed
and thoroughly discussed. Finally, a concept of the AIA device utilizing the idea of
detecting device (the so called impactometer) is briefly described.
1
INTRODUCTION
1,2
The objective of this paper is related to the concept of Adaptive Impact Absorption (AIA) . An
AIA system is a structure equipped with control devices which modify its local structural
properties (e.g. local stiffness) in real-time in order to adapt the structure to the actual dynamic
loading. In AIA applications development of the optimal adaptation strategy requires information
about the characteristics of the impact loading and the value of the impact energy which has to
be dissipated. Therefore, the initial step of the adaptive impact absorption should be identification
of the impact loading.
Load identification constitutes an important type of engineering problems. It belongs to the
category of inverse problems since its objective is to determine the reason (load) on the basis of
the result (measured response). The above task is usually not trivial because in many cases
3
inverse identification problems are ill posed and solution cannot be found unambiguously. Many
techniques were developed in order to identify parameters of impact and dynamic excitations.
Generally identification techniques can be divided into three main categories: deterministic,
stochastic and based on artificial intelligence. The most frequent approach is identification of the
4
impact force. In paper , a brief review of methods used in the case of indirect impact force
___________________________________
Adaptronica Ltd., Szpitalna 32, 05-092 omianki, Poland, webpage: http://www.adaptronica.pl
35
Jan Holnicki
olnicki-Szulc, Krzysztof Sekua and Cezary Graczykowski
identification is presented. The article compares

co
various approaches for identification of the time
5
history of an impact force, its direction and location. In turn, the
he authors of give a detailed
overview of the on-line
line load identification techniques and their basic evaluation.
evaluation
This paper is focused on detection
detection of impact parameters which is understood as impacting
mass M1 and its initial velocity V0 identification. Taking into account the objective of this paper,
the crucial issue is the operation time criterion i.e. the time required for impact load parameters
paramete
detection. The identification techniques considered in this paper have to be performed in several
milliseconds to allow the AIA control procedure to be triggered in real-time.
real
Developed
identification algorithms utilize sensors, which are not directly fixed
f ixed to the impacting object. It is
justified by the practical aspects and potential application of the impactometer for unidentified
impacting objects parameters estimation.
More detailed analysis for developed methodologies can be found
f ound in the authors' journal
6
paper .
2
RESEARCH METODOLOGY
Impact tests have been performed using a free-fall

free fall drop test stand. The set-up
set
allows to
generate initial impact energy up to 1.5 kJ by a mass of 100 kg dropped from the height of 1.5 m.
The object was impacted into a pneumatic absorber equipped with set of sensors (see Fig. 1 a).
This absorber has been used as a prototype of the impactometer which is a detector dedicated
for real-time
time identification of impact parameters.
The considered impact types were limited to the collinear central collision between two rigid
bodies (i.e. falling mass and the piston rod of pneumatic absorber). A variety of impact scenarios
of this kind have been tested. The impact scenarios were defined by three parameters: the
impacting mass value,
lue, the velocity of the colliding object and the initial pressure inside the
pneumatic absorber. The range of the impacting mass was 10 kg 55 kg, while the relative imim
pact velocity was adjusted by the drop height, which was confined to the range of 0.05
0.0 m 0.5 m.
Pressure inside pneumatic cylinder was modified in the range of 0 kPa 400 kPa where 0 is
understood as the atmospheric pressure.
b.
a.
Figure 1: Considered mechanical system: a. experimental set-up,

set up, b. numerical model
2.2 Mathematical modeling
Mathematical model of described above pneumatic absorber (see Fig. 1b) was developed in
order to simulate its response to various impact scenarios, i.e. impacts of a rigid object of various
masses and initial velocities. The considered system consists of two rigid objects, the falling
mass and the piston, which are represented by two mechanical
mechanical degrees of freedom. Equations of
motion take the form:
36
Jan Holnicki-Szulc, Krzysztof Sekua and Cezary Graczykowski
d 2u1
M 1g + FC = 0
dt 2
(1)
d 2 u2
TOP
BOT
M 2 g FC + FP + FF FD + FD
=0
2
dt
(2)
M1
M2
where: M1, M2 are the masses of the falling object and the piston, while u1, u2 denote their
displacements and g is the gravitational acceleration. Equations (1) and (2) are coupled by the
contact force Fc acting between the falling mass and the piston rod, which is modeled as a
7
combination of springs and viscous dampers . Coulomb friction - based model is used to simulate
friction force FF between the piston and cylinder walls. Pneumatic force Fp is defined as the
difference of the pneumatic forces acting on both sides of the piston. Finally, in order to confine
the piston movement to the range determined by the cylinder geometry, the top and bottom delimiting forces were introduced.
2.2 Numerical and experiment results
The experimental drop tests have been performed for a better understanding of the impact
process and its dependency on particular parameters of impact. The collected measurements
have been used for validation of the numerical model and to test the effectiveness of the impact
identification algorithms. The developed methodologies make use of the force and acceleration
sensor measurements only. Nevertheless, other sensors, as well as the high-speed camera, were
utilized for the validation of the numerical model.
Selected cases of collision scenarios are presented in Fig. 2. The graphs illustrate both experimental measurements and simulation results of the contact force acting between the impacting mass and the piston rod. Characteristic change of contact force observed in the experiment
allows to divide the impact process into two separate stages (i.e. A, B) which were marked in
Fig.2:
the first one i.e. stage (A) when the piston rod rebounds from the falling mass and large
oscillations of the contact force occur,
the second one i.e. stage (B) during which the falling mass is moving downwards together
with the piston which results in a smooth change of the contact force.
Figure 2: Numerical and experimental results of contact force in time domain
37
IDENTIFICATION TECHNIQUES
Two algorithms for real-time identification of impact parameters (i.e. impact mass and velocity)
have been developed and verified experimentally and numerically: peak-to-peak" approach and
response map approach. Both methods operate in real-time and enable identification during the
initial milliseconds of impact. It makes them useful for potential future applications in adaptive impact
absorbing systems since non of them requires the sensors located in the impacting object.
4
IMPACT IDENTIFICATION BASED ON PEAK-TO-PEAK APPROACH
The first of the proposed approaches (the "peak-to-peak" method) uses two sensors (i.e.
contact force and piston acceleration) for a very fast identification, which is possible due to the
simplicity of the proposed procedure. The methodology is based on analytical formulation utilizing
the well-known mechanical principles.
4.1 The idea
As it was observed in experimental tests the impact process begins with several rebounds of the
piston and the falling mass (stage A). The rebounds are separated by short time periods during which
both objects remain in contact with each other. During these periods certain instants of time occur,
when the velocities of both colliding objects are equal.
Proposed method of impact identification is based on computing the time integral of the equation
of the impacting mass motion in the range defined by the time instants when the relative velocity of
01
11
colliding objects vanishes. Let us denote these characteristic time instants by t and t . In the
equations presented in this section the upper indices represent the instant of time while the lower
ones correspond to the colliding objects. Integration of the equation of motion of the falling mass
yields:
t11
t11
t11
M 1 u&&1dt M 1 gdt + FC (t )dt = 0

t 01
t 01
(3)
t 01
Taking the advantage of the fact that in the considered time instants the velocities of both objects
are equal, the velocities and accelerations of the falling mass can be replaced by the velocities and
accelerations of the piston:
t 11
t 11
F dt
F dt
t 01
(u&& g )dt
(V
11
1
F (t )dt
V101 ) gt
t 01
t 11
F (t )dt
M 1 = t11
t 11
(V
V201 ) gt
t 01
11
2
= t 11
t 01
(u&&
t 01
(4)
g )dt
t 01
01
11
The velocity of the impacting object at time instants t and t is determined basing on condition
that both velocities are equal. Hence the following equations can be introduced:
t 11
t 01
01
1
=V
01
2
= u&&2 dt
11
1
and
=V
11
2
= u&&2 dt
(5)
t 00
t 00
The formulae (4) and (5) can be utilized directly, if both the contact force and the acceleration of
the piston are measured.
4.2 Verification of the method
The proposed peak-to-peak identification method was verified experimentally and
numerically. The experimental verification makes use of measurements from two sensors (i.e.,
force sensor and accelerometer attached to the piston rod). Both measurements enable to
01
11
determine the time instants t and t and, further, to calculate mass of the impacting object and
its velocity by using the equations (4) and (5), respectively.
The impact mass identification was tested for a vast variety of impact scenarios defined by
impact mass, velocity and initial pressure. Exemplary results of identification in the case of the
initial pressure of 100 [kPa] are shown in Fig. 3. The graph presents in each case the exact value
of the mass and the identification error (i.e. the relative difference between the identified and
actual values). The results presented in Fig. 3 show a large diversity of identification errors. It is a
38
Jan Holnicki
olnicki-Szulc, Krzysztof Sekua and Cezary Graczykowski
consequence of the strong sensitivity of the method to measurements inaccuracy which is

especially apparent for small initial pressure and large mass of the impacting object.
Figure 3: Mass identification precision (experimental results for initial pressure 100 kPa)
The identification of the velocity was tested experimentally by using integration of the piston
rod acceleration (Eq. 5). The method uses the assumption of the equality of velocities of the
01
11
colliding objects at time instants t and/or t . Although the velocity
ity can be identified at time
01
11
instant t , the time instant t was additionally used since then the impacting object mass can be
identified and impact energy can be calculated. For the verification purposes the determination of
the actual velocity was performed
formed by an analysis of a movie taken by the highhigh-speed camera. The
identification results are shown in Fig. 4.. The accuracy is consistently better than 2% and no
significant influence of the initial condition was observed.
observed
Figure 4: Velocity identification precision: (left) initial pressure 20 kPa,

(right) initial pressure 100 kPa
The numerical model presented before was used to perform a statistical analysis of mass
identification error and to investigate
investigate the influence of selected parameters. The analyses were
focused rather on qualitative than quantitative effects. In order to obtain more representative results,
the average identification error for 125 impact cases (impact mass 10-50
10 50 [kg], impact velocity
velocit 1-3
[m/s], initial pressure 20-400
400 [kPa]) was calculated.
The proposed methodology turns out to be sensitive to impact conditions. Fig. 5 presents the
influence of impact mass, velocity and initial pressure on the mean identification error. More accurate
results were obtained for smaller masses of the impacting object, which can be explained by an
analysis of the ratio of the falling mass to the piston rod mass. A smaller ratio leads to a larger change
of velocity of the dropped mass in the first phase of the impact process. As a consequence, the
39
identification procedure seems to be less sensitive to measurements noise in the case of small
impacting masses. The second aspect noticed from the statistical analysis is that a higher initial
pressure in the pneumatic absorber leads to more accurate results. Contrary to the mentioned
parameters, the velocity effect was not significant, even if the precision slightly increased together
with the impact velocity.
a.
b.
c.
Figure 5: Average error of mass identification in dependence on: a. falling mass, b. initial pressure, c.
impact velocity
Further, the sensitivity of the proposed methodology to these disturbances has been analyzed. In
the numerical experiments, the noise-free simulation results were disturbed by random Gaussian
noise in the range of 0-10 [%], which was defined as the root mean square value of the original signal.
The results are presented in Fig. 6, where the force, acceleration and both quantities were disturbed.
Each point in the graph presents the mean identification error for 125 impact cases (defined by
various masses, velocities and pressures). Despite the large number of tests, apparently random
values of identification errors were obtained. The noise in the force signal was found to have a larger
influence on mass identification error than the noise in the acceleration signal. It was noticed that the
01
11
crucial task is the proper determination of the instants t and t , which are obtained on the basis of
01
11
the force signal. Hence, disturbances in the force signal lead to inaccurate determination of t and t
and as a consequence, to errors in mass identification.
Figure 6: Error of mass identification as a function of signal noise: a. force signal noise, b.
acceleration signal noise, c. both signals noise.
Finally, the influence of sampling frequency on the identification error has been analyzed. The
results presented in Fig. 7 clearly reveal the importance of this parameter. As expected, higher
sampling frequency enables to obtain more accurate results. Good results (i.e. mean error below 5%)
are obtained for the sampling frequencies exceeding 30-40 kHz. Unfortunately, even in this case
40
extreme outliers (i.e. approx. 20%) can be observed. A general conclusion might be drawn that the
methodology requires a high sampling frequency of 50 kHz or more.
Figure 7: Error of mass identification as a function of sampling frequency

5
IMPACT IDENTIFICATION BASED ON RESPONSE MAP APPROACH
The methodology proposed in this section is focused on the maximum simplicity of the data
acquisition set-up, i.e. application of an algorithm which utilizes measurements from one sensor
only. Besides, the aim was to decrease the computational cost, which is crucial, as the device
has to respond immediately in order to fulfill the deadline condition.
5.1 The idea
The proposed method can be classified into the group of pattern recognition techniques. The
identification is performed based on a formerly prepared database of measured dynamic responses
caused by various impact scenarios applied to the considered structure. The actually measured
dynamic response is compared with the responses stored in the database. The methodology can be
classified as model-free because the structural model is not required in the identification stage.
The objective of identification is to determine the impact parameters (mass and initial velocity of
the impacting body) for which the structural response is the most similar to the actually measured
response. The identification is based on a pre-fetched database (called the response map) which
gathers selected characteristic parameters of the measured structural responses Y1, Y2, . . . , Ym (e.g.
signal amplitude, its period etc.) that correspond to various parameters of the applied loading x1, x2, . .
. , xn (e.g. mass, impact velocity, etc.).
The approach consists of two main steps. In the first step, the database is generated, which can
be performed either via a calibrated numerical model of the structure or by experimental tests. The
second step is real-time impact identification. Measurement of the actual response is performed and
compared with the measurements stored in the database.
The proposed approach leads to an optimization problem in which the discrepancy between the
M
actually measured response Yi and the stored responses Yi is minimized. With the normalized least
squares discrepancy measure, the objective function to be minimized takes the following form:
Y M Yi ( x1 , x2 ,..., xn )
L( x1 , x2 ,..., xn ) = i
Yi M
i =1
(6)
and the corresponding optimization problem relies on minimization of the objective function over
impact parameters x1, x2, . . . , xn. The number of parameters to be identified, denoted by n, is limited
by the number m of the parameters used for identification: n m .
In the considered case two parameters (i.e. falling objects mass M1 x1 and its impact velocity
V1 x2) had to be identified by using a single measurement from the force sensor. Therefore, in order
to construct the response maps, at least two characteristic quantities had to be extracted from each
single measurement. The selected quantities were either the amplitudes of the two first peaks of the
41
force signal or, alternatively, maximum value of force and its time integral in the considered time
interval. For the given response maps, the impact identification procedure utilizes the error function
defined as:
Y M Y1 (M 1 ,V1 ) Y2M Y2 (M 1 ,V1 )

f M 1 ,V1 = 1
+
Y1M
Y2M
(7)
where: M1 and V1 are the impact parameters to be identified, Y1 (M1, V1) and Y2 (M1, V1) are obtained
M
M
from the response maps for the specific values of M1 and V1, while Y1 and Y2 denote the actually
measured values.
5.2 Verification of the response map approach
The verification of the method was focused on the sensitivity analysis and it was performed on
the basis of numerical simulations. Two features of the proposed procedure were considered:
identification error and computational cost.
The response map was built using the results obtained for 100 different impact scenarios (10
impacting masses 10-50 kg and 10 impact velocities determined by the drop height 5-50 cm),
while the initial pressure was not altered. Hence, the database was originally of the size 10x10
and utilized two parameters. The approach was tested by using 10 randomly selected impacts.
An important problem to be considered is the minimal size of the database which guarantees
acceptable identification accuracy. The database size was numerically increased by interpolation. Nine databases (25x25, 50x50, 100x100, 250x250, 500x500, 1000x1000, 2000x2000,
2500x2500 and 3000x3000) were obtained.
The graphs shown in Fig. 8 present the average identification error and the computational cost of
identification of impacting mass (Fig. 8a) and impact velocity (Fig. 8b) as functions of the database
size. Here, amplitudes of the first two peaks of the contact force in the first stage of the impact
process were used as characteristic parameters. In each case, the accuracy of velocity identification
turns out to be much higher (about 5-10 times) than the accuracy of mass identification. It is the result
of the different sensitivity of the measured contact force on both parameters. In general, the accuracy
of the response map approach increases together with the database size. Nevertheless, the
computation time increases significantly as well. Hence, the identification process for large databases
became impractical with regard to the deadline condition. For databases larger than 3000x3000
6
(910 of mass-velocity variants) the computational cost exceeded 350 ms for a modern PC. As a
consequence, the 500x500 database has been used to guarantee an acceptable identification
accuracy and to keep the computational cost low.
Figure 8: Identification error and time as functions of database size: mass identification (left), velocity
identification (right)
Next, the maximum value of the contact force and its integral in a certain time interval were used
as characteristic parameters to build the database. A significant influence of the integration interval
length on the identification error was found. The results obtained for the database 50x50 are shown
42
in Fig. 9. The accuracy increases together with the length of the time interval and this effect is the
most significant for smaller databases. On a contrary, in the case of velocity identification, the
obtained precision is insensitive to the length of the integration interval.
Figure 9: Identification error as a function of analyzed force signal length: mass identification (left),
velocity identification (right).
6
THE CONCEPT OF THE AIA DEVICE
The conducted research enables to propose a concept of the device which utilizes the developed on-line identification methods. Such a device contains a gas spring, which can be switched
to a pneumatic absorber (via controlled opening of pressure release valve), and thus is capable
of dissipating impact energy in controlled manner. A simplified scheme of the impactometer
together with the pneumatic adaptive impact absorption device is shown in Fig. 10. The force
sensor F and the accelerometer A are used for the identification of impact parameters and
together with the gas spring and the control system CS, are the main part of the impactometer.
The pressure sensors P1 and P2 are used for the measurement of the pressure in the chambers
V1 and V2 and together with the control system CS and controllable valve Z are the main parts
of the AIA system.
The theoretical effectiveness of an AIA system which utilizes impactometer-based impact
identification is shown in Fig. 10 b. Three force histories are presented: i) the case when the
valve remains closed during the impact process, ii) the case with constant optimum valve opening and finally iii) the case of real-time control of the gas flow. Both considered adaptation
strategies enable to reduce the contact force observed in the second stage of collision and so to
decrease the deceleration acting on the colliding object. The second of the applied strategies
(real-time control of the gas flow) allows to obtain optimal, constant level of the deceleration
during the entire second stage of impact.
Figure 10: Adaptive impact absorption system equipped with the Impactometer device: a. scheme of
the proposed system, b. numerical example of an impact scenario
43
SUMMARY
The paper presents an analysis of the process of a rigid body impact into a pneumatic
cylinder. The impact drop tests were performed experimentally and a numerical model of the
impact process was developed. A wide variety of impact scenarios have been tested and its
range has been numerically extrapolated. Various properties of contact element in collision region
were investigated. Two algorithms for real-time impact load (i.e. impact mass, velocity) identification have been demonstrated (in Sections 4 and 5). Both algorithms operate in real-time and enable identification of impact during its initial milliseconds. It makes them useful for potential future
applications in adaptive impact absorbing systems.
The first of the proposed approaches (the peak-to-peak method) uses two sensors (contact
force and piston acceleration) for a very fast identification). On the other hand, the method requires high sampling frequency and almost noise-free measurement data. Precision of the identification was found to be sensitive to the internal parameters of the impactometer. An acceptable precision was obtained when the mass of the impacting object was comparable to the mass
of the piston rod (within the range of one order of magnitude) and for high pressures inside the
cylinder.
The second of the proposed methods (the "response-map" approach) is based on single
measurement only (contact force), however it requires initial preparation of the database. It can
be obtained either by multiple experimental tests or by numerical simulations. The "responsemap" approach requires longer identification time than the "peak-to-peak" approach, but the
results are more precise. The mean value of identification errors as well as their deviations
decrease for larger databases, however at the cost of the identification time. Independently on
the identification method, accurate velocity identification is much easier to perform than accurate
mass identification.
8
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This project was partially financed from the funds of the National Science Centre allocated on
the basis of decision number DEC-2012/05/B/ST8/02971.
REFERENCES
[1] J. Holnicki-Szulc, editor. Smart Technologies for Safety Engineering. Wiley, 2008, ISBN 978-0-470
05846-6(HB).
[2] X. Zhang, Conceptual Study of Adaptive Energy Absorbers. PhD thesis, The Hong Kong University
of Science and Technology, 2009.
[3] T. Uhl, The inverse identification problem and its technical application. Archive Applied Mechanics,
77:325337, 2007.
[4] H. Inoue, J.J. Harrigan, S.R. Reid. Review of inverse analysis for indirect measurement of impact
force. Appl. Mech. Rev. 2001. 54pp. 503524, doi: 10.1115/1.1420194.
[5] M. Klinkov, C.P. Fritzen. An updated comparison of the force reconstruction methods. Key
Engineering Materials 2007, 347 pp 461466.
[6] K. Sekua, C. Graczykowski, J. Holnicki-Szulc, On-line impact load identification, Shock and
Vibration, Vol.20, No.1, pp. 123-141, 2013
[7] W.J. Stronge, Impact Mechanics, Cambridge University Press, 2002; ISBN: 0-521-63286-2.
44
th
PROTECTIVE STEEL STRUCTURES AGAINST WOODEN

DEBRIS HAZARDS
Nobutaka Ishikawa*, Hajime Shibuya, Satoshi Katsuki and Takahisa Mizuyama
*
Professor Emeritus of National Defense Academy, Japan

(Research Association for Steel Sabo Structures, Japan)
e-mail: <cgishikawa@m4.dion.ne.jp> webpage: http://www.koseisabo.gr.jp/
Keywords: wooden debris, trap performance, slit dam, a new DEM, cylindrical stick
element
Abstract. This paper presents a fundamental new approach at looking at protective

structures (slit dams) against wooden debris hazards. First, a model test was
performed to examine the trap performance of slit dams against wooden debris.
Herein, the relationship between the length of wooden debris and the gap between
slit dams was investigated on trap performance. Second, a new DEM (Distinct
Element Method) was developed to simulate the trap performance of wooden debris
with or without roots by using the three dimensional (3D) analysis introducing
cylindrical stick elements. Finally, a new DEM was applied to simulate the actual
wooden debris disaster site in Hiroshima, Japan.
1
INTRODUCTION
In recent years, many natural disasters have occurred in various places of the world, including
typhoons, tsunamis, floods, snow storms, avalanches, landslides, debris flows, earthquakes and
volcanic eruptions. Such natural catastrophes can cause human injuries, loss of life, economic
devastation, and the destruction of construction works as well as cultural and natural heritage sites.
Debris flow hazards have increased through local downpours of rain, because of the seasonal rainfall
[1,2].
[3,4]
or typhoon
In particular, wooden debris hazards
have eroded the upper streams of many banks,
which have led to an increase of removal costs of wooden debris in the dam reservoirs and general
damage to the dam site. The blockage generated from the bridge has exacerbated the damage dealt
to houses and to peoples well-being, as shown in Figs.1 and 2.
.
Figure1: Blockage generated from the bridge
Figure 2: Damage dealt to houses
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National Defence Academy, Japan
Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Japan

45
N. Ishikawa, H. Shibuya, S. Katsuki and T. Mizuyama
Wooden debris is caused by the outflow of standing trees, fallen trees, cut trees as well as debris from
[3].
houses and bridges
[5,6,7]
To defend against the wooden debris hazards, steel slit dams
as shown in Figs.3 and 4, have
Figure 3:Trap performance against wooden debris
Figure 4: Gap width (W) of a slit dam
been advocated to be built in upstream areas. The current design code [8] of steel slit dams stipulates
that the ratio between the gap width (W) and the maximum length (lmax ) of wooden debris should be
[9,10,11]
less than 1/2 as shown in Fig.4. Many studies
have been devoted to wooden debris flow and the
countermeasures against them. However, the effects of the average length of wooden debris, the
gaps of slit dams, flow volume and the roots of wooden debris have not been investigated yet on the
trap performance. Furthermore, a computational method with wooden debris has not yet been
developed for the slit dams trap performance.
This paper presents a basic approach on trap performance of wooden debris from both an
experimental and computational points of views. First, a trap performance test was performed for
[12,13,14]
.
wooden debris by changing the length of wooden debris and the gap width of the slit dams
Second, a new DEM was developed for the trap performance of wooden debris by introducing
[15,16]
[17]
cylindrical stick elements
into the usual DEM
. Finally, the new developed DEM was applied to
[18]
the trap simulation of an actual disaster site of wooden debris in Hiroshima, Japan .
2
MODEL TEST FOR TRAP PERFORMANCE

W
2.1 Outline of the model test

The model test was performed by using the channel with a
length of 4m, a width of 0.3m and a height of 0.5m which can
change the slope of 0~20 as shown in Fig.5. The water was
supplied by a line pump and cistern. The wooden debris was
dropped by using the conveyer belt.
Figure 6: Slit dam model
Dropping of wooden debris
Slit
dam model
4350
500
1250
500
600
500
d=3mm
Figure 7: Wooden debris model

(d=3mm)
Figure 5: Model test set-up

2.2 Test conditions
The Froude similarity scale law was applied to this test with the scale factor of 1/50. The test cases
are shown in Table 1. Test series I is to examine the effect of the maximum length of wooden debris
and the gap of a slit dam on the trap performance. Test series II is to investigate the effects of flow
volume and channel slope on the trap performance. Test series III is to examine the effects of
average length and the gap of a slit dam on the trap performance.
46
N. Ishikawa, H. Shibuya, S. Katsuki and T. Mizuyama
2.3 Slit dam model

A slit dam model with scale factor of 1/50 for trapping of wooden debris was made by wooden
columns with a diameter (d ) of 10mm and a height of 4cm as shown in Fig.6. The gap ratio (W/lmax) of
the slit dam was changed by the test case as shown in Table 1.
2.4 Wooden debris model
Three kinds of wooden debris model were made with lengths of 6cm,12cm,18cm as shown in Fig.7
and two kinds with diameters of 3mm and 6mm. Therefore in total, there were six kinds of wooden
debris models in which the specific gravity was 0.8-0.95 for the test.
Table 1: Test case
Series
Gap ratio
W/lmax
Max.length
lmax (cm)
1/5
1/3
1/2
3/4
(a)18
(b)12
(c )6
4/5
(d)18
(e)12
Average
length
lmean (cm)
Same as
max.length
II
1/2
12
III
1/5
1/4
1/3
1/2
18
Same as
max.length
12
10
8
Flow
volume
Q (/s)
Slope
()
No. of
cases
2.7
28
5.6
2.7
5
3
1
6
3
2.7
24
Diameter
d (mm)
(i) 6
(ii)3
2.5 Test Results

2.5.1
The effect of gap ratio (W/lmax) on trap performance (Series I)
Figure 8 shows the effect of gap ratio (W/lmax) on the trap performance in the case of the maximum
length (lmax) of 12cm and the diameter (d ) of 3mm. It was found that the number of trapped wooden
debris decreases as the gap ratio (W/lmax) increases.
Figures 9 (a) and (b) illustrate the effect of gap ratio (W/lmax) on the trap ratio in cases of diameters
of 3mm and 6mm, respectively. It was confirmed that the trap ratio generally decreases as the gap
ratio increases, although the trap ratio with a diameter of 6mm is a little larger than the one of 3mm.
(a) W/lmax=1/5
(b) W/lmax=1/3
(c) W/lmax=1/2
Figure 8: The effect of gap ratio (W/lmax) on trap performance

(Series I-(b)-(ii): lmax = 12cm and d = 3mm
47
(d) W/lmax=3/4
N.Ishikawa, H.Shibuya, S.Katsuki and T.Mizuyama
2.5.2
The effect of flow volume Q (/s) on trap performance (Series II)
Figures 10 and 11 show trap processes in cases of flow volume Q =2.7/s and Q=5.6/s,
o
respectively, at a channel slope = 3 . In these figures, t0 represents the arrival time of the 1st
wooden debris.
In the case of Q =2.7/s as shown in Fig.10, once a little wooden debris was trapped by the slit
dam, successive wooden debris were captured due to the smaller flow volume. However, in the case
of Q =5.6/s as shown in Fig.11, it was observed that amassed wooden debris crumbled due to the
fluctuation of waters surface, and the scattered wooden fragments overflowed and slipped through
the slit dam due to the high flow velocity.
(a)
t = t0 s
(b)
t = t0+0.3 s
(c)
t = t0+0.6 s
(d)
t = t0+0.9 s
(e)
t = t0+1.2 s
(f)
t = t0+1.5 s
(g)
t = t0+1.8 s
(h)
t = t0+2.1 s
(i)
t = t0+2.4 s
(j)
t = t0+2.7 s
(k)
t = t0+3.0 s
(l)
t = t0+3.3 s
(p)
t = t0+4.5 s
(m)
t = t0+3.6 s
(a)
(n) t = t0+3.9 s
(o) t = t0+4.2 s
Figure 10: Trap process of flow volume Q=2.7/s
t = t0 s
(b)
t = t0+0.3 s
(c)
t = t0+0.6 s
(d)
t = t0+0.9 s
(e)
t = t0+1.2 s
(f)
t = t0+1.5 s
(g)
t = t0+1.8 s
(h)
t = t0+2.1 s
(i)
t = t0+2.4 s
(j)
t = t0+2.7 s
(k)
t = t0+3.0 s
(l)
t = t0+3.3 s
(p)
t = t0+4.5 s
(m)
t = t0+3.6 s
(n) t = t0+3.9 s
(o) t = t0+4.2 s
Figure 11: Trap process of flow volume Q=5.6/s
48
Figure 12 shows the effect of the flow volume Q (/s) on the final trap performance at the channel
o
slope ( ( = 3 ) . It was found that the trap performance of the smaller flow volume (Q =2.7/s) was
better than the one of the larger one (Q =5.6/s), because the fluctuation of waters surface occurred
due to the larger flow volume (Q =5.6/s) and, as such, scattered wooden fragments overflowed and
slipped through a slit dam as mentioned above.
(a)
Q =2.7 /s
(b)
Q =5.6 /s
Figure 12: The effect of flow volume Q (/s) on trap performance

The effect of channel slope( ) on trap ratio (Series II)
Figure 13 illustrates the effect of the channel slope( ) on the

trap ratio by changing flow volume as a parameter. It was
confirmed that the trap ratio decreases as the channel slope( )
increases and the flow volume(Q) increases. This is because the
flow velocity increases and, therefore, the amassed wooden
wreckage was untangled, overflowed or slipped through the slit
dam.
100
80
Trap ratio(%)
(%)
2.5.3
60
Q=2.7/s
40
Q=5.6/
20
0
2.5.4
The effect of average length on trap performance

(Series III)

Channel
slope
()
Figure13: The effect of channel slope ( )

on trap ratio
Figure 14 shows the effect of average length on the trap
performance, in the case of the average length of 10cm
( (18cm10 +12cm47 +6cm43 )/ 100=10cm ). It was found that the trap performance of average
length became worse than the one of constant length (Fig.8) with the increase of gap ratio. This is
because short sticks, 6cm in average length, were not captured by a slit dam.
(a)
W/lmax=1/5
(b) W/lmax=1/4
(c) W/lmax=1/3
(d)
Figure 14: The effect of average length on trap performance
(Series III: average length of 10cm, d=3mm)
W/lmax=1/2
2.5.5 The effect of average length on trap ratio (Series III)

Figures15 (a) and (b) represent the effect of average length (lmean) on trap ratio at the diameters of
3mm and 6mm, respectively. In the case of the average length of lmean =8cm ((18cm10+ 12cm13 +
6cm77) /100=8cm), the trap ratio is less than 20% as shown in Fig.15 (a), because of too much
short length of wooden debris. While in the cases of the average length of 10cm and 12cm, the trap
ratios increase as the increase of average length within the range of gap ratio of W/lmax=1/3. The
trap ratio with the diameter of 6mm as shown in Fig.15(b) increases rather than the one with the
diameter of 3mm as shown in Fig.15 (b). This may be due to the larger volume of wooden debris.
It should be noted that the trap ratios of the gap ratio (W/lmax=0.2) with the average length in
Figs.15 (a) and (b) are almost the same as the ones of the gap ratio (W/lmax=0.5) with the maximum
length in Figs.9 (a) and (b), respectively. This means that the average length includes a short length
of wooden debris and, as such, the gap ratio should be narrowed in order to obtain the same trap
ratio.
49
100
100
80
80
60
Trap
ratio(%)
(%)
Trap ratio(%)
(%)
lmean=8cm
lmean=10cm
lmean=12cm
40
20
60
lmean=8cm
lmean=10cm
lmean=12cm
40
20
0
0
0.25
0.5
0.75
W/lmax
Gap
ratio W/lmax
(a) Diameter 3mm
0.25
0.5
0.75
W/lmax
Gap ratio W/l
max
(b) Diameter 6mm
Figure15: The effect of average length on trap ratioSeries III

2.6 Trap mechanism of wooden debris
The trap mechanisms of wooden debris were considered by the test processes of trap
formation, as follows.
(1) More than two columns are needed in order to capture a wooden debris.
(2) It is important to make a trigger for the trap in order to catch successive wooden debris.
(3) It is necessary to tangle an amassed wooden debris in order to trap successive wooden debris.
3. COMPUTATIONAL METHOD FOR TRAP PERFORMACE OF WOODEN DEBRIS [15,16]
3.1 A New DEM
A new DEM was developed by introducing the cylindrical stick elements for wooden debris as
shown in Figs.16 and 17.
The translation motion is expressed as follows.
&&(t) + Du& (t) + fK (u(t)) = fex (t)

Mu
(1)
f ex (t ) = Mg + f W (t )
(2)
whereMmass matrixDdamping matrix

fKequivalent spring force vectorudispalcement vector
fex external force vectorggravity acceleration vector
fWflow force
slider
Figure16: Springs between

cylindrical stick elements
The equation of rotational motion can be also represented as follows.
~
~
~
~
~ ~&
~
I (t ) P (t ) (t ) + M D (t ) + M k (t ) = M ex (t ) (3)
~
~
M ex (t ) = M W (t )
(4)
whereIinertia moment matrixrotational velocity vector

Protational momentum vectorMk, MDequivalent moments due
to spring and dash-pot, respectivelyMexexternal moment vector
MWmoment due to flow force
3.2 Flow force due to flow velocity distribution
Figure 17: Contact between sides of

stick elements
The flow force is expressed as Eq.(5) by reffering to the flow velocity distribution UijUijT = [Uxij,
Uyij, Uzij] as shown in Fig. 18.
50
f Wij
u& Rxij u& Rxij
1
= CD w j Aij u& Ryij u& Ryij
2
u& Rzij u& Rzij
+ f Bij
(5)
whereCDdrag coefficient, density of waterwjweight of integral point jAijprojection area

to flow direction of element i at integral point j u& Rxij u& Ryij u& Rzij relative velocity vectors of x, y, z
axis of element i at integral point j, fBijbuonyancy vector of element i at integral point j
Flow section
turbulence
Flow section
Figure 18: Flow velocity distribution

The effect of fluctuation on the waters surface was introduced as a probabilistic variable based on the
normal distribution of vertical flow velocity [15,16] .
3.3 Computational resutls
3.3.1 Input data
The input data was adopted as shown in Table 2. The spring constant of normal direction Kn was
determined by the compressive test of wooden debris and the one of tangential direction Ks was
obtained by using the propagation velocity of elastic wave as follows.
Ks
G
1 2
=
=
K n + 2G 2(1 )
(6)
where, G, constants of Lame (=0.4 for cedar): Poissons ratio.

Table 2: Input Data
channel
Flow
Wooden
element
Spring
Computation
condition
Item
Slope
Length
Width
Intial velocity U0
Initial depth h0
Drag coefficient CD
Number of element
Density
Normal
direction Kn
Spring
constant
Tangential
direction Ks
Damping constant h
Cohesive coefficient c
Friction coeffient tan
Time increment t
51
value
3
3m
0.3 m
0.8 m/s
8 mm
1.0
100
950 kg/m3
1.0106 N/m
1.5105 N/m
0.2
0N
0.404
1.010-7 s
3.3.2 Flow process

Figure 19 shows the comparison between
test and computation of flow process of wooden
debris in the cases of lmax=6cm and W/lmax=1/2
from the arrival time (t0s) of the first wooden
debris to the time of 5.0s. It was found that the
computational results were the same as the test
results. Particulaly, some wooden debris slipped
through the slit dam at the time of t = t0 + 1.0 s
as shown in Fig.19 (b) and trapped at the time of
t = t0 + 2.0 s as shown in Fig.19(c). An amassed
wooden debris was trapped from the time of t =
t0 + 3.0 s to the time of t = t0 + 5.0 s, as shown in
Fig.19(d)-(f).
(a)
t = t0 s
(b)
t = t0 + 1.0 s
(c)
t = t0 + 2.0 s
(d)
t = t0 + 3.0 s
(e)
t = t0 + 4.0 s
3.3.3 The effect of gap ratio on trap ratio

Figure 20 represents the computational
results of relationship between the trap ratio and
the gap ratio of slit dam in the case of d=3mm. It
was recognized that the trap ratio decreases as
the gap ratio increases. This quantitative
tendency was also coincided with the test
results as shown in Fig.9(a). In particular, the
trap rario of lmax =6cm fairly decreases as the
gap ratio increases. While the trap ratios of lmax
=12cm and 18cm were larger than 50% within
W/lmax=3/4 and these results were almost the
same as the test results, as shown in Fig.9 (a).
100
Trap
ratio (%)(%)
80
60
l = 6cm
l = 12cm
40
l = 18cm
20
0
0
0.25
0.5
0.75
(A) Test
Gap
ratio W/lmax W/lmax
(f)
t = t0 + 5.0 s
(B) Computation
Figure 19: Trap process of wooden debris

(lmax =6cm, W/lmax=1/2
Figure 20: Computational results:

The effect of gap ratio on trap ratio
(d=3mm)
3.3.4 Comparison between test and computation for trap performance

Figure 21 illustrates the comparison between test and computation for trap performance in the
cases of lmax=6cm and W/lmax=1/5, 1/3, 1/2, 3/4. It was also confirmed that the computational results
of W/lmax=1/2 and 3/4 did not catch all wooden debris in a similar way to the test resluts, as shown in
Fig.21(c) and (d). The computational results at W/lmax=1/5 and 1/3, as shown in Fig.21 (a) and (b)
captured an amassed wooden debris and this tendency showed matched the test results.
52
Computation
Test
(a) W/lmax=1/5
(b) W/lmax = 1/3
(c) W/lmax= 1/2
(d) W/lmax= 3/4
Figure 21: Comparison between test and computation of trap performance (lmax=6cm)
3.3.5 The effect of wooden debris with roots

In order to examine the effect of wooden debris with roots, a model test was also conducted by
using the specimen as shown in Fig.22(a) and a computation was also performed by using models as
shown in Fig.22(b). Nine tests and computations were executed as shown in Table 3.
(a) Test model

(b) Computation model
Figure 22: Wooden debris model with roots
Table 3: Cases of wooden debris with roots
Trap ratio (W/lmax)
1/3
1/2
3/4
Length l (cm)
6
12
18
Case
9
(1) Comparison between test and computation on trap process by wooden debris with roots
Figure 23 shows the comparison between test and computation of trap performance using wooden
debris with roots. The time t0 means the arrival time of the first wooden debris. First, the blockage of
the slit dam was occurred due to the scattered wooden fragments, as shown in Figs.23(a) and (b) and
then, the level of amassed wooden debris became higher with a rising of the water level, as shown in
Figs.23(c) and (d). Successive wooden debris sedimented in the upper stream,as shown in
Figs.23(e)-(f). This computational tendency showed the same result as the test.
(2) Comparison between test and computation on trap performance of wooden debris with roots
Figure 24 illustrates the effect of roots of wooden debris on trap performance. It was obvious that
the trap performance of the gap ratio of W/lmax=3/4 as shown in Fig.24(c) was better than the case of
wooden debris without roots, as shown in Fig.21(d). This is due to the roots, which can easily tangle
with columns. The computational results almost coincided with the test.
(3) Comparison between test and computation on trap ratio of wooden debris with roots
Figure 25 represents the effect of gap ratio on trap ratio, comparing the test with the computation
of wooden debris with roots. It was apparent that the trap ratios of wooden debris with roots increase
rather than the ones without roots, as shown in Fig.9 and Fig.20. It should be noted that the
computational results mirror the test results.
53
(a)
t = t0 +1.0 s
(b)
t = t0 +2.0 s
(c)
t = t0 +3.0 s
(d)
t = t0 +4.0 s
(e)
t = t0 +5.0 s
(f) t = t0 +6.0 s
Computation
Test
(A)Test
(B) Computation
Figure 23: Trap process of wooden debris with roots
(a) W/lmax=1/3
(b) W/lmax=1/2
(c) W/lmax=3/4
Figure 24: Comparison between test and computation of wooden debris with roots
(lmax=6cm)
54
100
80
80
60
l = 6cm
l = 12cm
l = 18cm
40
20
(%)
100
Trap ratio (%)
Trap
ratio (%)
(%)
60
l = 6cm
l = 12cm
l = 18cm
40
20
0
0
0
0.25
0.5
0.75
0.25
0.5
0.75
Gap
ratio W/lmax
W/lmax
W/lmax
Gap
ratio W/lmax
(b) Test
(b) Computation
Figure 25: The effect of gap ratio on trap ratio in case of wooden debris with roots
4. APPLICATION TO AN ACTUAL BROCKAGE DISASTER CAUSED BY WOODEN
DEBRIS
The brockage of this bridge by scatterd wooden fragments occurred due to a local downpour
in Shobara city,Hiroshima, Japan on 16 July 2010 as shown in Fig.24 [18].
The rain which fell on 15 and 16 July were 259mm and 125mm,respectvely, and, as such, the
total flow volume was computed as Qp = 110.8 m3/s. It was considered that amassed of wooden
debris blocked the Bridge B through the Bridge A, as shown in Fig.27. In order to simulate such a
brockage disaster, the new developed DEM was applied to simulate the blockage of bridge by
using the scenario in Fig.27 and the input data as depicted in Table 4 .
Bridge A
Bridge B
Figure 26: Wooden debris disater
Figure 27: Situation of two bridges
Table 4: Input data for actual wooden debris disaster
Flow water
Element of
wooden
debris
Spring
between
elements
Computing
condition
Item
Coefficient of roughness n
Drag coefficient CD
No. of element
Average length lmean
Average diameter dmean
Density
Normal
direction Kn
Spring
constant
Tangential
direction Ks
Damping coefficient h
Cohesion c
Friction tan
Time increment t
55
value
0.04 m1/3/s
1.0
500
6.1 m
25.1 cm
950 kg/m3
7
1.010 N/m
1.5106 N/m
0.2
0N
0.404
2.010-5 s
(a)
(b)
t0-5 s
t0 s
(c)
t0+5 s
(d)
t0+10 s
(e)
t0+15 s
(f)
t0+20 s
(g)
t0+25 s
(h)
t0+30 s
(i)
t0+35 s
(j)
t0+40 s
(k)
t0+45 s
(l)
t0+50 s
Figure 28: Bridge blockage simulation against actual wooden debris
110 m3/s 2.8 /s
(a) From
down stream
(b) From
up stream
Actual
disaster
Computation
Figure 29: Bridge brockage disaster by wooden debris
56
10
Figure 28 shows the computational results of bridge blockage simulation against actual wooden
debris by using the new DEM. It was found that an amassed debris flow was trapped by Bridge B
from the time of t0+15 s to the time of t0+40 s and no outflow of wooden debris occrred from the time
t0+45 s to the time of t0+50 s.
The final trapping states of the computarion were obtained (a) from the down stream and (b) from
the up stream as shown in Fig.29 which compares with the actual disaster. It was recoginized that the
final states of trapped wooden debris in the computation were similar to the actual disaster.
If the two columns are placed in front the Bridge A, then an amassed wooden debris would be
trapped, as illustrated in Fig.30.
Bridge A
Bridge B
Figure 30: Scenario if the trap columns are placed in front of the Bridge A
flow volume Q=110m3/s
5. CONCLUSIONS
The following conclusions were drawn from this study.
(1) It was confirmed that the trap ratio of wooden debris decreases as the gap ratio of the slit
dam increases by performing the model test.
(2) It was found that the trap performance of a smaller flow volume of Q =2.7/s was better than
the one of a larger flow volume of Q =5.6/s, becuase a fluctuation of waters sarface
occurred and made the wooden fragments overfow or slip through the slit dam due to the
larger flow volume.
(3) It was understood that the trap ratio decreases as the channel slope( ) increases, because
the flow velocity increased, therefore, the amassed wooden wreckage disentangled and
overflowed or slipped through the slit dam.
(4) It was recognized that the trap ratio of gap ratio (W/lmax=1/5) using the average length was
almost the same as the one of the gap ratio (W/lmax=1/2) using the constant length.
(5) A new DEM was developed by introducing the cylindrical stick elements for wooden debris
and the new DEM could accurately simulate the trap performance of the model tests.
(6) The effect of wooden debris with roots was examined on the trap ratio, which increased, in
contrast to the wooden debris without roots. This was obtained from the tests and the
computation.
(7) The new DEM was applied to simulate an actual blockage disaster by wooden debris in
Hiroshima. The simulation matched the actual disaster rather well.
(8) If the trap columns are placed in front of Bridge A, it would be expected to protect the bridge
blockage by using the new proposed DEM.
57
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors are very grateful to the local government staff in Hiroshima for their help in site
investigation of the actual wooden debris disaster.
REFERERENCES
[1] Sabo & Landslide Technical Center, Actual conditions of landslide disaster in 2000, p.22,May
(2011).
[2] JSCE, Investigation Report on Hokuriku Heavy Rainfall in July 2004, pp.206-220, (2005).
[3] Y.Ishikawa, T.Mizuyama and H.Suzuki, Actual condition and investigation method of wooden
debris with debris flowCivil Engineering Journal, Public Works Research Center, Vol.31
No.1pp.23-29, (1989).
[4] T.Mizuyama, Y.Ishikawa and M.Fukuzawa, Study on movementsedimentation and
countermeasure of wooden debris, Public Works Research Institution,Vol.183No.3
pp.71-156March (1991).
[5] National Institution for Land and Infrastructure Management, Manual of Technical Standard
for establishing Sabo master plan for debris flow and driftwood, Technical Note, No.364,
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Japan, March (2007).
[6] National Institution for Land and Infrastructure Management, Manual of Technical Standard
for designing Sabo facilities against debris flow and driftwood, Technical Note, No.365,
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Japan, March (2007).
[7] T.Mizuyama, Y.Ishikawa and S.Yajima, Effect of steel slit dams on trap performance of
wooden debris, Civil Engineering Journal, Public Work Research Center, Vol.30No.11
pp.47-52,(1988).
[8] Steel Sabo Structure Committee edited., Design Manual of Steel Sabo Structures, Sabo &
Landslide Technical Center, (2009).
[9] K.Mizuhara, Sabo dam and wooden debris(I), Journal of the Japan Society of Erosion
Control Engineering, Vo.28,No.2, pp.17-24, Nov. (1975).
[10] K.Mizuhara, Sabo dam and wooden debris(II), Journal of the Japan Society of Erosion
Control Engineering, Vo.28,No.3, pp.17-23, Feb. (1976).
[11] Y.Hasegawa,N.Sugiura, H.Abe, N.Oda, T.Mizuyama and K.Miyamoto, Experimental study
on the debris flow including wooden debris, The Proc. of 2006th Sabo annual meeting ,
pp.412-413(2006).
[12] H.Shibuya, S.Katsuki, N.Ishikawa, H.Ohsumi, Experimental study on trap performance of
drift wood capturing structure, Proceedings of 2nd Specialty Conference on Disaster
Mitigation, CD-ROM 4pages, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, June (2010).
[13] H.Shibuya, S.Katsuki, H.Ohsumi, N.Ishikawa,T,Mizuyama, Experimental study on woody
debris trap performance of drift wood capturing structure, Journal of the Japan Society of
Erosion Control Engineering, Vo.63,No.3 pp.34-41, September (2010).
[14] H.Shibuya, S.Katsuki, H.Ohsumi, N.IshikawaExperimental study on trap performance of
wooden debris with roots, Journal of Structural Engineering, JSCEVol.57App.10871094,March (2011).
[15] H.Shibuya, S.Katsuki, H.Ohsumi, N.Ishikawa, T,Mizuyama, Analytical study on trap
performance of wooden debris by DEM using a cylindrical element, Proc. of JSCE
A2( Applied Mechanics) , Vo.67,No.1, pp.113-132, October (2011).
[16] S.Katsuki, H.Shibuya: The Distinct Element Method Simulation of Trap Performance of
Check Dams used for Wood Contained Debris Flow, Proceedings of The Tenth International
Conference on Computational Structures Technology, CD-ROM 20pages, Valencia, Spain,
September (2010).
[17] Cundall, P. A.: A computer model for simulating progressive, large scale movement in
blocky rock system, Proceedings of the Symposium of the International Society of Rock
Mechanics, Nancy, France, Vol.2, pp.129-136, (1971).
[18] H.Shibuya, S.Katsuki, H.Ohsumi, H.Kokuryo, Investigation of drift wood caused by heavy
rain at Shobara, Hiroshima on July 16, 2010, Journal of the Japan Society of Erosion
Control Engineering, Vo.64,No.1 pp.34-39, May (2011).
58
th
EFFICIENT PROGRESSIVE COLLAPSE ANALYSIS OF

BUILDINGS: CONCEPT AND NUMERICAL STUDY
C. G. Koh*, C. G. Tay and R. J. Y. Liew
*
Centre for Hazards Research

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
National University of Singapore
Block E1A, #07-03, No.1 Engineering Drive 2, Singapore 117576
e-mail: <cgkoh@nus.edu.sg> webpage: http://www.eng.nus.edu.sg/cee
Keywords: Structural robustness, progressive collapse analysis, column removal,
composite floor, semi-rigid shear connection, belt-truss system.
Abstract. Currently many methods for progressive collapse analysis (PCA) tend
to be too sophisticated for robustness evaluation of building system. These
methods not only are computationally demanding, but also require intensive
pre/post processing efforts. Therefore, these methods are not practical for
engineers to use. On the other hand, overly simplistic methods do not necessarily
model progressive collapse with sufficient accuracy due to, for example, inability
to capture the important effects of floor slabs in resisting progressive collapse.
To address the need for realistic and yet reasonably fast analysis, an efficient
progressive collapse analysis (ePCA) is presented in this keynote. Accounting for
column buckling, semi-rigid connection and membrane action of slab, the
proposed method is accurate as compared with detailed finite element analysis
and experimental results in the literature. Several design strategies to enhance
robustness of multi-storey buildings are also discussed. In particular, the use of
belt truss in robustness enhancement is proposed.
1
INTRODUCTION
Recent earthquakes and typhoons have constantly reminded us of the importance of preparing for
unforeseen events which may be low in probability but high in consequence. In the context of
preparedness for multi-hazards, it is therefore essential to design our infrastructure so as to reduce
life and economic loss. One key aspect is the evaluation and enhancement of structural robustness to
avoid disproportionate collapse against unexpected events. Progressive collapse defines a chain of
collapse reactions that commence with the failure of one or several structural components. Following
the initial damage, the structure redistributes internal forces and seeks alternate load paths. If the
collapse area is substantial due to a minor triggering event, the phenomenon is defined as
disproportionate collapse and the structure is deemed not robust. In accordance with current building
1
2
3
codes, e.g. DoD , GSA and ODPM , avoidance of disproportionate collapse is considered as a
performance objective while progressive collapse refers to a collapse mechanism. According to the
codes, structures need to be designed and constructed to avoid disproportionate collapse under the
event of sudden removal of any of the columns.
Continuous and well-integrated framed structures usually can sustain a substantial amount of local
damage. This is true for reinforced concrete building frames with relatively small structural bays.
Other systems in which it is more difficult to provide continuity and ductility, such as precast concrete
______________________________
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National University of Singapore

59
C. G. Koh, C. G. Tay and R. J. Y. Liew
construction and long-span composite construction are inherently more vulnerable to disproportionate
collapse. In modern construction, the use of high-performance materials and construction
technologies aimed at minimizing erection cost has led to steel-concrete composite structures with
4
limited continuity and little energy-absorbing capacity or resistance to disproportionate collapse .
Progressive collapse can be triggered by a variety of causes, including man-made and natural
hazards. Recommended best practice issued by the National Institute of Science and Technology
(NIST) of United States indicates that Initial local damage can result from intentional explosions,
5
accidental explosions, vehicle impacts, earthquakes, fire, or other abnormal load events . These
unforeseen events typically stress the structural system into inelastic range. Therefore, nonlinear
analysis is prerequisite for robustness evaluation of buildings. Hence, the traditional prescriptive
approaches which are easy to implement and do not require nonlinear analysis are questionable in
6
their effectiveness, following collapse events of the Alfred P. Murrah building in 1995 and the World
7
Trade Center Towers in 2001. In the aftermath of these events, a more realistic performance-based
approach for robustness evaluation has been developed in the United States. According to these
1,2
approaches , one needs to quantitatively analyze the response of a damaged structure caused by a
postulated accidental event, and then provides sufficient robustness such that damage is contained
within a limit proportionate to its cause. In Singapore, for example, these performance-based
8
approaches are adopted by the Ministry of Home Affair for the design of building structures against
disproportionate collapse. Research on performance-based robustness design remains relatively
immature, and there are significant research gaps that need to be addressed especially on the
methodology for progressive collapse analysis and for robustness enhancement.
Thus far many methods used for evaluating robustness performance tend to be too sophisticated
for practical application. These methods commonly involve detailed finite element analysis (FEA) of
9
10
large numerical model using commercial software such as ABAQUS and LS-DYNA . Some notable
11
12
13
14
15
studies include the work by Alashker et al. , Kwasniewski , Yu et al. , Fu and Sadek et al. etc.
Detailed FEA is not only computationally demanding, but also requires intensive pre/post processing
effort. Furthermore, precise information of material and geometry of a structure is rarely available in
the real practice. Therefore, it may not be worthwhile to use highly sophisticated model for robustness
evaluation. On the other hand, if overly simplified FEA are used, they may not simulate the ultimate
16
17
and post-ultimate strength well, e.g. Kim and Kim , Marjanishvili and Agnew and Kaewkulchai and
18
Williamson . A key reason is that these simplified methods typically ignore the influence of floor slabs
in resisting progressive collapse. Furthermore, buckling behavior and connection behavior are often
not modeled realistically in these simplified models.
Apart from having good methodology for robustness analysis, engineers are interested in effective
15
16
robustness enhancement. Many studies in the past, e.g. the works by Sadek et al. , Kim and Kim ,
19
20
Kim et al. and Liu have proposed the use of full-strength moment connections that are similar to
those used for seismic-resistant buildings. Nevertheless, this proposal not only increases the
fabrication and erection cost, but also substantially prolongs the construction process. It is worthwhile
to explore alternative connections, e.g. shear connection, in resisting disproportionate collapse. There
is a need for innovation of building systems that performs well in structural robustness. Forensic study
reveals that the exceptional robustness performance of the World Trade Center towers in surviving
7
initial plane impact is attributed to the hat-truss system installed on the top of the towers . If not for the
failing fire protection and the following multiple-floor fire attack, the towers could have possibly
survived the unprecedented event of plane impact. Hence, this paper also studies the potential of belt
truss system as a robustness enhancement scheme.
2
EFFICIENT PROGRESSIVE COLLAPSE ANALYSIS
The main significance of ePCA lies in the efficient ways to model progressive failure behavior of
main structural components of a composite building, i.e. steel members, floor slabs and connections.
A key feature is that the distinct failure behaviors of various main structural components are modeled
consistently using the same plastic zone method. This consistent nature not only makes it easier for
users to use only a single 1D failure model but also avoids the use of 2D or 3D sophisticated
constitutive model for material damage.
2.1 Modeling of Steel Frames
Frames are likely the most common forms of man-made engineering structures. With the advent
of strong material like steel, the influence of buckling in compression member becomes more
pronounced due to its relatively slender dimensions. Therefore, numerical modeling of steel member
e.g. steel column and beam member of multi-storey building, brace member of truss system etc.
60
should capture both member buckling and global buckling in the progressive collapse analysis. A
nonlinear frame model capable of capturing buckling and post-buckling behaviors of steel member is
shown in Figure 1. The model is based on the plastic zone method that requires discretization of a
section into fibers and a member into nonlinear frame elements. For geometry imperfection, explicit
modeling of initial out-of-straightness e0 is adopted according to principal buckling mode shape. The
nonlinear frame model is implemented in commercial finite element analysis program SAP200021. For
illustration, the steel member shown in Figure 1 is discretized into 14 elements, of which eight are
inelastic (hatched region) and the remaining are elastic elements. For the inelastic element,
distributed plasticity is simulated by using a fiber hinge located at the centre of the element
(monitored location shown in Figure 1). More details can be found in Ref. 22.
0 .2 5 L p
0 .5 0 L p
0 .2 5 L p
Ap p lied
fo r ce s
Ap p lied
fo r c es
e0
M o n it o r ed lo c a t io n
Fiber section
Figure 1: Proposed beam-column model for steel member

2.2 Modeling of Composite Floors
In most of the steel framed buildings, the floor consists of profiled steel-concrete composite slabs
spanning between grids of supporting beams. Despite the thin and lightly-reinforced nature,
composite slabs can contribute significantly to the progressive collapse resistance of a building in the
event of column removal. When a slab is subjected to extreme loading, e.g. removal of column, very
large out-of-plane deformation occurs. Under such condition, slabs behave in not only flexural mode
but also membrane mode in maintaining force equilibrium arising from significant change in geometry.
For a uniformly loaded simply-supported slab, the catenary action due to membrane tension prevails
when the maximum displacement exceeds the depth of slab. Force equilibrium is achieved involving
membrane forces, thereby improving the load carrying capacity. Compression membrane action in
the form of a "ring" is generated to resist the out-of-balance tensile force in maintaining force
equilibrium of the highly deformed slab.
Rib spacing, s
nly
b1
d1
hc
ci
Spa
n g,
B1
Co m p r e s s io n -o n ly
a xia l s p r in g , k s
hd
b2
Deck
thickness, t d
3
B1
Sp
ac
in
g,
3
1
C1
hc
hd
t2
t3
t1
(a) slab represented by grillage members and diagonal springs
(b) cross-section of grillage
Figure 2: Components of proposed composite slab model
61
Figure 2 shows the main components of slab based on the proposed modified grillage approach.
The concept of grillage assumes decoupling of flexural action in orthogonal directions of the slab, and
the slab can therefore be modeled as a series of torsion-free frame elements consisting of geometry
equivalent to the slab strip it represents. In the direction transverse to the steel deck, grillage is taken
as a rectangular section with height hc being the height of solid concrete section above the steel
deck. Concrete (in tension) within the steel deck height hd is ignored. Meanwhile, in the longitudinal
direction of steel deck, deck embossment is ignored as it has negligible effect on the global response.
More details can be found in Ref. 22.
Sectional response of the grillage members is modeled by the fiber section approach. Therefore,
the section constitutive relations are obtained by summing uniaxial stress of the fibers across the
section and the assumption of axial-bending interaction is not necessary. For each of the concrete
fiber shown in Figure 2b, the uniaxial stress-strain behavior is assumed to follow Eurocode 2
unconfined concrete model23. To capture the compression ring mechanism, the in-plane shear
behavior of a slab model has to be realistically modeled. To this end, an equivalent truss system
shown in Figure 2(a) can be used to efficiently represent the force-resisting mechanism of a slab at
large out-of-plane deformation.
2.3 Modeling of Shear Connection
The collapse resistance of a composite floor system is not only governed by slabs and frame
members, but also connections. In most circumstances, connections are the first to suffer damage
and fracture among all other failure modes. Component-based connection model can be used to
model the semi-rigid and partial-strength behaviors of shear connection by idealizing a connection as
a series of parallel springs, each behaving in a nonlinear manner according to one-dimensional failure
mode. In the present work, a component-based model for fin-plate type shear connection proposed
by Sadek et al.15 is adapted. Each bolt row of the fin plate connection can be represented by an
equivalent axial spring that behaves in a tri-linear relationship as shown in Figure 3.
Beyond the ultimate tension resistance of Fu,j the bolt row gradually loses its resistance to zero
when failure displacement of f,j is reached. The failure displacement is taken as the distance
between center of bolt and the edge of plate. To represent the contact behavior between the beam
and connected column, gap element is positioned at the level of the beam flanges as shown in Figure
3. The gap element is essentially a compression spring which has stiffness only when compressive
displacement reaches the gap distance between the beam and column. More details can be found in
Ref. 22.
column
For ce
rigid bar
(+ ) T e n sion
F u,j
F y,j
beam
d bg
FP
u,j
K b,j
K b,j
Dis p l.
u,j
f, j
F y,j
(-) Com p .
E D GE D I ST .
column
F u,j
gap element
Figure 3: Component model of fin plate connection proposed by Sadek et. al.15
3
ROBUSTNESS ENHANCEMENT OF COMPOSITE BUILDING WITH BELT-TRUSS SYSTEM
The tragic collapse of WTC towers on September 11, 2001 initiated a new wave of discussion on
robustness of building structures to unforeseen hazards not explicitly considered in design codes,
such as terrorist attacks. Many regarded the collapse as proportionate to the cause, and total collapse
was unavoidable by any sensible engineering practice given the severity of damage caused by plane
collision. Post-collapse investigation conducted by the NIST7 suggested that the exceptional
robustness is largely contributed by the "hat trusses", the name given to truss system positioned at
roof top. If not for the multi-storey fire arising from impact of commercial planes, the towers could
have survived or stood longer than the actual one hour after the plane collision. The superior
redundancy provided by the hat trusses were believed to facilitate redistribution of forces away from
62
the damaged area, and provide alternative load path to the severely damaged towers. Other than
these studies, research on structural robustness and collapse characteristics of buildings
incorporating truss systems still remains limited in the open literature. Therefore, there is a pressing
need to investigate the potential of truss system as robustness enhancement of multi-storey buildings.
This section investigates the effectiveness of belt truss system for robustness enhancement of
multi-storey buildings. The 8-storey steel-concrete composite building located in Cardington, UK is
used as an example for illustration. This building shares many similarities in design concept with local
buildings due to the adoption of British Standards24 in Singapore. All typical beams and columns are
9.0 m and 4.125 m in length. The beams comprise UB 356x171x51, while the columns comprise UC
305x305x118 for the four lowest storeys and UC 254x254x89 for the remaining storeys. Shear
connections based on UK practice25 are adopted throughout the building. These connections consist
of fin-plate type for beam-to-beam connection and flexible-end-plate type for beam-to-column
connection. The floor structure consists of composite slab of trapezoidal profile reinforced with anticrack wire mesh A146 (T6 bars at 200 mm spacing), placed 6 mm above the steel deck. Shear studs
are welded to the beam flange to allow for shear transfer between the slab and beam. Permanent
load of each floor is estimated to be about 3.86 kPa, whereas the design imposed load is 2.50 kPa.
Detailed information of Cardington building is available from the official test report26.
Column loss
Figure 4: Floor layout of Cardington building and 2D frame studied (hatched region)
A two-dimensional frame (grids 1/B to 1/F) shown in Figure 4 and Figure 5 is selected for
parametric study. Based on the recommendation by DoD1, full intensity of permanent load and 50% of
imposed load are considered for robustness evaluation. For a tributary width of 3 m, an equivalent
frame loading of w = 15.33 kN/m is imposed on the beams. Actual material properties from laboratory
test are not used because the emphasis is on behavioral study rather than quantitative assessment of
the collapse vulnerability. Concrete and steel materials have stress-strain relationships according to
standards material models discussed in section 2 of this keynote. For concrete material, the
compressive strength is taken as 30 MPa, whereas tensile strength is ignored. For steel material, the
yield strength and elastic modulus are taken as 275 MPa and 210 GPa respectively. The ribs of
composite slab are oriented in the direction perpendicular to the beams. Therefore concrete within
and steel deck can be ignored when modeling composite beam action. Full composite action between
the concrete flange (70 mm solid slab) and steel beam is assumed by using rigid link constraint.
Analysis according to Eurocode 427 suggests an effective width of 1575 mm for center portion of the
double-span beam (4 m length from location of column removal) and 844 mm for the remaining
portion. Translational restraints are provided at the boundaries of the frame to resemble the
restraining stiffness provided by floor diaphragm.
63
To model the buckling and post-buckling behavior of brace member of belt truss, maximum
geometry imperfection of 0.1% of member length is introduced at mid-span of the brace member
according to principal buckling mode shown in Figure 5. This imperfection magnitude corresponds to
average value measured in the laboratory28, and is therefore appropriate for performance evaluation.
Modeling of the brace follows the recommendation discussed in section 2.1, in which the plastic zone
length and mesh size in the plastic zone are taken as L/2 and L/24, respectively. All braces are rigidly
connected to the steel frame. Therefore full-strength connections are considered at the member ends.
Fin-plate is the most commonly used shear connection in Singapore. Therefore fin-plate connection
instead of flexible-end-plate is adopted for all beam-beam and beam-column connections in the
numerical study. The geometry of the connection considered here is similar to the 3x1 connection
shown in Figure 3, with 3 number of 22mm diameter A325 bolts at 70mm spacing and 50 mm edge
distance to resemble local construction practice. The fin-plate connection is modeled using equivalent
plastic zone element as discussed in section 2.3 of this keynote. The critical failure mode of the boltrow is governed by ductile tear-out of the beam web (thickness = 7.4 mm). From AISC360-0529, the
ultimate resistance of each bolt-row is about 191 kN. Therefore, the ultimate tensile capacity of the
3x1 fin-plate connection is about 573 kN.
Gravity load, w
Composite beam
8 x 4.125 m
Lo a d
P, M, V
LC
M
x
RC
t im e
Simulation of column
removal
P
4 x
Figure 5: Numerical model of 8-storey Cardington 2D frame
3.1 Influence of belt truss on building robustness

Robustness evaluation is performed according to alternate load path approach recommended by
DoD1. According to alternate load path approach, sudden removal of column needs to be considered
for robustness design of building. Then, the structure need to be checked for ability to resist both
vertical and horizontal progressive collapse. Vertical progressive collapse is triggered by excessive
deformation at the weakest link, e.g. beam-to-column connection. Meanwhile, horizontal progressive
collapse is triggered by excessive force demand in the supporting column. In the nonlinear timehistory analysis, removal of column is carried over a short period of 0.01 seconds. No damping effect
is considered (= 0.001% to avoid numerical instability) in the analysis as most energy-absorbing
capacity is likely dominated by material yielding30. A convergence study shows that time step of
0.0025 seconds can be used to analyze the structure with sufficient accuracy.
Current codes of practice for robustness design allow two types of analysis to determine the
displacement and force demands for robustness evaluation, i.e. the nonlinear static and nonlinear
time-history analysis1,2. In nonlinear static analysis, loading on floor area originally supported by the
removed column needs to be amplified by a Dynamic Increase Factor (DIF). This is to consider for
64
dynamic effects due to sudden removal of column. Although DIF can vary according to properties of
structure and loading, the codes conservatively recommend a constant DIF = 2.0 for static analysis.
The equivalent static loading based on amplified loading for 8-storey Cardington building frame is
shown in Figure 6.
The present study is based on nonlinear time-history analysis which directly considers the
dynamic nature of structural response when subjected to sudden column removal. This type of
analysis is more accurate in evaluation of displacement and force demands compared to nonlinear
static analysis, but interpretation of analysis results can be less straight forward. In the present study,
DIF is used as an indication of the global force demand of the structure when subjected to column
removal. DIF is back-calculated from the maximum value of total reaction force obtained from
nonlinear-time history analysis using equation 9, assuming only mass supported by damaged bay is
excited during sudden column removal, and maximum forces in all columns occur concurrently. The
denominator and second term of the numerator of equation 9 represents static weight of the damaged
bay. It is equal to half of total building static weight (which is same as total static reaction, Ws) as the
loading tributary area of damaged bay is half of that of the overall building as shown in Figure 6.
DIF x w
DIF
WD 0.5WS
WS
(9)
z
x
W S Total static reaction in z-axis (from static analysis)

W D Total dynamic reaction in z-axis (from nonlinear time-history analysis)
Figure 6: Equivalent static load due to sudden column removal
The displacement demand is the key indicator of vertical progressive collapse whereas the force
demand is the key indicator of horizontal progressive collapse. Both types of progressive collapse
need to be avoided in the context of robustness design. Therefore, to explore the potential of belt
truss in robustness enhancement, factors influencing both of the dynamic demands need to be
identified. To do this, 54 analyses involving sudden removal of perimeter column have been carried
out on the two-dimensional frame as shown in Figure 5. These analyses consist of varying truss
configurations, brace strengths and slenderness ratios, as tabulated in Table 1. These specimens are
designed to have similar weight so that consistent comparison can be made regarding the efficiency
of each specimen. The original perimeter frame weighs about 31.768 tons over an elevation area of
36 m x 33 m = 1,188 m2, which is equivalent to 26.74 kg/m2 of the elevation area. The brace
members of belt truss system add less than 5% to the original weight.
The response histories of K-brace, X-brace and N-brace belt truss with slenderness ratio L/r = 170
are shown in Figure 7. Maximum vertical displacement occurs at the location of column removal.
According to GSA2, the rotational capacity of partially-restrained steel joint is 2.5% radians, which
corresponds to maximum displacement of 225 mm at the location of column removal. Connection will
fracture beyond this rotation and trigger vertical progressive collapse. For the specimen without belt
truss, maximum vertical displacement is found to be about 1414 mm, which is significantly greater
than the criteria set by GSA2. Therefore, the building frame is at high risk of vertical progressive
collapse when subjected to column removal. Installation of belt truss at the top of the building reduces
the maximum displacement by -44%, -80% and -83% respectively when K-brace, X-brace and Nbrace belt trusses are used. Among all, X-brace and N-brace belt trusses satisfy the 2.5% radian
rotational criteria recommended by GSA2.
Although all belt truss specimens have similar weight, the specimens perform differently due to the
difference in energy-absorbing capacity and failure mode. In general, X-brace and N-brace belt
trusses perform much better than K-brace belt truss as the energy-absorbing capacity is greater. The
better performance is attributed by the presence of tension load path after initial buckling of
65
compression braces. The tension load path allows truss action of belt truss system to remain effective
in the inelastic response. For K-brace belt truss however, the buckling of compression braces causes
loss of truss action. As a result, the energy-absorbing capacity of K-brace belt truss is much lower
compared with X-brace and N-brace belt trusses.
Truss
configuration
Brace section
(mm x mm)
Slenderness, L/r
ratio
Weight per area

(kg/m2)
Yield strength
(N/mm2)
SHS 100x10
165
1.161
275
SHS 80x8
167
1.206
275
SHS 150x8
170
1.188
275
SHS 170x5.5
91
1.192
275
SHS 140x4.3
89
1.221
275
SHS 250x7
100
1.780
185
Note: SHS 100x10 denotes square hollow section of 100 mm width and 10 mm thickness
Table 1: Properties of belt truss used in the study of 8-storey Cardington 2D frame
t im e (s e c )
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
Ve r tic a l d is p la c e m e n t (m )
0.0
GSA' s 2 .5 % r a d ia n c r it e r ia
-0 . 5
K-Br a c e
X-b r a c e
N-Br a c e
No BT
-1 . 0
-1 . 5
Figure 7: Displacement history due to sudden removal of column D1 of Cardington 2D frame
3.1.1 Strength of brace member

The flexural and axial strengths of a brace member are directly related to the yield strength fy.
Therefore the influence of brace strength can be studied by varying the material yield strength from
0.5f0 to 3.0f0, where f0 is the reference strength of 275 MPa. As shown in Figure 8, inclusion of belt
truss can reduce the displacement demand significantly. Generally the displacement reduces with
increase of brace strength. As a result, the risk of vertical progressive collapse can be reduced.
However, it is shown that the effectiveness of belt truss reduces when yield strength greater than f0 is
used, in which similar displacement is observed although yield strength is increased from f0 to 3.0f0.
66
1 .5 0
1 .5 0
K (L/r = 1 7 0 )
1 .2 5
X (L/r = 9 0 )
1 .2 5
N (L/r = 1 7 0 )
M a x. d is p la c e m e n t (m )
M a x. d is p la c e m e n t (m )
K (L/r = 9 0 )
X (L/r = 1 7 0 )
1 .0 0
0 .7 5
0 .5 0
0 .2 5
N (L/r = 9 0 )
1 .0 0
0 .7 5
0 .5 0
0 .2 5
0 .0 0
0 .0 0
0 .0
1 .0
2 .0
3 .0
0 .0
1 .0
2 .0
3 .0
Br a c e ' s s t r e n g t h (r a t io of fy )
Br a c e ' s s t r e n g t h (r a t io of fy)
(a) High slenderness (L/r = 170)
(b) Intermediate slenderness (L/r = 90)
Figure 8: Influence of the brace strength on displacement demand of Cardington frame
2 .0 0
2 .0 0
1 .7 5
1 .7 5
DI F
DIF
Not only does increasing brace strength incur additional construction cost, but it also induces
higher force demand in columns in the proximity of damaged area. By normalizing the dynamic force
to static weight of the structure using equation 9, the intensity of dynamic force demand within the
damaged bay can be represented by the dynamic increase factor shown in Figure 9. A nonlinear
relationship between the force demand and brace strength is observed, where the maximum force
demand occurs when very large or very small brace strength is used. For an inelastic system, total
force transferred to supporting columns is limited by ultimate capacity of belt truss. Therefore stronger
belt truss absorbs larger force, and transfers higher force to the supporting columns. Nonetheless,
large DIF up to 1.80 is also observed in building without belt truss. The large DIF is caused by tension
stiffening effect of catenary action of the floor beams. The effect of catenary action is influential only in
large deformation. Therefore, effect of tension stiffening on stronger structural systems (i.e. buildings
with belt truss system) is insignificant. Out of the 54 dynamic analyses, DIF is found to range from 1.1
to 1.8. On local member level, the column force demand is found to behave similarly to DIF on global
system level, i.e. column force increases with brace strength.
1 .5 0
1 .2 5
1 .5 0
1 .2 5
K (L/r = 1 7 0 )
K (L/r = 9 0 )
X (L/r = 1 7 0 )
X (L/r = 9 0 )
N (L/r = 1 7 0 )
N (L/r = 9 0 )
1 .0 0
1 .0 0
0 .0
1 .0
2 .0
3 .0
0 .0
Br a c e ' s s t r e n g t h (r a t io of fy)
1 .0
2 .0
3 .0
Br a c e ' s s t r e n g t h (r a t io of fy )
(a) High slenderness (L/r = 170)
(b) Intermediate slenderness (L/r = 90)
Figure 9: Influence of the brace strength on global force demand of Cardington frame
67
Nonetheless, there is a change of force distribution with inclusion of belt truss, i.e. larger force
demand on upper storey columns, as shown in Figure 10. At the 7th storey, the design force under
ULS requirement is 508 kN, inclusion of belt truss increases the column force by 54%, 95% and
112% for 1.0f0, 2.0f0 and 3.0f0 brace strength respectively. The findings show that sufficient (but not
excessive) brace strength should be used for a good compromise between displacement demand
and force demand. It is also evident that codified DIF of 2.0 recommended by DoD1 and GSA2 is only
reasonable for very strong system, which is rare in practice. For most building structures, the codified
DIF can lead to overly conservative evaluation of the robustness performance.
St or e y #
Storey #
Difference
Difference
ALS
St or e y #
S t or e y #
Difference
Difference
ULS
2
0
0
-1
-2
Force (kN) x 10
(a) no belt truss
0
0
-1
-2
F or ce (kN ) x 1 0
-1
-2
F or ce (kN ) x 1 0
(b) X-brace with 1.0fy
(c) X-brace with 2.0fy
0
0
-1
-2
For ce (kN ) x 1 0
(d) X-brace with 3.0fy
Figure 10: Influence of the brace strength on column (LC) force of 2D frame
3.1.5 Robustness enhancement of Cardington Building using belt truss system
So far, the previous sections have focused only on the robustness behavior of two-dimensional
frames. In this section, robustness evaluation involving sudden column removal of Cardington
building will be carried out in the three-dimensional context. The purpose of the study is to investigate
the effectiveness of belt truss system in enhancing robustness of large and complex threedimensional building. Sudden removal of perimeter column (i.e. column D1) as shown in Figure 11 is
analyzed using the numerical model discussed in sections 2 and 3.1. 2 types of brace strength are
considered in the analysis to illustrate the influence of strength to the robustness performance. For
easy reference, smaller brace member is identified as "S", whereas larger brace member as "L". The
"(M)" and "(T)" shown in Figure 11 refer to the positions of belt truss, i.e. (M) denotes Mid-height while
(T) denotes Top of the building. Similar to previous findings on the 2D frame, i.e. sections 3.1.1,
significant reduction of displacement demand can be achieved by incorporating belt truss in the
building system. In the study, about 80% to 90% reduction in displacement is observed. Similarly, the
effectiveness of belt truss is also dependent on the strength of the brace member, in which stronger
brace member leads to smaller displacement. These behaviors are consistent with the previous
findings involving 2D frame.
In three-dimensional analysis, DIF back-calculated from global base reaction of nonlinear timehistory analysis cannot be used as an indication of global force demand. This is because the
assumption that maximum forces in all columns occur concurrently is no longer valid for large and
complex systems. Therefore, column force demand in each column needs to be investigated directly.
As shown in Figure 11, column force demand is indeed amplified by the use of strong brace member.
Therefore, the conclusion regarding the relationship between brace strength and force demand is still
valid for large building systems, i.e. the force demand increases with brace strength; therefore
excessive brace strength should be avoided. Lowering the position of belt truss to lower storeys is an
effective way to control column force demands when removal of 1st storey column is considered. In
the present study, huge column force demand is observed on upper storeys (4th to 8th storey) when
belt truss is installed at the top of the building. As shown in Figure 11, the compression force in
supporting column C1 can be greatly reduced by moving the belt truss to mid-height of the building,
i.e. column force demand can be kept within the ULS design forces when belt truss is installed at midheight. That reduces the risk of overstressing supporting column in the event of column removal.
68
Storey
St
or y n#u m b e r
1
11a(T)
S(T)
11a(M)
S(M )
1L(T)
1b(T)
1L(M
1b(M)
ULS
E
D
C
-1
-2
F or ce in colu m n C1 (kN ) x 1 0
Figure 11: Sudden column removal considered for 3D Cardington building (slab hidden for clarity)
and the corresponding maximum axial force in column C1
4
CONCLUSIONS
The proposed ePCA provides practicing engineers a fast and reasonably accurate method for
structural robustness evaluation. The key advantages of ePCA include ease of pre/post-processing,
lower-computation demand, realistic prediction of the progressive collapse resistance, and most
importantly, a consistent way to model failure of various structural components by the plastic zone
method. These features are important for repetitive analysis often required in the entire design
process. In the early stage of design, ePCA can even be used to design shear connections and
composite floors to fulfill robustness requirements.
This keynote also discusses the potential of belt truss system as robustness enhancement of
multi-storey composite building. Behavioral study on two-dimensional composite frame shows that
increasing brace strength reduces displacement demand but increases force demand. Study covering
a wide range of brace strengths shows that the dynamic increase factor (DIF) for belt truss building
ranges from 1.1 to 1.8, in which dynamic increase factor of 1.8 corresponds to strongest brace
member used in the study. It also shows that DIF = 2.0 recommended by current codes of practice1,2
is conservative for designing building incorporating truss system. A case study of three-dimensional
building system shows consistent findings with the behavioral study on two-dimensional frame. Both
2D and 3D studies show that belt truss system is effective in reducing the displacement demand in
the event of column removal. The effectiveness of belt truss in reducing displacement demand is
governed by the brace strength, i.e. stronger brace member reduces the displacement demand.
Nevertheless, the use of excessive strength for the brace member is not desired in order to control
force demand in the supporting columns. In addition, the results show that the position of belt truss is
influential on the magnitude and distribution of column force demands.
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M. Yu, X. Zha and J. Ye, The influence of joints and composite floor slabs on effective tying of
steel structures in preventing progressive collapse, Journal of Constructional Steel Research,
66(3), 442-451 (2010).
F. Fu, Progressive collapse analysis of high-rise building with 3-D finite element modeling
method, Journal of Constructional Steel Research, 65(6), 1269-1278 (2009).
F. Sadek, S. El-Tawil and H.S. Lew, Robustness of composite floor systems with shear
connections: modeling, simulation, and evaluation, Journal of Structural Engineering, 134(11),
1717-1725 (2008).
T. Kim and J. Kim, Collapse analysis of steel moment frames with various seismic connections,
Journal of Constructional Steel Research, 65, 1316-1322 (2009).
S. Marjanishvili and E. Agnew, Comparison of various procedures for progressive collapse
analysis, Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities, 20(4), 365-374 (2006).
G. Kaewkulchai and E.B. Williamson, Beam element formulation and solution procedure for
dynamic progressive collapse analysis, Computer and Structures, 82, 639-651(2004).
T. Kim, J. Kim and J. Park, Investigation of progressive collapse-resisting capability of steel
moment frames using push-down analysis, Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities,
23(5), 327-335 (2009a).
J.L. Liu, Preventing progressive collapse through strengthening beam-to-column connection,
Part 1: Theoretical analysis, Journal of Constructional Steel Research, 66(2), pp. 229-237
(2010).
CSI, Structural Analysis Program SAP2000 version 14, Computers and Structures Inc., Berkeley,
California, USA (2009).
C.G. Tay, Efficient progressive collapse analysis for robustness evaluation and enhancement of
steel-concrete composite buildings, Ph.D. dissertation, National University of Singapore (2013).
BSI, BS EN 1992-1-1: Eurocode 2: Design of concrete structures Part 1-1: General rules and
rules for buildings, British Standard Institute (2004).
BSI, BS 5950: Structural use of steelwork in building - Part 1: Code of practice for design - Rolled
and welded sections, British Standard Institute (2000).
BCSA, Joints in steel construction: simple connections, London, UK (2002).
British Steel, The behaviour of a multi-storey steel framed building subjected to fire attack, British
Steel Plc, United Kingdom (1998).
BSI, BS EN1994-1-1:2004 Design of composite steel and concrete structures. Part 1.1: General
rules and rules for buildings, British Standards Institute (2004).
R. Bjorhovde, Deterministic and probabilistic approaches to the strength of steel Columns, Ph.D.
dissertation, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pa (1972).
AISC, AISC 360-05: Specification for Structural Steel Buildings, American Insititute of Steel
Construction, Chicago, Illinois, USA (2005).
G. Powell, Disproportionate collapse: The futility of using nonlinear analysis, Proc., Structures
2009: Don't mess with structural engineers, ASCE, pp. 1908-1917 (2009).
70
th
DEVELOPMENT OF THE CANADIAN STANDARD FOR DESIGN

OF BUILDINGS UNDER BLAST LOADS
A. G. Razaqpur1 and Simon Foo2
(1) Professor, Department of Civil Engineering
(2) Senior Engineer, Risk Management, Public Works and Government Services Canada
McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
e-mail: <razaqpu@mcmaster.ca>
Abstract. After four years of extensive research and investigation, the first Canadian
Standard, titled CAN/CSA S850-12: Design and Assessment of Buildings Subjected
to Blast Loads was completed in early 2012. The standard was developed by the
Canadian Standards Association (CSA) with the help of a broad-based technical
committee with members from academia, blast science and engineering community,
government agencies and industry. This is the first Standard of its kind in Canada
and was developed almost concurrently with the ASCE Standard titled ASCE/SEI
59-11: Blast Protection of Buildings, published in 2011, and to the writers
knowledge the only other formal standard on the topic in the world. The Standard is
a comprehensive design code, which has provisions about building performance
criteria, blast loads, material properties under high strain rate, dynamic methods of
structural analysis, progressive collapse, building envelope design and blast arena
tests. It deals primarily with the design of reinforced concrete and steel buildings, but
it also makes brief reference to reinforced masonry and wood. The objective of the
standard is to assist designers in using appropriate methods of analysis and design
in order to achieve desired performance objectives under defined design basis threat
(DBT) scenarios. The development of the standard was accompanied by focussed
research to either verify key assumptions in existing analysis/design procedures or
to fill some important gaps in knowledge pertinent to the Standard provisions. The
writer serves as the chair of the technical committee of the standard and took active
part in its development and led some of the focussed research efforts. In this
presentation the key provisions of the standard are discussed and some of the
research underpinning their theoretical/empirical foundation is described.
71
th
CLIMATE CHANGE HAZARDS, RISK,

AND CLIMATE ADAPTATION ENGINEERING
Mark G. Stewart
Centre for Infrastructure Performance and Reliability
The University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia
e-mail: <mark.stewart@newcastle.edu.au>
Keywords: climate change, risk, impact, climate adaptation, engineering
Abstract. The paper will describe how risk-based approaches are well suited to
optimising climate adaptation strategies related to the construction, design, operation
and maintenance of built infrastructure. Climate adaptation engineering involves
estimating the risks, costs and benefits of climate adaptation strategies and
assessing at what point in time climate adaptation becomes economically viable.
Stochastic methods are used to model infrastructure performance, risk reduction and
effectiveness of adaptation strategies, exposure, and costs. These concepts will be
illustrated with recent research on risk-based life-cycle assessment of climate
adaptation strategies for Australian housing subject to extreme wind events.
1
INTRODUCTION
A changing climate may result in more intense tropical cyclones and storms, more intense rain
events and flooding, and other climate-related hazards. Moreover, increases in CO2 atmospheric
concentrations, and changes in temperature and humidity, may reduce the durability of concrete,
steel and timber structures (e.g., Stewart et al. 2012a, Peng and Stewart 2014). The effect on
infrastructure, particularly housing, will be significant if the frequency and/or intensity of these natural
hazards increase.
Climate adaptation engineering involves estimating the risks, costs and benefits of climate
adaptation strategies and assessing at what point in time climate adaptation becomes economically
viable. Climate adaptation measures aim to reduce the vulnerability or increase the resiliency of built
infrastructure to a changing climate, this may include, for example, enhancement of design standards,
retrofitting or strengthening of existing structures, utilisation of new materials, and changes to
inspection and maintenance regimes. There is a need for sound system and probabilistic modelling
that integrates the engineering performance of infrastructure with the latest developments in
stochastic modelling, structural reliability, and decision theory.
The climate change literature places more emphasis on impact modelling than climate adaptation
engineering modelling. This is to be expected when the current political and social environment is
focused on mitigating (reducing) CO2 emissions. Latest research shows that business as usual CO2
emissions continue to track at the high end of emission scenarios, with mean temperature increases
of 4-5C more likely by 2100 (Peters et al. 2013). The impacts on people and infrastructure may be
considerable if there is no climate adaptation engineering to existing and new infrastructure. Some
posit that climate change may even be a threat to national security, but Stewart (2014a) suggests that
climate change threats to U.S. national security are manageable. On the other hand, higher
temperatures in higher latitude regions such as Russia and Canada can be beneficial through higher
agricultural yields, lower winter mortality, lower heating requirements, and a potential boost to tourism
(Stern 2007).
73
Mark G. Stewart
The paper will describe how risk-based approaches are well suited to optimising climate
adaptation strategies related to the design, construction, operation and maintenance of built
infrastructure. An important aspect is assessing when climate adaptation becomes economically
viable, if adaptation can be deferred, and decision preferences for future costs and benefits (many of
them intergenerational). Stochastic methods are used to model infrastructure vulnerability,
effectiveness of adaptation strategies, exposure, and costs. The concepts will be illustrated with a
case study that considers climate change and cost-effectiveness of designing new houses in Sydney
to be less vulnerable to severe storms. To be sure, there are other case studies of assessing the
efficiency and cost-effectiveness of climate adaptation strategies for built infrastructure; for example,
floods and sea-level rise (e.g., Hinkel 2010, Hall et al. 2012, Botzen et al. 2013, Kundzewicz et al.
2013, Holden et al. 2013, Val et al. 2013), cyclones and severe storms (Bjarnadottir et al. 2011a,b,
2014, Nishijima et al. 2012, Li and Stewart 2011, Stewart et al. 2012b), and corrosion of reinforced
concrete (Bastidas-Arteaga and Stewart 2013). This and other research will help 'future proof' built
infrastructure to a changing climate.
There are a number of issues and questions that need addressing. These include: cost neglect
(who pays? when? who benefits?), probability neglect (how confident are we in changes to future
climate? changes in impact and loss?), risk aversion (is action needed now?), and risk acceptance
(what risk from weather/climate is acceptable? is risk reduction worth the cost?). These are issues
without easy answers. They are also similar to other controversial and emotive issues such as
terrorism and homeland security (Mueller and Stewart 2011a,b). All too often climate change studies
assume there is certainty about the future, and so suffer from probability neglect, as well as cost
neglect by ignoring the large costs involved to mitigate CO2 emissions.
The Australian CSIRO funded Climate Adaptation Engineering for Extreme Events (CAEx) Cluster
led by The University of Newcastle is using engineering technology to ensure durable,
environmentally friendly and less vulnerable infrastructure. This form of anticipatory adaptation is
focused on housing, commercial and industrial buildings, railway lines, power poles, bridges and
culverts. Funding exceeds $3.5 million over three years, and includes partner researchers from
James Cook University, The University of New South Wales, Swinburne University of Technology,
and Curtin University. For more details see http://www.csiro.au/caex-cluster.
2
CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT
The 2014 Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report (AR5)
concluded that the Warming of the climate system is unequivocal (IPCC 2014). What is less certain
is the impact that rising temperatures will have on rainfall, wind patterns, sea-level rise, and other
phenomena. The IPCC AR5 report describes the following changes to climate by 2100 (IPCC 2014):
o
Temperatures to increase from 1990 levels anywhere from 1-6 C.
Sea-level rise of 20-80 cm.
More intense tropical cyclones and other severe wind events.
Enhanced monsoon precipitation.
The IPCC (2014) then suggests with a high or very high confidence level that these changes to
climate will increase drought affected areas, hundreds of millions of people will be affected by coastal
flooding, increases in risks of fire, pests, and disease outbreak, will have significant consequences on
food and forestry production, and food insecurity, and so on. These impacts will not be sudden, but
gradual in their appearance. The observed increase in weather-related losses in the United States
and elsewhere is more a function of increased exposure with more people moving to vulnerable
coastal locations than slow and long-term climate-change increases in wind speed or flood levels
(Crompton and McAneney 2008, IPCC 2012).
The 2006 review by economist Nicholas Stern (Stern 2007) predicts that if no action is taken
against climate change, the mean loss of GDP would be 2.9% and 13.8% each year (now and
forever) by 2100 and 2200, respectively. This is equivalent to worldwide losses of up to $10 trillion
each year by 2200. Not surprisingly, some consider it to be highly pessimistic in its assumptions
(Lomborg 2006, Mendelsohn 2006). However, the Australian Garnaut Review predicted that
unmitigated climate change would reduce Australian GDP by approximately 8% by 2100 (Garnaut
2008).
These losses, however, do not reflect wealth creation, human capital, and new improved
technologies. Goklany (2008) states that these often reduce the extent of the human health and
environmental bads associated with climate change more than temperature increases exacerbate
them. Weather and climate related fatality rates and economic losses are also 3-10 times higher in
developing countries (IPCC 2012). Clearly then, if people are wealthier in the future, their well-being
will be higher.
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Mark G. Stewart
RISK-BASED DECISION SUPPORT
3.1 Definition of Risk

Risk for a system exposed to a climate hazard is
( ) ( ) ( )
E(L) = Pr (C) Pr HC Pr DH Pr L D L
(1)
where Pr(C) is the annual probability that a specific climate scenario will occur, Pr(H|C) is the annual
probability of a climate hazard (wind, heat, etc.) conditional on the climate, Pr(D|H) is the probability of
infrastructure damage or other undesired effect conditional on the hazard (also known as vulnerability
or fragility) for the baseline case of no extra protection (i.e. business as usual), Pr(L|D) is the
conditional probability of a loss (economic loss, loss of life, etc.) given occurrence of the damage
(resilience), and L is the loss or consequence if full damage occurs. In some cases, damage may
equate to loss and so Pr(L|H)=Pr(D|H)Pr(L|D). The summation sign in Eqn. (1) refers to the number
of possible climate scenarios, hazards, damage levels and losses.
The risk after climate adaptation is
E adapt (L) = (1 R )E(L) B
(2)
where R is the reduction in risk caused by climate adaptation (or other protective) measures, E(L) is
the business as usual risk given by Eqn. (1), and B is the co-benefit of adaptation such as reduced
losses to other hazards, increased energy efficiency of new materials, etc. Costs of adaptation, timing
of adaptation, discount rates, future growth in infrastructure and spatial and time-dependent increase
in climate hazards need to be included in any risk analysis.
Future climate is projected by defining carbon emission scenarios in relation to changes in
population, economy, technology, energy, land use and agriculture - a total of four scenario families,
i.e., A1, A2, B1 and B2 are defined (IPCC 2000) and used in the IPCCs Third and Fourth
Assessment Reports in 2001 and 2007. The A1 scenarios indicate very rapid economic growth, a
global population that peaks in mid-century and declines thereafter, and the rapid introduction of new
and more efficient technologies, as well as substantial reduction in regional differences in per capita
income. The B1 scenarios are of a world more integrated, and more ecologically friendly with
reductions in material intensity and the introduction of clean and resource efficient technologies. The
IPCC AR5 released in 2014 uses Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) where RCP8.5,
RCP6.0 and RCP4.5 are roughly equivalent to A1FI, A1B, and A1B to B1 CO2 emissions,
respectively. For more details see Stewart et al. (2014a).
The estimation of Pr(C) may be based on expert opinion about the likelihood of each emission
scenario, and multiple AOGCMs may be used to infer the probabilistic characterisation of Pr(H|C) for
future climate projections. Figure 1 shows the projection of CO2 concentrations for A1FI, A1B and 550
ppm CO2 stabilisation scenarios. The variability increases for projection of temperatures.
CO Concentration (ppm)
1100
1000
low
mid
high
900
A1FI
800
700
A1B
600
550 ppm
500
400
300
2000
Year 2000 CO level

2
2020
2040
2060
2080
2100
Year
Figure 1: Projected low, mid and high estimates of CO2 concentrations.
75
Mark G. Stewart
The stochastic modelling of infrastructure vulnerability (or fragility) is Pr(D|H) and is the probability
of damage conditional on the occurrence of a specific hazard:
Pr(D H) = Pr (R(X) H < 0)
(3)
where R(X) is the function for resistance or capacity, X is the vector of all relevant variables that affect
resistance, and H is the known hazard level. The performance functions can be expressed in terms of
structural damage or other losses, and are derived from engineering models (e.g, Stewart and
Melchers 1997). The reliability modelling of structural systems is well developed for 'engineered'
constructions such as commercial buildings, bridges, towers, etc. where materials are uniform, and
workmanship subject to quality control measures. However, non-engineered infrastructure,
particularly houses, are very complex systems comprising of hundreds to thousands of components
and connections of differing materials. Poor detailing and workmanship issues contribute to most
damage - so the engineering and stochastic models need to consider these variables - such as screw
fasteners being spaced too far apart, or some not connected to purlins and battens, etc. Insurance or
building performance data may also be used to derive vulnerability models. For example, Figure 2
shows a vulnerability model for Australian houses subject to extreme wind, where N1 to N4 describes
housing designed to enhanced requirements.
Vulnerability Pr(D|H) (%)
100
90
80
70
N1 N2 N3
N4
50
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
20
30
40
60
80
90
100
Peak Gust Wind Speed (m/s)

Figure 2: Wind Vulnerability Curves for Sydney.
Exposure and loss data relates to direct and indirect loss or consequence due to location and
extent of infrastructure damage, for existing exposure and future projections. Most existing studies
consider direct losses related to building damage and contents losses. Indirect losses caused by
business interruption, clean-up, loss during reconstruction, extra demands on social services, and
changes to demand and supply of intermediate consumption goods, post-disaster inflation, etc. can
also be significant. Indirect losses were estimated for Hurricane Katrina as 39% of direct losses, and
could have exceeded 100% of direct losses for a damaging event twice as bad as Hurricane Katrina
(Hallegatte 2008). Figure 3 shows a typical loss function for wind vulnerability, where indirect losses
start to accumulate for damages that exceed 20%, and total loss is twice the direct losses for a
catastrophic event where Pr(D|H)=100%.
Risk reduction (R) may result from reduced vulnerability Pr(D|H), Pr(L|D) or exposure (L). For
instance, changes to planning may reduce the number of new properties built in a flood plain which
will reduce L, or more stringent design codes may reduce the vulnerability of new infrastructure.
Systems and reliability modelling are essential tools to quantify the level of risk reduction, and the
extent of risk reduction due to adaptation measures will depend on the hazard, location, and timing of
adaptation.
The co-benefits of adaptation (B) may include reduced embodied energy and reduced carbon
footprint over the life cycle of the facility. This might consider the initial embodied energy associated
with the dwelling including footings, structure and fit-out together with the recurrent embodied energy
associated with refurbishment over the life cycle and the operational energy needed to operate a
building.
76
Mark G. Stewart
200%
Pr(L|D)
Direct + Indirect Loss
Direct Loss
100%
0
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Vulnerability Pr(D|H) (%)

Figure 3: Direct and indirect costs as function of wind vulnerability (Stewart et al. 2014b).
The overall decision-support framework is based on Eqns. (1-3). These are summarised as:
Climate Hazard Modelling: Pr(H|C) - stochastic models of likelihood and extent of hazard. The
probability that a specific climate scenario will occur Pr(C) represents a degree of belief for each
climate scenario. This may be obtained from climate change literature or expert opinion.
Engineering models: deterministic engineering and systems modelling of resistance of materials
and structural systems to climate hazards.
Vulnerability modelling: Pr(D|H) - stochastic and reliability modelling to predict the likelihood of
damage conditional on hazard occurrence derived from engineering models (Strand ), model
error (accuracy) of engineering models, and parameter uncertainty.
Loss and Exposure: Pr(L|D) - likelihood of direct and indirect loss or consequence for specific
levels of infrastructure vulnerability (resilience). Loss L is direct and indirect loss or consequence
due to location and extent of infrastructure damage, for existing exposure and projections to 2100.
National databases can provide exposure data of sufficient fidelity to determine the spatial
characteristics and location of infrastructure (and people).
Impact Risks (no climate adaptation): stochastic methods to assess damage and loss risks by
integrating Strands -. Results will identify which infrastructure (materials, designs, components)
and hazards are 'risk-critical' to climate change.
Climate adaptation measures: innovative use of materials and new engineering designs to develop
performance models for climate adaptation measures. Emphasis placed on reducing the
vulnerability of 'risk-critical' materials, designs, components, and connections.
Costs of adaptation, and co-benefits (B): direct and indirect costs of adaptation, as well as
benefits such as embodied energy and enhanced thermal efficiency leading to reduced operating
energy.
Risk reduction (R) of climate adaptation measures: stochastic and reliability modelling to develop
vulnerability models for climate adaptation measures. Risk reduction inferred from reduction in
vulnerability when compared to existing or 'business as usual' (no climate adaptation) vulnerability.
Risk-based decision analysis: integration of Strands - in life-cycle cost and benefit analysis to
assess if adaptation measures are efficient, in terms of monetary units or other (energy) criteria.
Effect of timing and/or deferral of adaptation decisions assessed.
3.2 Cost-Effectiveness of Adaptation Strategies
Two criteria may be used to assess the cost-effectiveness of adaptation strategies:
1. Net Present Value (NPV)
2. Probability of cost-effectiveness or Pr(NPV>0)
The benefit of an adaptation measure is the reduction in damages associated with the adaptation
strategy, and the cost is the cost of the adaptation strategy. The net benefit or net present value
(NPV) is equal to benefit minus the cost. The decision problem is to maximise NPV:
NPV = E(L)R + B C adapt
77
(4)
Mark G. Stewart
where Cadapt is the cost of adaptation measures including opportunity costs that reduces risk by R,
B is the co-benefit, and E(L) is the business as usual risk given by Eqn. (1). Figure 4 shows how
adaptation costs increase with risk reduction, while benefits increase. The optimal adaptation occurs
when NPV is a maximum, leading to an optimal risk reduction. Other notations and formulae can be
used to provide optimal adaptation (e.g., Hall et al. 2012), but ultimately these also mostly rely on
maximising NPV. The benefit-to-cost ratio (BCR) is an alternate decision metric. In terms of risk
communication, the concept of a BCR has some appeal to policy makers. However, prioritising
adaptation measures based on maximising BCR may lead to sub-optimal outcomes as a high BCR
can be achieved if the cost is small, but NPV may be lower than other adaptation measures.
Benefit
Max. NPV
Adaptation
Cost
0%
Optimal
Adaptation
100%
Risk Reduction (%)

Figure 4: Schematic of Net Present Value (NPV) Showing Optimal Adaptation.
Confidence bounds of NPV can then be calculated if input parameters are random variables. The
probability that an adaptation measure is cost-effective denoted herein as Pr(NPV>0) may also be
inferred.
The vulnerability, loss and adaptation costs are subject to considerable uncertainty due to lack of
available data and models. For this reason, calculations of risks, costs and benefits will be imprecise.
Hence, a break-even analysis may be useful where minimum risk reduction or maximum cost of
adaptation necessary for adaptation to be cost-effective is selected such that there is 50% probability
that benefits equal cost - i.e. mean(NPV)=0. In other words, if the actual cost of adaptation exceeds
the predicted break-even value, then adaptation is not cost-effective. Decision-makers can then judge
whether an adaptation strategy meets these break-even values.
Governments and their regulatory agencies normally exhibit risk-neutral attitudes in their decisionmaking as described by Eqn. (4) above. This is confirmed by the U.S. Office of Management and
Budget (OMB 1992), and also by many practitioners and researchers (e.g., Sunstein 2002, Faber and
Stewart 2003, Ellingwood 2006). This entails using mean or average estimates for risk and costbenefit calculations, and not worst-case or pessimistic estimates. Probability neglect is a form of risk
aversion as decision-makers are clearly averse to events of large magnitude irrespective of the
probability of it actually occurring. Utility theory can be used if the decision maker wishes to explicitly
factor risk aversion or proneness into the decision process (e.g. Stewart et al. 2011).
4
CASE STUDY: STRENGTHENING NEW HOUSES IN SYDNEY AGAINST EXTREME WIND
Severe storms cause annual insured losses (1967-2005) of nearly $300 million in the Australian
states of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria (BITRE 2008). These losses account for nearly
25% of all losses from natural disasters in Australia. Australian contemporary housing generally
2
comprises a detached dwelling on a 600-800 m block, one or two storeys high, timber construction
with brick veneer cladding, and tiled or metal sheeting roof (see Figure 5). The wind vulnerability of
this housing type will not be too dissimilar to that for housing in the United States, Canada, and New
Zealand.
The Australian Standard for wind loads (AS/NZS 1170.2 2011) is the reference standard for design
of all structures, including housing. The Australian Standard Wind Loads for Houses AS4055-2012
is based on AS1170.2-2011 and is used to determine the appropriate wind classification for design of
78
Mark G. Stewart
residential (domestic) housing. In this case, residential housing is designed to resist wind speeds with
annual probability of exceedance of 1 in 500. The standard AS4055-2012 classifies design loads on
houses into categories N1-N6 for non-cyclonic regions. Each increase in non-cyclonic wind
classification (e.g. N1 to N2) raises the design wind speed that is equivalent to at least a 50%
increase in design wind pressure. These wind classifications are then used by building codes to
determine appropriate deemed-to-comply sizing and detailing requirements for residential
construction.
Figure 5: Typical Australian Truss Roof and Timber Frame House.

To reduce housing damage in the future one option may be to strengthen or retrofit existing
construction. However, Stewart and Wang (2011) found such strategies often failed to be costeffective, and if cost efficient, then only marginally so. Other adaptation strategies may restrict
construction of new housing in vulnerable (exposed) locations. A more feasible adaptation strategy
may be one that increases design wind loads for new houses leading to long-term reduction of
vulnerability (and damages) of houses (Stewart et al. 2014b, Stewart 2014b). It is important to note
that AS4055-2012 (and many other Australian and international building standards) is based on
limited experimental and field data, and expert judgement by committee members, and has not been
subject to risk or cost-benefit analysis (Walker and Musulin 2012). Hence, existing design
requirements may be sub-optimal even for the current climate.
The case study herein applies break-even (risk neutral) and risk-averse analyses to compare the
risks, costs and benefits of climate adaptation strategies for new housing in the Australian coastal city
of Sydney. Sydney is the largest city in Australia with a population of nearly 5 million (about 20% of
the total population of Australia). Sydney is located in South-East Australia where wind hazard is
dominated by synoptic winds (thunderstorms and east-coast lows). For more details of this case study
see Stewart (2013).
4.1 Wind Hazard Modelling
The annual probability of winds Pr(H|C) is derived from the Gumbel distribution to model the
annual probability of exceedance of non-cyclonic winds (winds not associated with tropical cyclones
which occur in Northern Australia) (Wang et al. 2013). Climate projections by the Australian
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) suggest that for non-cyclonic
winds, the mean wind speed may increase by up to 20% by 2070 along the east coast of Australia
(CSIRO 2007). If the relationship between mean wind speed and peak gust wind speed is constant,
then proportional increases in gust wind and mean wind speeds are identical. Since there are still
many uncertainties to properly define the future trend of extreme winds in Australia, three possible
climate scenarios (C) are considered: (i) no change, (ii) B1 and (iii) A1FI emission scenarios.
Since the risk assessment is to be conducted on a regional scale, local topographic features were
not considered. The probabilistic wind field model described herein is relatively simple but it will allow
the relative changes in damage risks due to temporal changes in wind hazard and building
vulnerability to be estimated. The variability of current peak wind loads is significant with COV of up to
50%.
CSIRO (2007) suggest the average annual change in mean wind speed is projected to decrease
th
th
by 1% in Sydney by 2070, with 10 and 90 percentiles of -15% and +12%, respectively, for the A1FI
th
th
(high) emission scenario, and 10 and 90 percentiles of -8% to +6% for the B1 (medium) emission
scenario (see Table 1). Projected changes in wind speeds for Brisbane are higher than for Sydney.
Note that climate projections are relative to 1990 levels. Truncated normal distributions are used to
th
th
represent uncertainty of changes in wind speeds where 10 and 90 percentiles provided by CSIRO
79
Mark G. Stewart
(2007) allow the standard deviation of the two truncated normal distributions each with cumulative
probabilities of 50% to be calculated, see Figure 6. A time-dependent linear change in wind speed for
all emission scenarios is assumed.
B1
Emission Scenario
Location
10
Brisbane
th
A1FI
Emission Scenario
th
Mean
90
-1%
+3%
+10%
Sydney
-8%
0%
Melbourne
-9%
-1%
10
th
th
Mean
90
-2%
+6%
+19%
+6%
-15%
-1%
+12%
+6%
-18%
-1%
+12%
Table 1: Change in Wind Speeds to 2070.
Figure 6: Probability Distribution of Change in Wind Speeds to 2070.

4.2 Wind Vulnerability and Loss Function
Australian contemporary housing in South-East Australia is typical of that shown in Figure 5. The
housing is weaker than those designed for cyclonic (northern) regions of Australia where Australian
Standards dictate more stringent design requirements. A wind vulnerability function expresses
building damage or loss as a function of wind speed. Vulnerability curves representative of
contemporary housing in Sydney are shown in Figure 2 (e.g., Wehner et al. 2010). These vulnerability
curves are quite uncertain, but provide a useful starting point for a comparative risk assessment. The
general belief, from experimental testing, damage surveys and anecdotal evidence, is that many
strengthening procedures, if properly designed and installed, will significantly reduce vulnerability.
The loss function includes direct and indirect losses, and is shown in Figure 3. House replacement
value is clearly variable and depends on the location, type, size, age and condition of the house. The
average insured value of a house is approximately 25% higher than house replacement value. The
loss L is equal to insured value of the house, normalised to L=1.25 of house replacement value.
4.3 Adaptation Strategy: Strengthen New Housing
The adaptation strategy considered herein is to design new houses by enhanced design codes, in
this case, increasing the current Australian Standard AS4055-2012 wind classification by one
category (see Table 2). For example, for Sydney this means that new construction would be designed
for wind classification N2 rather than the current requirement of N1 for non-foreshore locations. In this
case, the number of nails for a roof batten to roof truss connection should increase from one plain
shank nail to two plain shank nails, or a single deformed shank nail should replace a single plain
shank nail (AS 1684.4-2010). This means that new construction has increased strengths of structural
components and connections, leading to significantly reduced wind vulnerability of houses. These
enhanced building requirements will result in additional costs of new construction (Cadapt) of 1-2% of
the value of a house, or approximately $2,500 to $5,000.
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Mark G. Stewart
Existing
Specifications
(AS4055-2012)
Adaptation Measure:
Proposed Increase in
Wind Classifications
Wind
Classification
Design Gust
Wind Speed
Wind
Classification
Design Gust
Wind Speed
Foreshore
N2
40 m/s
N3
50 m/s
Non-Foreshore
N1
34 m/s
N2
40 m/s
Location
Sydney
Table 2: Adaptation Measure Showing Proposed Increase in Wind Classification.

Figure 7 shows percentage reduction in vulnerability as a function of wind speed for Sydney, as
well as the range of wind speeds for foreshore and non-foreshore locations (i.e., lower value is nonforeshore 10 year return period, upper value is foreshore 1,000 year return period). It is evident that
designing new houses to enhanced wind classification will reduce vulnerability often by more than
50% for Sydney. The reduction in vulnerability reduces only for very high wind speeds where
damages asymptote to 100% resulting in reduced relative reductions in vulnerability. Vulnerability
reduction is higher for non-foreshore locations due to lower wind speeds than foreshore locations.
Similarly, vulnerability reduction will decrease as climate change becomes more severe and wind
speeds increase. The overall reduction in risk calculated as percentage change in risk caused by the
adaptation strategy is R=50-65%. The risk reduction is relatively high because change in existing
risks are based on integrating vulnerabilities across all winds speeds, and lower wind speeds have
higher reductions in vulnerability. Clearly, the reduction in existing vulnerability is considerable for the
scenarios considered for this adaptation strategy. While there is uncertainty with the vulnerability
models, there is clear acknowledgement from King et al. (2012) that structural adaptation can provide
significant improvements in vulnerability. Hence, a lower bound on risk reduction may be
conservatively taken as R=50%.
Reduction in Vulnerability
(%)
100
90
80
70
N1 to N2
60
50
N2 to N3
40
30
Sydney
20
10
0
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
120
Peak Gust Wind Speed (m/s)

Figure 7: Reduction in Vulnerability for New Housing with Increase of Wind Classification, for Sydney.
The NPV for a single house built to enhanced standards at time tadapt for a given climate change
scenario Cs (no change, B1 or A1FI) is
T
NPV T C s =
t =t adapt
R E (t )
(1+ r)
t 2018
C adapt
(1+ r) t
adapt
2018
(5)
where NPV is expressed as percentage of replacement value of the house, Cadapt is the cost of the
adaptation strategy expressed as percentage of house replacement value, E(t) is the damage risk per
house associated with current wind classification (business as usual risk), R is the reduction in risk
associated with increasing the current wind classification by one category (e.g. from N2 to N3), and r
is the discount rate. Co-Benefits are assumed as B=0.
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Mark G. Stewart
4.4 Results
The models described herein are the best available models, but as described previously, have
their limitations and uncertainties. For this reason, a break-even analysis is conducted herein. Any
proposal to change building regulation within the Building Code of Australia would take some time.
Hence, we assume the earliest time of adaptation is 2018. Results are calculated using Monte-Carlo
event-based simulation methods. Costs and benefits are calculated for the 52 year period 2018 to
2070 as 2070 is the limit of projections of wind hazard provided by CSIRO (2007). Costs are in 2012
Australian dollars and the discount rate is 4%. The stochastic variability of wind speed means that
NPV is variable. The distribution of NPV is highly non-Gaussian and so Monte-Carlo methods are well
suited to this type of analysis. Note that in this scenario-based approach Pr(Cs)=100%.
Figures 8 and 9 show the maximum adaptation cost Cadapt for the adaptation measure (per new
house) to be cost-effective for risk reductions of 10-100% for foreshore and non-foreshore locations in
Sydney. These figures show:
1. the break-even cost of adaptation (i.e. maximum cost for mean(NPV)=0, risk neutral),
2. the maximum cost of adaptation to ensure that there is 90% surety that benefits exceed the
cost (i.e., a risk-averse decision maker may prefer a small likelihood of a net loss).
Figure 8 shows that if risk reduction is over 50% and there is no change of climate, the break-even
analysis shows that adaptation is cost-effective if the adaptation cost is less than 9.3% and 5.5% of
house replacement cost for foreshore and non-foreshore locations, respectively. The effect of a
changing climate on break-even adaptation costs is negligible, as this will increase the break-even
adaptation cost to 9.7% and 5.7% for foreshore and non-foreshore locations, for the A1FI emission
scenario. Hence, even if climate projections are wrong, adaptation measures still satisfies a no
regrets or win-win policy (Susskind 2010).
Figure 8: Break-Even Adaptation Costs for Foreshore and Non-Foreshore Locations in Sydney.
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Mark G. Stewart
If we adopt a cost of adaptation of 1%, and no change of climate then the break-even risk
reduction must exceed 9% to be 50% certain that NPV>0 for all climate projections.
On the other hand, the maximum cost of adaptation to ensure that there is 90% surety that
benefits exceed the cost will be less than the break-even costs (see Figure 9). In this case, the
adaptation is preferable if the risk reduction exceeds 50% and the adaptation cost is less than 6.8%
and 4.0% of house replacement cost for foreshore and non-foreshore locations, respectively, and
assuming no change in climate. As there is significant uncertainty associated with wind hazard
projections for B1 and A1FI emission scenarios, the variability of NPV is higher for these scenarios.
Hence, the maximum cost of adaptation to ensure that there is 90% surety that benefits exceed the
cost will be up to 3% lower than for no climate change. This suggests that even a risk averse
decision-maker would adopt the adaptation measure since the anticipated cost of adaptation is likely
to be low (1-2%) and risk reduction exceeds 50%.
Figure 9: Maximum Adaptation Costs to Ensure Pr(NPV>0)=90% for Foreshore and Non-Foreshore
Locations in Sydney.
The cost of adaptation for Sydney is likely to be 1.1% for foreshore locations (N2 to N3), and less
for non-foreshore locations (N1 to N2). If we adopt a cost of adaptation of 1.1% and 1.0% for these
locations, and no change of climate then the break-even risk reduction must exceed 6% and 9% for
foreshore and non-foreshore locations, respectively, to be 50% certain that NPV>0 for all climate
projections. The minimum risk reductions increase to ensure 90% certainty that NPV>0. For example,
for the medium (B1) emission scenario, minimum risk reduction must exceed 11% and 17% for
foreshore and non-foreshore locations, respectively. Given that Section 4.3 shows that risk reductions
of 50-65% can be achieved for Sydney based on the vulnerability models described herein, then it is
likely that designing new housing to enhance wind classifications is a cost-effective adaptation
83
Mark G. Stewart
strategy for Sydney.

Stochastic modelling of wind field and vulnerability are uncertain. Hence, if existing risks are
reduced by 50%, the break-even analysis shows that adaptation is cost-effective if the adaptation cost
is halved to 4.6% and 2.6% of house replacement cost for foreshore and non-foreshore locations,
respectively, assuming that risk reduction exceeds 50% and there is no change of climate. A
changing climate will increase these break-even adaptation costs. These minimum costs still exceed
adaptation costs, so the adaptation would still be cost-effective under these conditions. Clearly, more
research is needed to improve the confidence of wind hazard and vulnerability modelling.
Nonetheless, preliminary results show that vulnerability reduced at a modest cost can lead to a costeffective adaptation measure.
There is some uncertainty about the level of discount rate, particularly for climate change
economic assessments (e.g. Dasgupta 2008). Infrastructure Australia recommends discount rates of
4%, 7% and 10% for infrastructure projects. Projects with significant effects beyond 30-50 years are
considered intergenerational, and so a time-declining discount rate may be appropriate. The U.K.
Stern Review adopted a discount rate of 1.4% (Stern 2007), and the Australian Garnaut Review
adopted discount rates of 1.35% and 2.65% (Garnaut 2008). These relatively low discount rates were
selected so as to not underestimate climate impacts on future generations. However, others suggest
higher discount rates when assessing economic impacts of climate change (e.g., Nordhaus 2007).
For more details see Stewart (2013).
Table 3 shows the effect that these discount rates have on the break-even adaptation cost, for
50% risk reduction and B1 emission scenario. As expected, the discount rate has a significant effect
on NPV and the break-even cost of adaptation to ensure that mean(NPV)>0. A high discount rate of
7% or 10% reduces the cost-effectiveness of adaptation strategies because the benefit of reduction in
damages into the future is reduced thus reducing NPV and lowering the maximum adaptation costs.
Nonetheless, a 7% or 10% discount rate will still produce break-even adaptation costs which are likely
to be higher than actual adaptation costs. Discount rates of 1.35% and 2.65% used by Garnaut (2008)
result in higher break-even values which increases the likelihood of adaptation being cost-effective.
Discount Rate
Location
Sydney
1.35%
2.65%
4%
7%
10%
9.3%
7.0%
5.5%
3.6%
2.6%
Table 3: Break-Even Cost of Adaptation for 50% Risk Reduction and B1 Emission Scenario.
Deferring time of adaptation for 5-10 years is generally a feasible option since reduction of
vulnerability for any time period is a worthwhile endeavour, and the effects of a changing climate tend
to worsen into the future so benefits of adaptation in the next decade or so are lower compared to
those later in the century. There is also the benefit of reduced present (discounted) value of
adaptation cost if this cost is deferred. Stewart et al. (2014b) and Stewart (2014b) have shown that
while adaptation that is implemented as early as possible has the highest NPV, deferred adaptation of
5-20 years also yields a high NPV and high likelihood that adaptation is cost-effective.
If time of adaptation is deferred to seven years to 2025, damage risks for any risk reduction to
2070 decrease by 25-27% (for any emission scenario) due to reduced policy horizon of 45 years
(2025-2070). However, the present value (in 2018 dollars) of adaptation reduces by 24% as the cost
is deferred by 7 years at a 4% discount rate. The NPV will thus decrease by approximately 25% and
so adaptation less likely to be cost-effective. If adaptation is deferred 12 years to 2030, damage risks
to 2070 decrease by 40-45% (for any climate scenario) due to reduced policy horizon of 40 years
(2030-2070). However, the present value (in 2018 dollars) of adaptation reduces by only 37% at a 4%
discount rate. The NPV will thus decrease further. Figure 10 shows the effect of time of adaptation
and discount rate on mean NPV, for non-foreshore locations in Sydney, for no change and A1FI
emission scenario and 50% risk reduction. Net present value is maximised if wind speeds increase
over time (A1FI emission scenario); however, NPV decreases with deferral of adaptation for all
discount rates and climate scenarios. Clearly, earlier implementation of adaptation is preferred.
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Mark G. Stewart
10
(a) No Change
r = 1.35%
r = 4%
r = 7%
Mean Net Present Value

(% of house replacement cost)
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
2018
2025
2030
2050
Time of Adaptation
10
(b) A1FI Emission Scenario
r = 1.35%
r = 4%
r = 7%
Mean Net Present Value

(% of house replacement cost)
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
2018
2025
2030
2050
Time of Adaptation
Figure 10: Net Present Values by 2070 for Non-Foreshore Locations in Sydney, for Various Times of
Adaptation, and Risk Reduction of 50% and Adaptation Cost of 1%, for (a) No Change and (b) A1FI
Emission Scenario
5
FURTHER WORK
This paper highlights that a risk-based approach to optimising adaptation requires the following
information:
1. Effect of climate scenarios on frequency and intensity of hazards
2. Vulnerability of infrastructure to hazards
3. Loss functions
4. Risk reduction for adaptation measures
5. Cost of adaptation measures
The break-even approach to economic assessment of the costs and benefits of adaptation is used
due to considerable modelling and parameter uncertainty of the above variables.
More accurate predictions of hazard, vulnerability, risk reduction and economic assessment are
challenging. A key aim of the CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship Cluster Climate Adaptation
Engineering for Extreme Events is to develop improved modelling of heat, wind and flood hazards,
85
Mark G. Stewart
vulnerabilities, risk reductions and decision-support for housing, commercial and industrial buildings,
bridges and culverts, electrical distribution systems and railway infrastructure. Led by the University of
Newcastle, the cluster brings together researchers from across Australia. Key aims of the research
are to:
Develop new design criteria and innovative use of materials that will reduce vulnerability of
new infrastructure to existing and future climate scenarios.
Ensure any new developments reduce climate risk and energy use but also maximise
durability and sustainability over the life-cycle of the infrastructure.
Develop economic models of damage and other losses, and decision-making criteria that
consider the challenges of climate adaptation in terms of costs and benefits.
Ensure economic models consider a broad suite of factors such as interests of stakeholders,
time-preferences of stakeholders, and how investment decisions in climate adaptation may
affect other areas of the economy.
6
CONCLUSIONS
Infrastructure performance will degrade if subject to more extreme climate-related hazards or

accelerated climate-change induced degradation of material properties. Climate adaptation
engineering involves estimating the risks, costs and benefits of climate adaptation strategies and
assessing at what point in time climate adaptation becomes economically viable. Risk-based
approaches are well suited to optimising climate adaptation strategies for built infrastructure. The
concepts were illustrated with a state-of-the-art application of risk-based assessment of climate
adaptation strategies for Australian housing subject to extreme wind events. It was found that wind
vulnerability of new housing in Sydney can be reduced by 50-65% at modest cost, and can be shown
to be a cost-effective adaptation measure. Discount rates lower than 4%, such as those used in the
2008 Garnaut Review, result in higher break-even values which increases the likelihood of adaptation
being cost-effective. The economic assessment is very sensitive to probabilistic wind field model. For
example, an increase of wind gust speeds of +10% can double damage risks. To a lesser extent,
results are also sensitive to the wind vulnerability of housing, particularly lower regions of the
vulnerability curves. Deferring adaptation to 2025 reduces NPV by 25%. Earlier implementation of
adaptation is preferred.
7
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author appreciate the financial support of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial
Research Organisation (CSIRO) Flagship Cluster Fund through the project Climate Adaptation
Engineering for Extreme Events in collaboration with the Sustainable Cities and Coasts Theme, the
CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship.
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PSH14
Special Session on
Underground Structures against Hazard: Modeling and Experiment
th
SHAKING TABLE TEST ON UPGRADING SEISMIC

PERFORMANCE OF TUNNEL WITH STEEL FIBER
Zhiyi Chen*, Yueyang Li and Jianshu Wei
*
Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University

1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092, China
e-mail: <zhiyichen@tongji.edu.cn>
Keywords: Steel fiber, tunnel shaking table tests, seismic response
Abstract. Compared with traditional tunnel model made with plain concrete,
tunnel made with steel fiber reinforced concrete has better effect in strength,
toughness and crack arrestment. A shaking table test is conducted on a tunnel
model made with steel fiber reinforced concrete to investigate its seismic
responses and to explore steel fibers upgrading seismic performance. The paper
introduces the test scheme including the decision of model similarity ratio, the
design of model box and the treatment of boundary, the making of model, the
layout of monitored points and the input ground motions and so on. The results
prove that steel fiber effectively reduces the strain, displacement of tunnel model.
In addition, the presence of steel fibers also prevents the occurrence and
development of cracks.
1
INTRODUCTION
Lots of seismic damage investigations show that tunnels have a strong resistance to seismic
damages. However, in the 1999 Taiwan Earthquake, among 57 tunnels investigated, 49 tunnels
underwent various degrees of damages, such as cracking, spalling of concrete lining and
1
deformation of steel reinforcement . In the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake, various types of tunnel
damages were observed, including portal failure, sheared off lining, concrete lining spalling,
2
groundwater inrush, rockfalls, and lining cracks . These damages suggest that the effects of
earthquakes on tunnels should be further studied. Tunnel lining structure is the main part of the
whole bearing structure, so its bearing capacity and durability determine the safety and stability of
the tunnel. As the main material of tunnel lining structure, concrete has defects of great
brittleness and low tensile strength, which is the major cause of lining damage. Steel fiber
reinforced concrete (SFRC) is the concrete where disordered short steel fiber spreads uniformly
and discontinuously, it works well with cracks, and the existence of steel fiber prevents the
3-4
occurrence and development of cracks, changing the failure modes of concrete .
Given this, a shaking table test was conducted on a tunnel model made with steel fiber
reinforced concrete to observe the damage mode and cracking area of the model. Meanwhile, the
deformation, strain and acceleration response were acquired. Compared with previous tunnel
model made with plain concrete, steel fibers upgrading seismic performance was explored.
2
TEST SCHEME DESIGN
The test was conducted in Geotechnical Laboratory of Tongji University, using a small manual
shaking table, as shown in Figure 1. The shaking table was designed to apply harmonic
______________________________

89
Zhiyi Chen, Yueyang Li and Jianshu Wei
sinusoidal shaking along longitudinal direction. The table size is 1m0.35m, maximum load is
200kN, frequency domain is 1~ 3Hz and maximum acceleration is 3g.
Figure 1: Schematic View of Manual Shaking Table
Figure 2: Prototype Tunnel Section (cm)
2.1 Prototype tunnel

The prototype is a typical tunnel with five-centered circular arch lining, as shown in Figure 2.
The net width of the inner contour of the tunnel is 11.96m, and its net height is 8.5m. Composite
lining is adopted, and the concrete strength grade is C25. A water plate is laid between primary
support and secondary lining. Mesh reinforcement is used to prevent concrete cracking.
2.2 Similarity rule
As we know, model scale firstly depends on the performance of shaking table including table
size, maximum acceleration, frequency domain, etc. Then the selection of similar material
(economical and available) should be taken into consideration. Limited by shaking tables
vibration ability and model boxs size, the length scale selected is 1/50. According to the
5-6
Bukingham theory , the scale of length, density and elastic modulus taken as fundamental
quantities, scaling relations of model systems parameters are shown in Table1.
Parameter
Symbol and scaling relations
Model scale
Length
Sl
1/50
Density
1/1
Elastic Modulus
SE
1/10
Strain
Stress
S
S S E S
1/10
Time
St Sl S / S E
1/16
Acceleration
Sa Sl / S
2
t
Table 1: Scaling relations and model scale

2.3 Design of model box
As shown in Figure 3, a rigid box was used. The size of model box (length width height) was
1m0.22m0.65m. The box was made with organic glass, PVC plate and the stiffener. Stiffener
was used to increase the stiffness of the model box and reduce the deformation of the side wall.
In order to reduce the model box effect during shaking, the PVC plate (2cm thick) was adopted at
the end wall of the model box, preventing the energy reflection of the rigid boundary. Petroleum
jelly was daubed at the side wall to reduce friction.
90

100%
90%
80%
Stiffener
Observation
Well
Cumurative (%)
PVC plate
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
0
Figure 3: View of Model Box
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8
1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8

Grain size (mm)
2.2 2.4
Figure 4: Grain Size Distribution of Shanghai Sand
2.4 Model preparation

In the test, dry Shanghai sand was used to prepare the model soil. Various tests were
conducted for the physical soil properties and the results are tabulated in Table 2. Fig. 4 provides
the grain size distribution curve, showing that it is a medium sand (D50=0.36 mm).
Properties
Median particle size (D50), mm
Curvature coefficient (C C)
Uniformity coefficient (C U)
Dynamic Elastic Modulus, MPa
Inner friction angle,
Cohesion, kPa
Relative density, %
Shanghai sand
0.36
2.1
5.4
66
31.4
9.08
40
Table 2: Basic soil properties of Shanghai sand

Considering the difficulty of model concreting, the composite lining structure was reduced to
single shell lining without reinforcement. The physical and mechanical parameters were
converted according to the principle of rigidity equivalent, and the thickness of lining was 0.8cm.
Silica sand, barite, cement, steel fiber and water were chosen for lining similar material
ingredients, as shown in Figure 5. The weight ratio of four ingredients (silica sand, barite, cement
3
and water) was 8: 6: 1: 4. In addition, the steel fiber content in this test was 45kg/m (i.e., 51g
steel fibers were incorporated).
Lining structure was prefabricated, and oil was daubed inside the mold. After 72h hardening,
the mold could be removed. The age of concrete curing was 7d, and then it could reach the
strength requirements. The mold and tunnel model are shown in Figure 6.
Steel Fiber
Silica Sand
Barite
Figure 5: View of Similar Material
91
Cement
Water
(a) Mold
(b) Tunnel model
Figure 6: Mold and Tunnel Model

2.5 Monitor element and layout
The deformation, strain and acceleration response were to be acquired in this test. Monitor
elements chosen in this test were: acceleration sensor (CA-YD-127), strain gauge, and laser
displacement sensor (CP08MHT80). As shown in Figure 7, two laser displacement sensors (D1
and D2) were placed into the tunnel to measure the displacements of haunch and calculate
horizontal convergence of haunch. Six arrays of strain gauge were placed at the cross-section.
The layout of acceleration sensor (A1-A7) is shown in Figure 8. A1 and A2 were placed to
measure the acceleration of invert and vault, A3 and A5 were placed to measure the acceleration
of soil deposit, A4 and A7 were placed to observe the effect of model box, and A6 was placed to
monitor the amplitude and shape of input acceleration.
Figure 7: Layout of Strain Gauge (S) and Laser Displacement Sensor (D)
Observation
Well
(a) Side view
(b) Top view
Figure 8: Layout of Acceleration Sensor (A)
92
2.6 Motion input

Harmonic sinusoidal load was used in this test, and the amplitudes of acceleration were
0.054g and 0.093g corresponding to the displacement amplitudes of 20mm and 50mm. Further,
they referred to small earthquake and great earthquake.
Previous to SFRC model test, as the input scheme is shown in Table 3, a PC (plain concrete)
model test was conducted. At stage I, no cracks appeared, considering that models worked in the
elastic stage. Stage II was conducted to investigate the performance of tunnel under earthquakes
of different magnitudes. Stage III was conducted to investigate cumulative damage effects.
Small
earthquake
PC-I
SFRC-I
Model
PC
SFRC
Great
earthquake
PC-II
SFRC-II
Great
earthquake
PC-III
SFRC-III
Table 3: Input scheme

3
TEST RESULTS
3.1 Boundary effect

As mentioned, acceleration sensors A4 and A7 were placed to observe the effects of boundary
treatment. In figure 9, PGA of A4 (longitudinal end of box), A7 (transverse end of box) and A2
(center of box) are 0.049g, 0.047g and 0.048g, corresponding to 0.0138 g/Hz, 0.0127g/Hz and
0.0135 g/Hz converted to Fourier spectra. It is evident that the treatment of boundary was
effective.
Amplitude (g/Hz)
Acceleration (g)
0.05
0.03
0.01
-0.01
-0.03
-0.05
0
4
Time (s)
0.014
0.012
0.01
0.008
0.006
0.004
0.002
0
4
6
Frequency (Hz)
10
4
6
Frequency (Hz)
10
4
6
Frequency (Hz)
10
(a) A4
Amplitude (g/Hz)
Acceleration (g)
0.05
0.03
0.01
-0.01
-0.03
-0.05
0
4
Time (s)
0.014
0.012
0.01
0.008
0.006
0.004
0.002
0
(b) A7
Amplitude (g/Hz)
Acceleration (g)
0.05
0.03
0.01
-0.01
-0.03
-0.05
0
4
Time (s)
0.014
0.012
0.01
0.008
0.006
0.004
0.002
0
(c) A2
Figure 9: Acceleration Response and Fourier Spectra
93
3.2 Damage mode of lining structure

In this test, no cracks appeared at stage SFRC-I. At stage SFRC-II, a micro crack appeared at
the right spandrel, and the width was 0.44mm detected by crack meter. At stage SFRC-III, new
cracks appeared at spandrel and skewback, and the cracks penetrate throughout the whole lining
structure in radial direction. Crack expanded view is shown in Figure 10.
(a) Stage SFRC-II
(b) Stage SFRC-III

Figure 10: Crack Expanded View
3.3 Horizontal convergence response

As shown in Figure 11(a), the time-histories of horizontal convergence response (DDef) are
calculated by subtracting two displacements measured (DDef=D1-D2). Figure 11(b)-(d) are
horizontal convergence time-histories at stage SFRC-I, SFRC-II and SFRC-III, where positive
stands for convergence and negative for stretching.
(a) View of cross section deformation
(b) Stage SFRC-I
(c) Stage SFRC-II
(d) Stage SFRC-III
Figure 11: View of Cross Section Deformation (a)

and Time-histories of Horizontal Convergence Response (b)-(d)
3.4 Dynamic bending moment response
According to the principle of Wheatstone bridge, dynamic bending moment could be calculated
by strains measured. As shown in Figure 12, moments at spandrel are generally bigger than
skewback and moments of other parts are small. In addition, cracks developed more rapidly at
94
spandrel than skewback. Moments of left and right spandrel (skewback) are mostly equal,
indicating the loads are symmetrical.
(a) Stage SFRC-II
95
(b) Stage SFRC-III

Figure 12: Time-histories of Dynamic Bending Moment Response
3.5 Upgrading seismic performance of steel fiber
As shown in Figure 13, strains of lining structure made with plain concrete and steel fiber
reinforced concrete are compared (L-Sp, L-Sk, SFRC and PC refer to left spandrel, left skewback,
steel fiber reinforced concrete and plain concrete respectively). It is shown that with steel fiber
incorporated, the peak strain reduced by about 40%, and the residual strain reduced by about
50%. As shown in Figure 14, horizontal convergence deformations of lining structure made with
plain concrete and steel fiber reinforced concrete are compared (Stage I peak refers to peak
horizontal convergence deformation at this stage). It is shown that with steel fiber incorporated,
the convergence deformation reduced by about 40%.
(a) Peak strain at stage I
(b) Residual strain at stage I
(c) Peak strain at stage II
(d) Residual strain at stage II
(e) Peak strain at stage III
(f) Residual strain at stage III
Figure 13: Comparison of Strain Response

96
Figure 14: Comparison of Horizontal Convergence Deformation Response

Figure 15 shows a crack expanded view of lining structures made with plain concrete and steel
fiber reinforced concrete. In PC model test (model made with plain concrete), at stage PC-I, no
cracks appeared; at stage PC-II, two cracks (0.64mm and 0.72mm wide) appeared at right
spandrel and right skewback which penetrated throughout the whole lining structure in radial
direction, and a hair crack (0.12mm wide) appeared at left spandrel; at stage PC-III, cracks
became wider and deeper, and the tunnel model was not a whole structure. While in SFRC model
test (model made with steel fiber reinforced concrete), only one crack of 0.44mm width developed
at right spandrel at stage SFRC-II; at stage SFRC-III, new cracks appeared at spandrel and
skewback, and the cracks penetrate throughout the whole lining structure in radial direction. It is
indicated that steel fiber prevented the occurrence and development of cracks, i.e., steel fiber
improved the tensile strength of lining structure.
(a) Stage PC-II
(b) Stage PC-III
(c) Stage SFRC-II
(d) Stage SFRC-III
Figure 15: Crack Expanded View

4
CONCLUSIONS
This paper presented a shaking table test conducted on a tunnel model to investigate
enhancing seismic performance of steel fiber. It is concluded that steel fiber could enhance the
seismic performance and anti-seismic grade of lining structure from three aspects: strain reducing,
97
convergence deformation reducing and crack preventing, and the following is a summary of the
results and conclusions drawn from this test:
1. From the viewpoint of strain and convergence deformation reducing, the peak strain reduced
by about 40%, and the residual strain reduced by about 50%, the convergence deformation
reduced by about 40%. The reason is that the steel fiber reinforced concrete spray layer
could provide support resistance continually and effectively during common deformation with
surrounding rock. Besides, it contributed to form a large enough plastic zone and bring
surrounding rocks unload effect into full play, significantly reducing the pressure transferred
7
to the supporting structures , thus the strain and deformation responses reduced.
2. Existence of steel fiber arrested the occurrence and development of cracks, and steel fiber
improved the tensile strength of lining structure. After cracking, the lining structure made with
steel fiber reinforced concrete could still resist some deformation, decreasing the pace of
strain development greatly. It could undergo larger strain than plain concrete model.
REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
W.L. Wang, T.T. Wang, et al, Assessment of damage in mountain tunnels due to the Taiwan ChiChi Earthquake, Tunneling and Underground Space Technology, Taiwan, China (2001).
Z.Z. Wang, B. Gao, Y.J. Jiang, et al, Investigation and assessment on mountain tunnels and
geotechnical damage after the Wenchuan earthquake, Science in China press, China (2009).
L.M. Wang, X.X. Ge, L. Liu, et al, Measurement on fracture process and analysis on mechanical
performance of steel fiber reinforced concrete, Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, China (2009).
C. Yi, H.P. Xie, A fractal description of crack propagation in high percentage fiber reinforced
concrete under fatigue loading, Mechanics and Engineering, China (2001).
H.G. Harris, Dynamic modeling of concrete structure, ACI Publication (1982).
D. Jurukovski, Experimental testing of materials, elements and components of structures,
University Kiril and Metodij, Skopje (1982).
M.G. Liu, W.X. Gao, W. Zhang, et al, Steel fiber sprayed concrete and its application in tunnel
engineering, Railway Engineering, China (2006).
98
th
THE VALIDATION AND STUDY OF LATERAL STIFFNESS

REDUCTION FACTORS OF SHIELD TUNNEL SEGMENT JOINT
Hengyang Hu1, Yong Yuan2 and Haitao Yu1
1
Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University,

e-mail: <380968894@qq.com>
Keywords: shield tunnel; stiffness of joint; modified routine method; stiffness reduction factor
Abstract: The calculation of lateral stiffness reduction factors of shield tunnel in the
domestic is used by modified routine method for analyzing. At the same time, the
lateral stiffness reduction factors of structural model have been investigated.
Analyzed the existing efficiency of lateral stiffness values of shield tunnel in domestic
and in abroad, the stiffness is determined in the range between 0.5 and 0.8. The
reasonable about the range of the stiffness has been verified through the simulation
about the lateral stiffness of structural model of shield tunnel segment joint.
1. INTRODUCTION
Shield tunnel lining structure is assembled from several pieces of arc segment into a ring and the
rings would be connected together. The segments and the rings are both connected by lateral bolts
and vertical bolts. Currently, the calculation of lining structure internal force of shield tunnel in the
domestic is used by routine method and modified routine method. Introduce stiffness reduction factor
(0 < 1) without considering the joints position. By reducing the overall stiffness of the lining of
the ring is to reflect the impact of the deformation and internal forces of the joint on the shield tunnel
segment ring. The defect is that it did not consider the local influence effect of segment joint on overall
stiffness of the structural lining. While in abroad such as in Japan, the calculation method of the
internal force of shield tunnel segment lining is used by beam-spring model. The process fully consider
the longitudinal joint position and simulate the effect of break joints assembled and the stiffness
reduction of entire ring caused by segment joints by using rotating spring and shear spring. Thus the
bearing mechanism of segment ring in mechanics has made a reasonable explanation.
This paper only conducted stiffness reduction factor by using modified routine method research
and analysis. Combined with a large shield tunneling model shaking table test is to analyze and
validate the lateral stiffness reduction factor of tunnel similar model.
2. EMPIRICAL FORMULA AND THEORETICAL ANALYSIS
Xiaochun ZHONG and Wei ZHU selected the maximum horizontal displacement as judgment
_________________
2
State Key Laboratory of Disaster Reduction in Civil Engineering, Tongji University,
______________________
Supported by:
The National Natural Science Foundation of China (51208296 & 51478343)
The Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2013KJ095)
Shanghai Educational Development Foundation (13CG17)
National Key Technology R&D Program of the Peoples Republic of China (Serial Number: 2012BAK24B00)
99
Hengyang Hu, Yong Yuan and Haitao Yu
criterion. The maximum horizontal displacement of lining ring was calculated by using beam-spring
model and modified routine method. If both the maximum horizontal displacement were same, the
result of the maximum horizontal displacement calculated by modified routine method was related to
the stiffness efficiency. And the stiffness efficiency could be obtained. ZHONG has summarized the
determination method of the lateral stiffness efficiency could be obtained by the ratio of
bending stiffness of joint and bending stiffness of segment. According to their studies, the range was
between 0.4 and 0.8, and the difference of the lateral stiffness efficiency of tunnel which straight joint
and break joint assembled was small.
K. M. LeeX. Y. HouX. W. Ge proposed a method of shield tunnel horizontal design (elastic hinge
model). The changes of vertical or horizontal diameter of the tunnel obtained by the method and
modified the stiffness of continuous ring. On the other hand, the changes of vertical or horizontal
diameter of the tunnel calculated by continuous ring model. When the amount of change in the vertical
or horizontal diameter of the tunnel obtained by the two methods were very close, the stiffness at this
time considered the impact of the joint was the equivalent lateral stiffness of tunnel. The fitting formula
about the relationships between lateral bending stiffness efficiency of straight joint and break joint
assembled and the parameters (tunnel radius, thickness, formation resistance coefficient, joint
stiffness ratio, etc.) was given. According to the study, they believed the stiffness efficiency of the
tunnel in soft soil area was generally between 0.1 and 0.6.
3. LARGE - SCALE STRUCTURAL MODEL TEST
The loading test of rounded rectangle segment of DPLEX tunnel had been conducted in Japan.
The load model of the tunnel had two rings (0.5+1+0.5), and break joints assembled. The lining rings
plane size was 3.3m 3.0m and thickness was 175mm. The test results were shown that was
was from 0.3 to 0.5 when break joints assembled loaded on the
ground. Therefore, taken 0.8 and taken 0.3 recommended by Japanese tunnel standard. As
approximately from 0.6 to 0.8 and
the test results (deformation under loaded) shown, the stiffness efficiency of tunnel taken 0.8 was
reasonable. The test results which stiffness efficiency of tunnel taken 0.8 were in good agreement with
the result of beam-springs model. The load - deformation curve of tunnel on elastic stage was a
straight line with the intercept of 0.
Kun FENG and Chuan HE conducted prototype test of segment lining structure of Nanjing
Yangtze River Tunnel and Guangzhou Zhujiang Shiziyang tunnel. Under normal working conditions,
the range of of straight joints assembled was between 0.5 and 0.7 while break joints assembled
taken from 0.6 to 0.8 for 10m class large section of underwater shield tunnel. For 15m class oversized
section of underwater shield tunnel, of straight joint and break joint were 0.5 to 0.65 and 0.6-0.7.
4. THE SIMULATION OF LATERAL STIFFNESS OF LARGE SHIELD TUNNEL SEGMENT JOINT
MODEL
4.1 Lateral equivalent test load model
The above equivalent calculation of lateral stiffness used were modified routine method without
considering the soil effect had impact on stiffness so that the range of the lateral stiffness factor was
large. But the range could be basically determined between 0.5 and 0.8.
The simulation relied on the shaking table test of large shield tunnel and computational analysis
on lateral stiffness factors of shield tunnel model has been done by ABAQUS, one of finite element
model software. The simulation of the tunnel was the A30 cross-river tunnel which the total length
would be 11.5 km and the running under both the Yangtze River and Huangpu River. The test working
conditions were simulated as tunnel structure model in model soil as well as soil-structure method
used. The lateral width of the soil taken was 6 times as the diameter of the tunnel while the depth taken
was 8 times. The two-dimensional circular section was selected for equivalent model of the lateral
equivalent test. Meanwhile, maintained the soil unchanged and replace the lining assembled model
into an equivalent homogeneous ring lining model. In order to verify the comparison, weakening
stiffness achieved by cutting seam around circle were the same as the actual position of longitudinal
seam in segment. Two kinds of seam that one side and both sides were set down for stiffness
calculation. In order to make contact algorithm stable and avoid soil units excessive which may
affected the overall computational efficiency, the soil was divided into core soil and peripheral soil
which could enlarged units size appropriately.
100
(a) Cutting seam on one side
(b) Cutting seam on both sides
Figure 1: Cutting seam of circular cross-section

4.2 The loading method of lateral equivalent test
The covering soil on the segment of lateral equivalent test along the axial of tunnel was taken 8
3
sets of height. The height of covering soil which density was 6.94 kg / m was 6m for calculation
model. The covering soil increased was replaced equivalently by load boundary. Full constraints were
set at the bottom of the soil and normal constraints were set on the side without considering water
pressure.
Figure 2: The model of lateral equivalent test

4.3 The calculation methods and results of lateral stiffness reduction factors
Firstly, simulated the precise loaded model and the figure of load and deformation of segment (the
variation of segment vertical diameter as an evaluation index of segment deformation) obtained under
one set of load. Then the slope k p of a straight line of the relationships between load and
deformation obtained after linear fitting. Secondly, the slope
k d of the relationships between load and
deformation also were calculated after the same elastic modulus equivalent numerical models
simulated under the same loading conditions. Introduced optimized initial value of lateral stiffness
reduction factors.
kd
kp
The equivalent calculation model obtained after lateral stiffness reduced was simulated under the
same loading conditions and the slope of the relationships between load and deformation could be
101
known. Minimized the error by optimizing the slope of the relationships between the load and
deformation of the equivalent model after stiffness reduction and the slope of the precise model. The
stiffness reduction factors of the equivalent model could be calculated.
Deformation of vertical diameter/mm
10
12
14
16
18
20
22
0
-0.1
-0.2
-0.3
-0.4
-0.5
-0.6
Height of covering soil/m

Deformation of Homogeneous ring
Deformation of cutting seam on both side
Deformation of cutting seam on one side
Figure 3: The relationships between load and deformation under different working condition
Table 1 Deformation of each ring under the different working conditions
Deformation of
Deformation of
Deformation of
The equivalent force
cutting seam on both cutting seam on one
Homogeneous ring
as the height of
side (cm)
side (cm)
(cm)
covering soil (kN)
0
0
0
0
41.64
-0.13
-0.15
-0.15
55.52
-0.18
-0.21
-0.2
69.4
-0.22
-0.26
-0.25
83.28
-0.26
-0.31
-0.3
97.16
-0.31
-0.36
-0.35
111.04
-0.35
-0.41
-0.4
124.92
-0.39
-0.47
-0.45
138.8
-0.43
-0.52
-0.5
According to Figure 3, assembled model and equivalent model showed linear elastic deformation.
The slope of deformation curve of equivalent model was basically same as assembled model. The
stiffness reduction factors of equivalent homogeneous ring with two forms of cutting seams in the ring
were 0.82 and 0.86.
5. CONCLUSION
This paper described the calculation method to determine the lateral stiffness reduction factor of
shield tunnel such as modified routine method used in domestic for analysis. At the same time,
determined the range of stiffness after comparative analysis with the stiffness reduction factors
obtained from the tunnel structure model test. The stiffness reduction factors of equivalent
homogeneous ring with two forms of cutting seams in the ring were 0.82 and 0.86 through the
simulation about the lateral stiffness of structural model of shield tunnel segment joint. The reasonable
about the range of the stiffness has been verified for the value compared to theoretical calculations and
experimental values obtained were so close.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The research has been supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China
(51208296 & 51478343). The authors acknowledge the support from the Fundamental Research
Funds for the Central Universities (2013KJ095), Shanghai Educational Development Foundation
(13CG17), and the National Key Technology R&D Program (2012BAK24B04).
102
REFERENCES
[1] SHIBA YUKIO, KAWASHIMA KAZUHIKO, OBINATA NAOMI, et al. An evaluation method of
longitudinal stiffness of shield tunnel linings for application to seismic response analyses[C]//
Proceedings of Japan Society of Civil Engineering, 1988: 319327.
[2] ZHONG Xiaochun, ZHU Wei, JI Yaping, XU Yang. The method to confirm the effective bending
stiffness of shield-driven tunnel lining[J]. Geology and Prospecting, 2003, 39(Supplement):
185189.
[3] LEE K M, HOU X Y, GE X W, TANG Y. An analytical solution for a jointed shielddriven tunnel
lining[J]. International Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics, 2001,
25(4): 365390.
[4] LEE K M, GE X W. The equivalence of a jointed shielddriven tunnel lining to a continuous ring
structure[J]. Journal of Canadian Geotechnical Engineering, 2001, 38: 461483.
[5] ZHAO Guo-xu, HE Chuan. Analysis of the main influencing factors on the design of shield tunnel
segment[J]. Railway Construction, 2003, (12): 2528.
[6] HUANG Hongwei, YAN Jialiang, XU Ling. Design suggestions on joints between longitudinal
segments in soft shield tunnel[J]. Geology and Prospecting, 2003, 39(Supplement): 1722.
[7] HE Chuan, FENG Kun, YANG Xiong. Model test on segmental lining of Nanjing Yangtze River
Tunnel with super-large cross-section[J]. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering,
2007, 26(11): 22602269.
[8] YAN Zhiguo, DING Wenqi, SHEN Biwei, et al. Structural model for redial joints of water-conveyance
shield tunnels[J]. Chinese Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, 2011, 33(8): 11851191.
[9] YUKINORI KOYAMA. Present status and technology of shield tunneling method in Japan[J].
Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology, 2003(18): 145149.
[10] GUAN Linxing. Research on computational method of internal force of shield lining considering
construction process [D]. Shanghai: Tongji University, 2004.
[11] DING Chunlin, LIU Jianguo, GONG Quanmei, XIAO Guangzhi. Comparison of calculation
methods on internal forces of shield tunnel lining[J]. Underground Space, 2001, 21(3): 208214.
[12] Japan Society of Civil Engineers. Japanese standard for shield tunneling[M]. ZHU Wei, trans.
Beijing: China Architecture and Building Press, 2001.
103
th
QUASI-STATIC COMPRESSIVE MECHANICAL BEHAVIOR OF

EPS-CEMENT COMPOSITE FOR IMPACT RESISTANCE
*
Key Laboratory of Advanced Civil Engineering Materials of Ministry of Education,

Tongji University
4800 Caoan Road, Shanghai 201804, China
e-mail: <08013@tongji.edu.cn>
Keywords: Expanded polystyrene, cement, compressive mechanical behavior, energy

absorption.
Abstract. Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) is commonly used in concrete to

enhance the toughness and energy absorbing properties. In the previous study,
an EPS-cement based composite material (EPS-C) was prepared for impact
resistance. In this research, quasi-static compressive tests were conducted to
further investigate the energy absorbing properties. The character and formation
of the stress-strain curves were analyzed. Energy absorption and energy
absorbing efficiency were also calculated. Effects of cement dosage, fiber, latex,
compress ratio and curing condition on the properties above were analyzed.
Results figure out that the stress-strain curve can be treated as the complex of
an elastic porous material and an elastic-brittle porous material. By using higher
cement dosage, adding latex or using higher compress ratio, the compressive
strength and elastic modulus will all increase apparently. The energy absorption
will increase if the cement dosage is higher else if fibers, latex or a 0.60
compress ratio are applied. With higher cement dosage, the energy absorbing
efficiency is lower. By using fibers and latex, the energy absorbing efficiency will
turn lower, too.
1
INTRODUCTION
With the rapid development and wide usage of cement-based materials, concrete is endowed with
1
more and more function, among which is impact resistance. Despite its remarkable brittleness,
various methodologies had been applied to enhance the toughness of concrete, making it possible to
be used in impact resistance. Fibers were usually used to raise the post-crack strength after brittle
2, 3
fracture and absorb impact energy by their rupture and pulling-out.
Another possible method is to
4, 5
compound with some elastic materials which can absorb energy by their toughness failure.
Here,
expanded polystyrene (EPS) is optimal and adaptive.
The impact resistance of EPS concrete is commonly measured by the energy absorption on
5
dynamic compressive test or quasi-static compressive test. Hu did research on the energy absorption
capacity of EPS concrete, revealing it to increase first and then decrease with the increasing of the
6
volume fraction of EPS beads. Ding studied the dynamic compressive properties of EPS concrete
with Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) and discovered that the impact resistance performance
7
would rise with curing age. BABU investigated the stress-strain relationship of EPS concrete
______________________________
Key Laboratory of Advanced Civil Engineering Materials of Ministry of Education, Tongji University
105
Chen Li, Hongbo Zhu and Meizhu Yan

8
containing fly ash and made comparison with EPS concrete with ordinary Portland cement. XU
analyzed the stress-strain curve of EPS concrete and found the EPS dosage to be the most significant
factor on compressive strength.
In the previous study, a novel EPS-cement based material (EPS-C) was developed. It was able to
9
be used in sound absorption . The impact resistance was also studied by a self-made device, proving
10, 11
it capable to be used in impact resistance
. However, the former studies focused on the impact
force absorption and impact energy absorption, which should be treated as the protecting effect on the
structures being surrounded. The properties of this materials own especially the energy absorption
during failure was referred to quite little. So in this study, the mechanical behavior by quasi-static
compressive test is studied. The character and formation of the stress-strain curves are investigated.
The influence of cement dosage, fibers, latex, compress ratio and curing condition on the stress-strain
curves is analyzed. The energy absorption is calculated to characterize the energy absorbing
properties. And the energy absorbing efficiency is also analyzed.
2
EXPERIMENTAL
2.1 Materials
Type PII 52.5 Ordinary Portland cement (OPC) was produced by Jiangnan-xiaoyetian Cement Co.,
Ltd.. EPS beads, with diameter of 1 - 5 mm, were manufactured by Shanghai Leien Economy Energy
Build Material Co., Ltd., which were accord with the standard of JG 158 - 2004. Polypropylene fibers
(FB) with the length of 8mm, as well as redispersible emulsion powder (LTX) with dominant ingredient
of acroleic acid were also utilized.
2.2 Samples preparation
10
Samples were prepared by compressing semi-dry materials molding in 15.6 cm 6 cm

cylindrical molds. The compress ratios were 0.75 and 0.60 separately. Afterwards, samples were
cured in standard condition (20 2 , RH>95%) for 28d or cured in steam for 8h respectively. Mix
designs, compress ratios and curing conditions for each samples were shown in Table 1.
Sample
No.
C200
C300
C400
F200
F300
F400
L200
L300
L400
H200
H300
H400
S200
S300
S400
OPC
(g)
200
300
400
200
300
400
200
300
400
200
300
400
200
300
400
(g)
70.0
102.0
124.0
70.0
102.0
124.0
70.0
102.0
124.0
70.0
102.0
124.0
70.0
102.0
124.0
Mix Design
EPS
W/C
(L)
0.35
0.34
0.31
0.35
0.34
0.31
0.35
0.34
0.31
0.35
0.34
0.31
0.35
0.34
0.31
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
FB
(g)
LTX
(g)
2.67
2.67
2.67
8
8
8
Compress
Ratio
Curing
Condition
Compressive
Strength
(MPa)
Elastic
Modulus
(MPa)
0.75
0.75
0.75
0.75
0.75
0.75
0.75
0.75
0.75
0.60
0.60
0.60
0.75
0.75
0.75
standard
standard
standard
standard
standard
standard
standard
standard
standard
standard
standard
standard
steam
steam
steam
0.61
1.10
1.80
0.61
1.32
1.87
0.73
1.64
2.77
0.85
1.49
2.61
0.60
1.30
2.08
20.1
24.4
31.7
19.9
23.9
33.0
20.9
31.8
57.6
26.4
35.6
42.3
14.3
24.4
37.9
Table 1 Mix design and mechanical properties
2.3 Testing methodology

Quasi-static compressive tests were conducted by Longsheng autocontrol electronic universal
test machine of Suzhou Longsheng Co. The loads were applied with the speed of 2.0kN/s. Stressstrain curves were acquired by computer.
106
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
3.1 Formation of stress-strain curve

The stress-strain curves are shown in Fig.1. Firstly, the formation of the stress-strain curves
12
will be discussed according to the study of Gibsons.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
Figure1: Stress-strain curves of EPS-C
10, 11
In our previous research, a stress-strain curve of EPS-C is divided into three stages.
In
Gibsons study, these stages are called Linear Elastic (stage one), Plateau (stage two) and
Densification (stage three). Based on the differences of these three stages, porous materials are
divided into three types: elastic porous materials, elastic-plastic porous materials and elastic107
brittle porous materials (See Fig.2). Actually, EPS-C can be treated to be made of EPS beads
which are elastic porous materials, as well as porous cement matrix which is an elastic-brittle
porous material. Therefore, the stress-strain curve of EPS-C has the characters of both elastic
porous materials and elastic-brittle porous materials.
(a) elastic materials
(b) elastic-plastic materials
(c) elastic-brittle materials
Figure 2: Typical stress-strain curves of three kinds of porous materials

For elastic-brittle porous materials, the stress in Plateau and Densification will rise to a peak
and fall to almost zero continuously and sharply. The peaks in Plateau are usually lower than the
peak stress in Linear Elastic. Actually, when an elastic-brittle porous material is compressed, the
walls of network structure will fracture into fragments. The fragments will fall and get together in
certain places, leading to new stress. Nevertheless, the new stress will be lower owing to the
weak joint of fragments.
Elastic porous materials, on the contrary, have smoother Plateau and Densification. When an
elastic porous material is compressed, the walls of network structure do not rupture. They are
just pressed nearer, making the materials themselves compressed. So the stress-strain curve in
Densification will go up seriously, even faster than that of elastic-brittle porous materials.
Still, the Linear Elastics of these two materials are not the same though the mechanisms of
this stage are both bending and extending of pore walls. For EPS, the elastic modulus is around
13
4~5 MPa . Porous cement-based material, say foam concrete will have an elastic modulus of
3 14
about 1000 MPa around the density of 500 kg/m , far higher than EPS.
(a)EPS beads and porous cement matrix
(b) EPS-C
Figure 3: Formation of the stress-strain curve of EPS-C

To conclude, the stress-strain curve of EPS and porous cement matrix should be like those in
Fig.3. The Linear Elastic of EPS is far lower than that of cement matrix. The Plateau and
Densification of EPS is smooth with those of cement matrix fluctuant. The Densification of EPS is
higher than cement matrix, though. When these two materials are combined, the stress-strain
curve makes some difference. The Linear Elastic is between those of the two materials. The
Plateau and Densification is smooth because the fragments of cement matrix do not move but
108
stick on the EPS beads. The Densification is higher than cement matrix because the structure is
more compact. (shown in Fig.3 b)
3.2 Differences of stress-strain curve
Here, the differences of the stress-strain curves (in Fig.1) which are made by cement dosage,
fibers, latex, compress ratio and steam curing will be analyzed.
It can be detected from Fig.1 that with the cement dosage increase, the Linear Elastic will be
higher. That is because the compressive strength and elastic modulus increases just with the
cement dosage, which will be further discussed in 3.3 and 3.4. Still, the Plateau will turn shorter
and the Densification will come earlier and ascend sharper. This is because more cement will
make the material easier to be compacted.
When fibers are added, the failure mode of Linear Elastic turns from brittle rupture to plastic
rupture. Actually, the strength of cement matrix is far higher than that of EPS. The compressive
strength of EPS-C depends mostly on the strength of cement matrix, so brittle rupture happens at
the end of Linear Elastic (see Fig.1a). However, when the cement matrix fails, fibers will stop the
cement fragments from moving, making the cement matrix fracture gradually. Therefore, fibers
will make the stress-strain curves of EPS-C like those of elastic-plastic materials (see Fic.2b).
Moreover, with fiber applied, the Densification will become higher because fibers will stop the
samples lateral expansion and make the samples easier to be densified. This phenomenon is
more apparent when cement ratio is higher, owing to the fibers more firmly anchoring with
cement matrix.
With latex utilized, the Linear Elastic of stress-strain curves will turn similar to those of elasticplastic materials. Actually, latex is a kind of polymer material. It will give the cement matrix some
plasticity. Furthermore, the Densification will be higher with latex than that without. That is
because latex will enhance the interface between cement matrix and EPS, making the relative
displacement difficult to happen when the material is compressed.
Compared the samples with compress ratio of 0.60 to those with 0.75, it can be detected that
the stress-strain curves is higher in all three stages. That is because higher compress ratio
cause the materials to be denser and easier to be compacted.
When the samples are cured by steam, the Linear Elastic turns likely to that of elastic-plastic
materials (also illustrated in Fig.2b). With steam curing, the EPS bead in the surface will burst
making the surface of materials weaker. When the samples are compressed, the surface will fail
earlier, leading to a gradual fracture. So the failure mode of Linear Elastic is not elastic failure but
likely to elastic-plastic one. When the cement rate is higher, the burst of EPS beads upon steam
curing will affect the strength of surface scarcely. Therefore the failure mode will turn back to
elastic failure again. The surface conditions of samples with different curing method are shown in
Fig.4.
3.3 Compressive strength
In the stress-strain curves, the stress at the end of Linear Elastic is considered to be the
compressive strength. Actually, the compressive strength of cement matrix is far higher than that
of EPS beads. The cement matrix will make most contribution to the compressive strength of
EPS-C. The compressive strength is displayed in Table 1.
Obviously, with the cement dosage increase, the compressive strength will raise. When fibers
are added, the compressive strength gets a little higher. When a failure takes place in the
cement matrix, crack will appear at the weakest point. As is discussed in 2.3, fibers can stop the
fragments from moving. The unmoved fragments make it possible that stress could increase
again and cracks would happen in another place. When the cement dosage is higher, fibers are
anchored with cement matrix more firmly so the enhancement of fibers on compressive strength
is more distinct on high cement rate. Still, latex will enhance the interface between cement matrix
and EPS making the pore wall of cement matrix more difficult to bend and extend. An increasing
compressive ratio means cement matrix will account for more places. These two factors will both
benefit the compressive strength evidently. Lastly, it can be see that steam curing will improve
the compressive strength on high cement rate. Steam curing is usually thought to deteriorate the
15
compressive strength owing to the delayed ettringite formation (DEF) . DEF is believed to cause
expansion to concrete. But EPS-C is a kind of porous material. Cement matrix just surround the
EPS beads in thin layers. The expansion caused by steam curing might fill the cement into pores
more compact thus benefiting the compressive strength. However, as is discussed in 3.2, steam
109
curing will make the surface of samples weaker which is more obvious on low cement ratio. So
on low cement ratio, the compressed is not enhanced by steam curing.
(a)C200
(b) S200
(c) S400
Figure 4: Surface condition of samples with different curing method
3.4 Elastic modulus

The elastic modulus is treated to be the initial slope on Linear Elastic. It is shown in Table 1.
It can be seen that with cement dosage increase, elastic modulus increase remarkably. As is
referred to in 3.2, EPS beads has much lower elastic modulus than cement matrix. So the elastic
modulus depends mostly on the bending and extending of pore wall of cement matrix. An
increasing rate of cement will lead to thicker pore wall thus increasing the elastic modulus. By the
usage of fibers, elastic modulus on high cement dosage will increase a little because fibers can
stop the pore wall from moving while compressed. Latex will make big contribution to elastic
modulus because it can enhance the interface between cement and EPS and stop the pore wall
from bending and extending. A higher compress ratio is equivalent to a higher cement dosage
and increase the elastic modulus seriously. And steam curing will affect the elastic modulus on
low cement dosage. That is because steam curing makes the EPS beads on samples surface
burst and without the stick to EPS beads the pore wall will bend and extend easily.
3.5 Energy absorption
When EPS-C is compressed, cement matrix comes to fail and the EPS beads start to deform.
In these two processes, the compress energy could be absorbed. The energy absorption is
defined by the following equation.
Where, W (MJ/m3) is the energy absorbed by unit volume, is strain, (MPa) is the
corresponding stress. The energy absorption is shown in Fig.5.
It can be found in Fig.5a that with the cement ratio increase, energy absorption will increase
apparently. That is because more cement can absorb more energy upon failure. In Fig.5b it can
be seen that energy absorption will be higher with fibers and latex applied. In fact, fibers will
extend, draw out or rupture when a lateral expansion happens to a sample. These processes will
absorb energy. Similarly, latex will enhance the interface between cement and EPS. More energy
will be needed to break this connection. When the compress ratio is switch from 0.75 to 0.60
(see Fig.5c), energy absorption will be a lot higher, on account of the higher cement proportion to
EPS beads. However, steam curing would not do much help the energy absorption because
steam curing will make the EPS beads burst though it can improve the strength of cement matrix.
110
(a)
(b)
(c)
Figure 5: Energy absorption
3.6 Energy absorbing efficiency

Energy absorbing efficiency describes the ratio of the energy absorption to the ideal energy
16
absorption which means the maximum energy absorption on a certain strain. It is calculate by
Where, E (MJ/m ) is the CEAR, max (MPa) is the highest stress from 0 to . Usually speaking,
a plastic material has invariable stress upon compression. The energy absorbing efficiency is 1
constantly. So a plastic material is treated to be the most efficient energy absorber. The energy
absorbing efficiency of EPS-C is shown in Fig.6.
It can be detected by Fig.6a that with the cement dosage increase, the energy absorbing
efficiency turns lower. In fact, the energy absorbing efficiency in Plateau is the highest in these
three stages because the stress keeps almost the same. The energy absorbing efficiency in
Linear Elastic is around 0.5 in Linear Elastic which is lower than Plateau. And that in
Densification will fall down because the stress increases with strain. Therefore, with the cement
dosage rate increase, the Linear Elastic becomes longer while the Plateau shorter. The energy
absorbing efficiency will be lower with the cement dosage higher.
From Fig.6b it can be seen that samples with fibers has lower energy absorbing efficiency.
Even though fiber will make the stress-strain curve in Linear Elastic become likely to that of an
elastic-plastic material, it lengthen the Linear Elastic thus bringing down the energy absorbing
efficiency apparently. Similarly, latex will have the same effect on the stress-strain curve except
for the shortening of Linear Elastic is small. So the energy absorbing efficiency of samples with
latex will be a little lower than those without.
111
(a)
(b)
(c)
Figure 6: Energy absorbing efficiency
In Fig.6c it can be found that when the compress ratio is 0.60, the energy absorbing efficiency
in Densification is lower since the Plateau is shorter and Densification comes earlier. By using of
steam curing, the energy absorbing efficiency in Linear Elastic and Plateau is lower because the
Linear Elastic is longer.
4
CONCLUSIONS
The stress-strain curve of EPS-C can be treated to be the complex of elastic porous materials
- EPS beads and an elastic-brittle porous material - porous cement matrix. The Linear Elastic is
in between those of the two materials, the Plateau and Densification is smooth and the
Densification is higher than cement matrix.
By using fibers, latex or steam curing, the Linear Elastic will become similar to that of an
elastic-plastic porous material. With the compress ratio of 0.60, the stress-strain curve is higher.
An increasing cement dosage, the application of latex and a compress ratio of 0.60 will all
contribute to the compressive strength distinctly. For the samples with high cement dosage,
fibers or steam curing will raise the compressive strength a little.
With a higher cement dosage, the use of latex and a compress ratio of 0.60, the elastic
modulus will be higher evidently. Fibers will only benefit the compressive strength and elastic
modulus on high cement ratio. Steam curing, however, will affect those on low cement rate.
The energy absorption will increase if the cement dosage is higher else if fibers, latex or a
0.60 compress ratio are applied. Steam curing will not influence the energy absorption.
With higher cement dosage, the energy absorbing efficiency is lower. By using fibers and
latex, the energy absorbing efficiency will turn lower, too. A compress ratio of 0.60 leads to lower
energy absorbing efficiency in Densification while steam curing leads to lower one in Linear
Elastic and Plateau.
112
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on properties of foam concrete, Cement and Concrete Composites, 2009, 31: 388-396.
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Composites, 1996, 18: 205-215.
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113
th
INFLUENCE OF ROTATIONAL RESTRAINTS ON FIRE

BEHAVIOUR OF RC ELEMENTS
Limin Lu*, Yong Yuan and Luc Taerwe
Magnel Laboratory for Concrete Research, Dep. Structural Engineering,
Ghent University, Belgium
e-mail: <dami21th@hotmail.com>
Keywords: Fire resistance, rotational restraints, RC slabs, flexural behavior, restraint

moment
Abstract: Although the effects of high temperature on the response of beams and
slabs that are subjected to bending have been widely studied in recent years, a
literature review indicates that the fire behaviour of a single member has been the
main focus of most of the research projects. Especially for experimental research,
due to the limitations of fire test set-up, few fire tests include restrained beams
and slabs. However, separate members in an actual reinforced concrete (RC)
structure are always experiencing various types of axial and rotational restraints
from the adjacent members. These restraints may have a significant influence on
the flexural behaviour of RC members at elevated temperatures. The existed
research on the effect of restraints are always assuming that the restraint moment
remains constant during fire exposure process which is not as the same with the
real conditions. Due to the decrease of the members stiffness while exposing to
fire, the restraint stiffnesses will comparatively increase with heating time. This
will lead to an increase in restraint forces and a redistribution of the bending
moment along the member. Hence, the investigation for the effect of restraints
based on temperature-dependant fire restraint stiffness need further research.
In order to have a clear idea of the fire performance of RC flexural members in
real conditions, i.e. continuous beams or slabs subjected various rotational
restraints, to get a deep insight on the influence of rotational restraints on the fire
behavior of RC members, one-way slabs with different rotational restraint
conditions are simulated and analyzed in this paper. Based on the analysis and
comparison of the simulation results, a parametric study on the effect of rotational
restraints on the fire performance of RC members is carried out. Finally, some
suggestions on how to consider the effects of rotational restraints in fire
resistance design are proposed.
______________________________
Tongji University, Shanghai, China
Ghent University, Gent, Belgium

115
Limin Lu, Yong Yuan and Luc Taerwe
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
RC flecxual members including beams and one-way

one
slabs always experience both axial and
rotational restraints from the connected beams and columns. Under elevated temperatures, the
t
restraint conditions
onditions for beams can induce both compressive forces and thermal loading moments by
restrained thermal expansions and also second-order moments induced by these high compressive
[1][2]
forces. These effects
ts can have an important influence on the fire behavior of the members
.
Although the effects of high temperature on the response of beams and slabs that are subjected to
bending have been widely studied in recent years, a literature review indicates that the fire behaviour
of a single member has been the main focus of most of the research projects. Especially for
experimental research, due to the limitations of fire test set-up,
set up, few fire tests deal with the restrained
beams and slabs. However, these
t
restraints may have a significant influence on the flexural
behaviour of RC members at elevated temperatures,
temperatures, which still need further research.
[3]
Experimental tests on the behaviour of continuous beams carried out by Ehm and Postel show
that the negative flexural capacity at the supports can be reached quite early during the fire exposure.
The reduction in flexural stiffness due to cracks forming at the support reduced the induced moment.
moment
[4]
However, Malhotra reports as a result of tests that the continuity over supports without any
horizontal restraint showed
wed only marginal effects on the overall performance of beams compared to
[5]-[7]
simply supported ones. V.K.R. Kodur and M.B. Dwaikat
did many computational
ational investigations on
the fire performance of concrete beams with the M-k
M (Moment-curvature
curvature relationships) method. Their
research shows that fire induced rotational and axial
axi restraint effects have a major influence on the
fire resistance of the RC beams. Generally, the fire resistance of the RC beams increases when the
[8][9
beam is axially and/or rotationally restrained. The reserch of Paolo Riva
] shows that the fire
resistance of RC beams increases when the beam is rotationally restrained. It has been shown in
recent studies that the magnitude of restraint forces
force are dependent on many factors, including fire
scenario and restraint stiffness.. However, most of the researchers assume that the the restraint
moment remains constant during fire. During fire exposing process, the restraint stiffnesses will
comparatively increase with heating time and temperature due to the decrease of the stiffness of the
member exposed to fire. This will lead to an increase in restraint forces and a redistribution of the
bending moment along the member. Hence, it is still interesting to investigate
e the fire performance
p
of
RC members based on the temperature-dependent
temperature
restraint stiffness and restraint forces for more
realistic and more accurate fire resistance research.
To solve these probems and present an effective and practical study on the effect of the rotational
restraints on the fire behaviour of RC members,
members by simulating more realistic conditions of a member in
fire, not only with more accurate restraints but also with temperature-dependent
dependent restraint forces, oneone
way slabs with different rotational restraint
restraint conditions are simulated and analyzed in this paper. Based
on the analysis and comparison of the simulation results, a parametric study on the effect of rotational
restraints on the fire performance of RC members is carried out. Finally, some suggestions
suggestio on how to
consider the effects of rotational restraints in fire resistance design are proposed.
2
SIMULATION METHOD AND

AN PROCESS
Since the fire simulation of restrained members is always very complex, finite element packages
have to be applied. However, finite element methods are always time consuming, and the process is
not clear as all the computing is performed by the computer in the back.. Moreover, some of the
programs are not so user friendly to define material models freely, so a simplified
simplifi
multi-iteration
[10]
analysis method proposed by the authors
is adopted to do the analysis.
The proposed multi-iteration method is based on the material property of concrete and reinforcing
steel under elevated temperatures to analyse the structural performance of RC elements subject to
bending. The thermal and mechanical properties of concrete and steel bars at elavated temperatures
[11]
are taken according to EN 1992--1-2 (EC 2) . The numerical process is performed in three steps: 1)
thermal calculation; 2) calculation of mechanical properties
es of the cross section and 3) structural
analysis. During this process, the RC element is divided into a number of small segments along its
length L (Figure 1). The mid-section
section of each segment presents the behaviour of the whole segment.
Fig
Figure
1: RC element and layout of segments
116
Firstly, the thermal field of the cross-sections

cross sections is analysed at each time step and then material
properties are adjusted according to the obtained temperatures. The temperature field at each time
step within the element is calculated by finite element method. As the heating conditions along the
element are assumed to be identical, the temperature field of the element can be simplified into a 2D
problem. Steel bars are neglected as they dont significantly
significantly influence the temperature distribution in
the cross-section.
section. Generally, beams are assumed to be heated from three sides and slabs only from
[12]
the bottom .
Secondly, the stiffness of each segment is generated by sectional stress strain analysis using the
changing properties of concrete and steel bars. From a given temperature field according to plane
[13]
section assumption suggested in literature
, an equilibrium state for a cross--section in a flexural
member can be calculated at any time step,
step as shown by figure 2. After a multi-iteration
multi
calculation
process, a moment-curvature
curvature relationship (M-k)
(M k) can be generated by sectional analysis at each time
step, and then the ultimate bearing moment can also be generated during this process.
(a) cross-section
section I-I
I
(b) stress distribution and forces (c) strain distribution
Figure 2: The cross-section
section and its stress strain distribution
Thirdly, the global stiffness matrix of the RC element will be assembled based on the results of the
sectional analysis. A group of the average bending stiffness
stiffness of each segments based on the results of
the section analysis is calculated and adopted into the function for the calculation of deflections.
3
CHARACTERISTIC OF THE SIMULATED SLAB

SLA MODEL
3.1 Characteristic of the slab model

[14]
The slab V5-a

a reported in the fire tests reported by R. Minne, M. Vandamme
is taken for the
parametric study of this paper. Slab V5_a is simulated
simulated as the boundary span of a multi-span
multi
(more than three spans ) slab, with one-side
one
rotationally restrained and the initial restraint
moment is M 0 = ( q + g ) L2eff , and the other side is simply vertically supported (shown by figure 3).
10
Figure 3: Layout of a multi-span

multi span continuous slab for slab V5-a
V5
The tested slab V5_a, measuring 1900 150 7500 mm, was positioned in a steel frame with
4.5m effective heating length Leff and a 1.5m cantilever each side.. The live load of the tested
slabs was q = 3kN / m 2 , and the self-weight equals g = 3.6kN / m2 . The live loads were replaced by
twelve point loads Q = 2.138kN distributed over the surface of the slabs, loaded at1/8,
at
3/8, 5/8 and
117
7/8 of the length of the slabs. An initial loading at one of the supports was applied by a hydraulic
jack located 1.2m away from the support. The displacement of the piston of the jack prevented
and the jacks application level remains at the same level throughout the fire test. This means that
no vertical displacement of the slab is possible at that point. During the fire test, the force in the
jack will increase and the restraint moment can be calculated by multiplying the applied force by
the distance of the jack from the support.
The initial restraint moment and the properties of siliceous aggregates concrete are shown in
Table 1, and the properties of the reinforcement are listed in table 2.
V5_a
Q
[kN]
Initial
moment
[kN.m/m]
f
[N/mm]
f
[N/mm]
E
[N/mm]
[kg/m]
2.138
13.36
50.2
4.62
37300
2420
Table 1: Applied load and concrete material properties
failure
fy
[N/mm]
V5_a
[%]
497
17.7
top
reinforcement
bottom
reinforcement
9 12+6 8
13 8
d1
[mm]
19
Table 2: Reinforcement properties of the slab before heating

3.2 Validation of the slab model
The tested rotationally restrained slab was submitted to the ISO-834 standard fire with only
the bottom surface exposed to the fire. Time-dependent restraint moments developed at the
restrained end of the slabs. The moments are calculated by multiplying the force of the hydraulic
jack by the distance of it to the support. The increasement of the moments with respect to the
initial moments applied before heating are measured during the tests, and the results are shown
in figure 4. The deflections at mid-span of the slab V5_a measured during the tests as well as the
calculated results under the given rotational restraint moment are shown in figure 5.
40
Moment (kN.m)
30
20
10
Test_5a
0
0
20
40
60
Time (min)
80
100
Figure 4: Increment of restraint moment of slab V5_a
118
120
200
Mid-span deflection (mm)
tested_V5_a
Simulated_V5_a
150
100
50
0
0
20
40
60
Time (min)
80
100
120
Figure 5: Mid-span deflections of V5_a tested and calculated

From figure 4 and figure 5, it can be seen that: (1) The calculated mid-span deflection of the
slab and the test results are quite close which can be conclude that the proposed multi-iteration
method is practical for fire simulation of restrained members. (2) The slab model is considered to
be precise enough and can be used for the later parametric analysis.
4
PARAMETRIC ANALYSIS FOR SLABS WITH VARIOUS ROTATIONAL RESTRAINTS
In order to have a general idea of the influence of rotational restrains on fire-resistance of RC

elements subjected to bending, the slab V5-a that introduced in the previous section is submitted
to various rotational restraints, with both ends have the same restraint factor each time.The
rotational restraint factor rrot for the restrained ends are considered as: 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0
and fixed.
4.1
Simulation results for the slabs with various rotational restraints
Based on the failure criterias of the simulation method, there are two basical results being
compared. The thermal restraint moments at the end and the mid-span deflections. The restraint
moments at the ends are shown in figure 6, and the mid-span deflections under these restriant
moments are shown in figure 7.
100
Ro_fixed
Ro_0.1
Ro_0.3
Ro_0.5
Ro_1.0
Ro_2.0
Ro_4.0
Moment (kN.m)
80
60
40
20
0
0
20
40
60
Time (min)
80
100
120
Figure 6: Restraint moments of V5-a with various rotational restraint ratios
119
Mid-span deflection (mm)
400
Ro_fixed
Ro_0.1
Ro_0.3
Ro_0.5
Ro_1.0
Ro_2.0
Ro_4.0
300
200
100
0
0
20
40
60
Time (min)
80
100
120
Figure 7: Mid-span deflections of V5-a with various rotational restraint ratios

4.2
Analysis of the simulation results
From figure 6 it can be seen that the rotational restraint moments at the ends incresase with
heating time, and the bigger restraint ratios lead to a larger thermal restraint moment. Since the
restraint ratio will increase with heating time due to the decrease of the bending stiffness of the
member exposed to fire, when the rotational restraint is big enough, which is larger than 1.0 in
this case, the ultimate thermal restraint moment will approach to the same value of the one with
fixed rotational restraints. Due to the sharp increase of the restraint moment, the negtive moment
at the two restraint supports should be considered for fire resistance design. Extra reinforcement
should be taken for resisting the negtive moment.
Based on the failure criterion introduced before, 225 mm is the critical mid-span deflection. We
could see a failure on the ones with smaller rotational ratios: the slab with Ro= 0.1 fails at 65
mins of heating time, the slab with Ro= 0.3 fails at 75 mins of heating time and the one with Ro=
0.5 fails at 95 mins of heating time. The comparison of the mid-span deflection curves of a same
slab with different rotational restraints shows that members with stronger rotational restraints will
have lower mid-span deflections during fire exposing process. It can be concluded that the
rotational restraints are beneficial for increasing the fire-resistance time of RC elements
subjected to bending. It is the same with the restraint moment as shown in figure 6, when
increase the rotational restraint ratio, the contribution of increasing the rotational restraint ratio on
increasing the fire resistance of RC members is obvious when the initial restraint ratio is small,
and becomes not sensitive anymore after the restraint stiffness is large enough, in this case, it is
1.0.
5
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
This paper gives a simple introduction on the multi-iteration method, and the fire test of a
rotationally restrained slab V5_a executed before was simulated. The slab model simulated with
the proposed method is validated with the test results. With the same slab model, a series of
simulations on the slab model V5_a with various rotational restraint ratios are carried out. The
analysis of the results have shown that:
(1) The thermal moment caused by the rotational restraints are increasing with heating time.
For the members with stronger rotational restraints, the restraint moments at the supports reach
their maximum earlier than the weaker ones. So for the support of the rotationally restrained
members, extra reinforcement should be taken for resisting the negtive moment.
(2) The mid-span deflection curves of the slabs are reduced by the rotational restraints, the
bigger rotational restraint ratio lead to smaller mid-span deflection. This gives a great support to
the conclusion that the rotational restraints are benefit for the fire-resistance behaviour of RC
120
members subjected to bending. However, for members with rotational restraint ratio rrot 1.0 , the
contribution of increasing the rotational restraint on the fire-resistance of RC members is not
effective any more.
(3) Flexural members with various axial restraints and both restraints are still under further
research.
REFERENCES
[1] fib Bulletin 38: Fire Design of Concrete StructuresMaterials, Structures, and Modelling, 2007.
[2] L. Taerwe, P. Bamonte, K. Both, Denol, et al., Fire Design of Concrete Structures-Structural
Behaviour and Assessment, State-of-the-art Report, fib bulletin 46, International Federation for
Structural Concrete (fib TG 4.3.2), Lausanne (2008).
[3] H. Ehm, R. Postel, Versuche an Stahlbetonkonstruktionen mit Durchlaufwirkung unter
Feuerangriff, Fire resistance of prestressed concrete, Proceedings of a symposium held at
Braunschweig, Germany (1965), pp:24-31,.
[4] H.L. Malholtra, Design of fire-resisting structures, Surrey University Press, London (1982).
[5] M.B. Dwaikat, V.K.R. Kodur, A numerical approach for modeling the fire induced restraint effects in
reinforced concrete beams. Fire Safety Journal, 2008; 43(4):291307.
[6] M.B. Dwaikat, V.K.R. Kodur, Response of restrained concrete beams under design fire exposure.
ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering, 2009, 135(11), pp:14081417.
[7] V.K.R Kodur, M.B. Dwaikat, Effect of fire induced restraint on fire resistance of reinforced concrete
beams. Structural Fire Engineering, 2010, Vol.1 (2), pp: 7388.
[8] R. Paolo, Parametric study on the behavior of RC beams and frames under fire conditions. fib
Guidelines for the Structural Design of Concrete Buildings Exposed to Fire (2002).
[9] R. Paolo, Structural behavior of continuous beams and frames. fib bulletin 46: Fire design of
concrete structures-structural behavior and assessment (2008).
[10] L.M. Lu, Y. Yuan, E. Annerel, L. Taerwe, A simplified multi-iteration method for restrained beams
under fire. Material and Structures, DOI 10.1617/s11527-013-0164-8.
[11] Eurocode 2: Design of concrete structures-Part 1.2: General rules-Structural fire design, EN19921-2 (2004).
[12] A.H. Buchanan , Structural Design for Fire Safety, John Wiley & Sons, West Sussex (2001).
[13] B. Ellingwood, T.D. Lin, Flexure and shear behaviour of concrete beams during Fires, Journal of
Structural Engineering, American Society of Civil Engineers, New York (1991), Vol.117, No.2,
pp.440-458.
[14] R. Minne, M. Vandamme, Fire Resistance of Reinforced Concrete Slabs, Laboratory for Fuel
Technology and Heat Transfer, Ghent University (1979).
121
th
3D SEISMIC RESPONSE ANALYSIS OF LARGE-SPAN SUBWAY

STATION IN SOFT SOIL AREA
Feiqi Oua*, Haitao Yub,c and Yong Yuand
a
Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China

e-mail: <ofq0123@163.com>
Keywords: seismic response; large-span subway station; dynamic time-history analysis

method
Abstract: The seismic performance of subway station is raising more and more
attention from the engineering circle. At present, there are various seismic design
methods of different underground structures, each with its pros and cons. In this
paper, the 3D seismic response analysis of a large-span subway station with irregular
structure arrangement is conducted using the dynamic time-history analysis method.
Furthermore, the model with different seismic loadings is analyzed to study the
seismic responses of this structure, and the results indicate that the horizontal
transverse seismic motion has great effect on the structure and the most precarious
position occurs on the atrium section.
1. INTRODUCTION
Historically, underground structures have experienced a lower rate of damage than surface
structures, and it was believed that underground structures had good seismic performance.
Nevertheless, the significant damage in several recent large earthquakes shows that when subjected
to seismic loading, underground structures are not actually very safe. For instance, in the 1995
Hyogoken Nambu earthquake of Japan, underground structures in Kobe City, especially Daikai
subway station, were severely damaged. Therefore, plenty of researches in the safety of underground
structures during seismic events were started by scholars at home and abroad and lots of research
achievement was gained. However, most of them focused on subway stations with traditional form and
there were few researches with respect to special structures like subway station with a large atrium,
which is featured with a large span, a large opening and a capacious space. This paper studies the
seismic response of this sort of subway station by using numerical simulation.
2. SEISMIC ANALYSIS METHOD
2.1 Pseudo-Static Method
So far, several simplified seismic design methods of underground structures have been developed
and the pseudo-static method is a popular one, among which the seismic coefficient method and the
response deformation method have been widely applied.
_______________________________
b
Key Laboratory of Geotechnical and Underground Engineering of Ministry of Education, Tongji University, Shang
hai, 200092, China
c
Department of Civil Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, 200030, China
d
State Key Laboratory for Disaster Reduction in Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
123
Feiqi Ou, Haitao Yu and Yong Yuan
(1) Seismic Coefficient Method

The seismic coefficient method is developed based on the static theory put forward by Fusakichi
Omori in 1899. The core idea of this method is to replace the time-dependent seismic loadings with
equivalent static seismic loadings, and then analyze the internal forces of the structure using the static
calculation methods. In the seismic coefficient method, only the horizontal seismic loading are
considered, including horizontal inertia force, elastic resistance of soil and lateral earth pressure
increment.
(2) Response Deformation Method
The response deformation method was put forward for the seismic design of linear underground
structures in the 1970s by a Japan scholar. The main idea is that the seismic response of underground
structures depends on the movement of surrounding strata and the relative displacement generated in
seismic events is exerted on the structures in the form of static loads from ground springs, thus
obtaining the internal forces of the structure. The keys to this method are the value of the stratum
deformation and the rigidity of ground springs.
2.2 Dynamic Time-history Analysis Method
The dynamic time-history analysis method is based on solving the kinematic equation of the
structure, and the record of actual earthquake acceleration time history were inputted as dynamic load.
After that, the seismic response of structure is analyzed and the displacement, speed, acceleration
and stress state of each node of the structure at each moment in the earthquake are calculated. The
kinematic equation of the structure is:
[ M] [ U&&] + [ C] [ U& ] + [ K ] [ U ] = [ P]
Where
[ M] [ C] [ K ]
are the mass, the damping and the stiffness matrix, respectively;
(1)
[ U&&] [ U& ]
[ U]
are the mass, the acceleration, velocity and displacement vecto, respectively; [ P] is the load
vector.
The pseudo-static method is widely used in seismic design of underground structures owing to its
simplified calculation, but it has limited application in sophisticated 3D modeling. In contrast, the
dynamic time-history analysis method can be utilized to analyze the seismic response of underground
structures under complex environment, topographical or geological condition. As for the dynamic
time-history analysis method, it is able to accurately simulate the earthquake process, and the
calculation results are accurate and reliable with consideration of the various nonlinear factors of a
structure. Besides, it is applicable in a complicated environment, topographical or geological condition
for the seismic response analysis of underground structures.
In this paper, the dynamic time-history analysis method and a 3D model are adopted to research the
seismic analysis of the subway station with a large atrium because of its irregular structure
arrangement, complex form, and sophisticated surrounding strata.
3. FULL 3D NUMERICAL MODEL FOR LARGE-SPAN SUBWAY STATION
3.1 The Large-span Subway Station Structure Model and Parameters
The subway station is a two-floor underground station with island platform, which located in the soft
soil area in Shanghai. This structure has a total length of 355.7 m and a width of 21.34 m with two
standard part and one atrium part. The soil sickness is about 1.88m between the roof and the ground,
and the buried depth of the platform center bottom is about 16.61m. There is one end well at each side
of the station, which is connected to the tunnel. In this finite element model of the station, the structure
material is concrete, and the constitutive model is elastic. Concrete grade of the pillar is C40 (elastic
modulus is 3.25GPa, Poisson ratio is 0.2), the rest is C35 (elastic modulus is 3.15GPa, Poisson ratio is
0.2). In this model, the wall panels and the tunnel linings are simulated with shell elements, while
beams and pillars are simulated with beam elements. The finite element model is shown as Figure 1.
124
Figure 1: Structure Model

3.2 The Constitutive Model and Parameters of Soil
In this finite element model, dynamic interaction between soil and structure is not taken into
consideration. Soil is simulated with solid elements, and the constitutive model is elastic. The soil
parameters are shown in table 1.
soil
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Table 1: Physical properties of the soil

elasticity
3
modulus
thicknessm densitykg/m
MPa
2.14
1700
2.0
2.39
1880
2.0
3
1870
21.0
8.53
1760
10.2
21.17
1770
15
5.83
1970
19
7.65
1930
33
4.29
1900
27
15
1890
35
Poisson ratio
0.35
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.35
0.3
0.35
0.3
0.35
3.3 Calculation Area and Boundary

This model has a length of 405 m, a width of 250 m and a height of 70 m, and the distance between
structure and the boundary is ten times of D, which is the width of station. Furthermore, the size of the
smallest element is 2.5m, and there are about 150,000 elements in total. In order to eliminate the
reflection effect of the seismic wave, infinite element is applied as the lateral artificial boundary. The
model is shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2: The Whole Model

3.4 The Input Seismic Motions
Shanghai artificial wave (exceedance probability is 10% in 50 years) is applied on the bottom of
this model in different directions, and Figure 3 shows the time-history seismic acceleration. The
125
calculation cases are shown in table 2.

0.8
0.6
Acceleration (m/s2)
0.4
0.2
0.0
-0.2
-0.4
-0.6
-0.8
-1.0
0
10
15
20
Time (s)
Figure 3: Shanghai artificial wave
Table 2: Calculation cases

Seismic wave
Direction
Case
Shanghai
artificial wave
Shanghai
artificial wave
Shanghai
artificial wave
1
2
3
Remark
Horizontal
transverse(Y-direction)
Horizontal
longitudinal(X-direction)
Vertical(Z-direction)
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Modal Analysis Results of the Station Structure
In this paper, the finite element software ABAQUS is adopted to simulate the seismic response of
the structure. Lanczos method was taken to do the modal analysis, and the top 10 natural frequencies
of the structure are shown in table 3.
Table 3: The top 10 natural frequencies of the structure
Mode
Frequency f / Hz
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
0.39954
0.61528
1.0397
1.5904
1.8130
1.8678
2.6408
2.7733
3.0007
3.3945
126
aThe
The first vibration mode
bThe
The second vibration mode
cThe
The third vibration mode
dThe
The fourth vibration mode
Figure 4: The first 4 vibration modes of the structure

From the analysis results of the structure mode, the first 10 vibration modes are participated by the
overall structure, which indicates that the integrated design of the station is reasonable. However, the
fourth vibration mode of the structure shows that stiffness of the atrium part is relatively small; it is
possibly caused by the big open hole in this part. Consequently, the stiffness of the station structure
changes along the longitudinal direction, and the atrium part may become unfavorable in the
earthquake.
4.2 Analysis of Seismic Action
ction
1 Maximum
aximum relative displacement between the top and the bottom slab
Table 4: Maximum relative displacement between the top and the bottom slab
Maximum relative displacement between the
Seismic direction
top and the bottom slab
mm
Horizontal transverse(Y-direction)
direction)
9.70
Horizontal longitudinal(X--direction)
0.21
direction)
1.49
The above result indicates that displacement responses
response of the structure are very different due to the
different directions of acceleration,
acceleration and it reaches the largest value when the model is subject to the
horizontal transverse(Y-direction)
direction) wave, while it is minimal under the longitudinal (X-direction)
(X
wave. It
is worth noting that, the maximum relative displacement between the top and the bottom slab occurs at
the atrium part in all cases.. As a result, the stiffness of the atrium part is relatively small.
Figure 5: Location with the maximum displacement between the top and the bottom slab
2 Internal force analysis of the station structure
By analyzing and comparing the results, the internal force of the atrium part is found to be larger
than that of the standard parts. Owing to the space limitations,
limitations, only the internal force of the atrium
127
part is given and analyzed in this paper. In order to make a clear comparison, three nodes of the
atrium section are selected,, as shown in Figure 6. Node 1 locates on the horizontal beam of the top
floor, node 2 locates on the horizontal beam of the second floor, and node 3 locates on the pillar of
the first floor.
Figure 6: Selected nodesatrium section
Seismic direction
Horizontal
Horizontal
Table 5:
5 Maximum internal force of nodes
internal force
Node 1
Node 2
MomentkNm
312.1
770.0
Node 3
217.9
Shear forcekN
848.5
818
211.0
Axial forcekN
142.5
252.0
719.4
MomentkNm
129.5
164.4
110.4
Shear forcekN
Axial forcekN
101.2
118.1
137.4
249.9
48.5
119.7
MomentkNm
242.0
151.6
101.1
Shear forcekN
234.4
155.1
62.8
Axial forcekN
574.2
786.3
439.9
By analyzing and comparing the internal force of nodes from table 5, several conclusions can be
drawn as follow: 1 According to the moment and the shear force values, the horizontal
direction) wave is most unfavorable to the structure, while the impact of the horizontal
longitudinal(X-direction) wave towards the structure
stru
is minimal; 2Compared
Compared with horizontal seismic
wave, seismic response of the structure caused by vertical wave should not be neglected;3
neglected
Concerning the internal force of different members,
members, the seismic response of the horizontal beam in the
atrium part
art is relatively large. As a result, the design of the large-span
large span subway station should focus on
the mechanical behavior of these members.
5. CONCLUSIONS
1 Compared to the pseudo-static
pseudo
method, dynamic time-history
history analysis method is more
appropriate to analyze seismic response of underground structures in complex environment,
topographical or geological condition;
2The
The modal analysis of the structure indicates that stiffness of the atrium part of the station is lower
than that of the standard part, the atrium part may become unfavorable in the earthquake ;
3Structural
Structural seismic response caused by the horizontal transverse(Y-direction)
transverse(Y direction) wave is the largest,
but the action of the vertical wave should not be neglected.
neglected Concerning seismic response of different
members, the horizontal beams in the atrium part are the most adverse members under earthquake.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The research has been supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51208296
& 51478343). The authors
uthors acknowledge the support from the Fundamental Research Funds for the
Central Universities (2013KJ095), Shanghai Educational Development Foundation (13CG17), and the
National Key Technology R&D Program (2012BAK24B04).
128
REFERENCES
[1] Guang-bin Bai, Jie Zhao, Yu Wang etc. Seismic Analysis Methods Review of Underground
structure [J]. Journal of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, 2012, 28 (1) : 20 - 26.
[2] Hai-yang Zhuang, Shao-ge Cheng, Guo-xing Chen etc. Numerical Simulation and Analysis of
Earthquake Damages of Dakai Metro Station Caused by Kobe Earthquake [J]. Rock and Soil
Mechanics, 2008, 29 (1) : 245-250.
[3] Mao-song Huang, Hong-zhe Liu, Jie Cao etc. Transverse Seismic Design Analysis Methods and
Test of Shield Tunnels [J]. World Earthquake Engineering, 2011, 27(1):60-65.
[4] Qian Feng, Jiang Huang. Exploration of Disaster Characteristics and Damage Causes of
Large-span Underground Structure, Journal of Geodesy and Geodynamics 2009,29(z1):98-102.
[5] Xue-juan Tian. Seismic Analysis of Subway Station [J]. Railway Construction Technology,
2012,(6):67-73.
[6] Koji Ito, Satoru Ohno, Takashi Matsuda. Seismic Response of Underground Reinforced Concrete
Structure Centrifuge Model Test and Its Analysis Structure. Engineering and Earthquake
Engineering.2006, 23(1):117-124.
[7] Han-yu Lin. The Analysis of Seismic Response of City Subway Station Underground Structure [D].
Liaoning Project Technology University. 2012.
129

SCALE FIRE DESIGN FOR A REDUCED SCALE STRUCTURAL

FIRE-RESISTANCE EXPERIMENT*
Jun-Nan Qiua, Yong Yuanb, Kirsten Dekoningc and Zhao-Ming Liud
a
Tongji University
e-mail: <qjn518tongji@163.com>
Keywords: Scale theory; Scale fire design; Concrete structure; Temperature field
Abstract. At present, most of the reduced scale structural fire-resistance

experiments only consider the scaling relationship of geometry and load, and few
takes the scaling relationship of thermal into consideration. The scale structure with
a not scaled fire leads to an increase on fire damage. So the scale experiments
nowadays can only reflect the fire response of the prototype structure qualitative
but not quantitative, sometimes even worse. This paper introduces the scale theory
concerning the thermal dimension briefly and presents three models for calculating
the temperature curves of gas in the scale experiments. The equivalent
temperature curves for scale experiments are designed by applying the three
models respectively. And then, the temperature distribution between prototype
structure with prototype fire and scaled structure with equivalent temperature
curves which are computed using ABAQUS .are compared. The analyzing of the
results recommends the Model 3 and the feasibility and effectiveness of the scale
theory are checked with Model 3.
1. BACKGROUND
The large expense of structural fire-resistance experiments hinders the development of
fire-resistance research on reinforced concrete structures. There is no doubt that full scale
experiments need a large expense and are hard to repeat. In this respect, the scale test is a better
choice. But most of the current scale experiments only consider the scaling relationship of
geometry and load, and few take the scaling relationship of thermal into consideration, i.e. the
scale structure with the prototype fire, which is equivalent to increasing the effects of the fire. So
the scale experiment nowadays can only reflect the fire response of the prototype structure
qualitative but not quantitative, sometimes even worse.
[1-4]
Some experts
have already done some work on the scale theory which considers the
[5]
thermal dimension. But at present, not many experiments have adopted the theory and little
further research has been done.
*National Science and Technology Support Program, No.: 2012BAK24B04

b
Key Laboratory of Civil Engineering Hazard Prevention, Shanghai 200092, China. E-mail: yuany@tongji.edu.cn
Ghent, Belgium. E-mail: Kirsten.Dekoning@UGent.be
d
Shanghai Shentong Metro Research & Consultancy Co.Shanghai 200030China. E-mail:
13916320749@163.com
c
131
Jun-Nan Qiu, Yong Yuan, Kirsten Dekoning and Zhao-Ming Liu
This paper briefly introduces the scale theory concerning the thermal dimension and presents
three models for calculating the temperature curves of gas in the scale experiments. The
temperature distribution between prototype structure with prototype fire and scale structure with
equivalent temperature curves which are computed using ABAQUS .are Compared. The
analyzing of the results recommends the Model 3 and the feasibility and effectiveness of the scale
theory are checked with Model 3.
2. THE SCALE THEORY
[1, 3, 4, 6]
2.1 Response of a structure at elevated temperatures

The principal reactions of a constructional unit (idealized as a simply supported beam) to
heating are bending due to the temperature difference across the section T and axial expansion
due to the mean elevated temperature in the section T 0.
Free bowing gives the biggest lateral displacement in the mid-span:
(1)
Axial extension producing a longitudinal displacement:
(2)
Figure 1: Simply supported beam: deformation when one side is heated

In many cases the axial extension is (partially) prevented, so restraint bowing occurs. This
causes a secondary lateral displacement in the mid-span:
(3)
In reality, the different modes will occur at the same time. Its hard to work out which of the two
modes of structural behavior will dominate in the prototype.
2.2 Thermo-structural responses-static similarity
According to the formulas of free bowing and restrained bowing of the member considered,
the deflection of the idealized simply supported beam y, is a function of respectively the
coefficient of linear thermal expansion (1/C), the length L (m), the temperature difference
between the exposed and the unexposed side to fire T (C), the thickness of the specimen d (m)
and the average temperature in the cross section of the specimen T0(C):
( = , , , , )
[7]
(4)
Buckingham Pi Theorem is used here to solve the scale problem. So there are 6 relevant
parameters in the problem, the deflection of the specimen y (m) included. These parameters have
2 independent dimensions, namely the length L (m) and the temperature T (C). Consequently four
dimensionless -groups can be formed.
132
=
=
=
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
Now the scaling laws can be derived by keeping the dimensionless -groups of the prototype
and the scaled model invariant.
(9)
(10)
= =
, = ,
(11)
(12)
is the slendernesswhich is the ratio of the length to the thickness. And s stands for the
geometric scale factor.
An additional -group is added to consider the stress in the element. This can be the direct
stress due to imposed loading or the thermal stresses caused by the restraint deformation or the
temperature profiles in the element. The stress normalizing factor is:
(13)
Because the same material is used in the model and the prototype, y is the same in both
situations and p = m. This means that in the model the same stress must prevail as in the
prototype. Thus a reduced load will be applied in the scaled model since the surface area is
reduced compared to the prototype.
So it is found that the following parameters have to be the same for model and prototype:
--slenderness
--thermal expansion
--mean temperature T 0
--temperature difference T
--stress level
If we choose the same material in the scale experiment, the thermal expansion will be same.
The slenderness and stress level is the normal scale factor of experiments at room
temperature. Whats more, it is found that the average temperature T 0 and the temperature
difference T has to be the same for scale model and prototype. This means that the furnace in
the scaled experiment must provide a fire curve which creates the same temperature at similar
positions through the thickness in both model and prototype in order to achieve complete similarity
in thermo-structural modeling. Moreover, this normalized temperature profile will ensure that the
same magnitudes of thermally induced stresses are maintained at similar positions throughout the
width.
2.3 Time scaling- dynamic similarity
It is already mentioned that the burners of the furnace must provide the same average
temperature and temperature difference in the scale experiment and in the prototype. To obtain the
scale fire curve the Buckingham Pi theorem is again applied on the conduction one-dimensional
unsteady heat flow partial differential equation:
(14)
With the left side the variation in time of the furnace temperature and at the right side the rate
of the heat flow through the profile, controlled by the thermal diffusivity (m/s). The derivative of
the furnace temperature in time is a function of the thermal diffusivity , the temperature in the
profile T and the thickness of the profile d with dimensions L/t, T and L respectively.
133
= (, , )
The new -group becomes:
=
= =
(15)
Afterwards 6 is integrated to obtain a more simple equation 7:

=
(16)
To obtain the time scale rule, the latter -group must be the same for model and prototype.
Assuming that the scale model and prototype have the same material, thus the same thermal
diffusivity :
,
,
=

It is already derived in Part 2.2 that scale model and prototype must have the same
temperatures at similar positions through the width (Tp = T m), therefore model and prototype must
retain similar temperature inputs too. That is why the same temperature axis as the fire curve in
the prototype is suggested for the equivalent model fire curve. In that case, only the time axis is
scaled.
= =
(17)
2.4 Three model of calculating the scale gas temperature curve
2.4.1 Model 1
The first model of fire curve comes directly from the Buckingham theorem applied on the
conduction equation. The time is decided by the following equation, and the furnace
temperature Tm remains unchanged.
(18)
2.4.2 Model 2
But in previous fire experiments in which only the time of the fire curve was scaled according
to the Equ. 18, it was found that the temperature distributions in the model were much lower
compared to the equivalent prototype experiments. This is due to the consideration of only the
conduction process, while in practice convection and radiation are also playing a major role in the
heat transfer from the environment (the gas temperature in the furnace) to the surface of the model.
So some experts adjust the time scale based on experiments result, and the furnace temperature
Tm still remains unchanged.
= ,
(19)
2.4.1 Model 3
According to Fourier's law, the heat flux at the surface of concrete is Equ. 20.
(20)
q Stands for the heat flux.
1
=
The Model 3 considers the effects of heat convection and radiation.
, , , + ,
,
,
= , , , + ,
(21)
Tf,m means the furnace temperature of the scale model; T w,m stands for the surface
134
temperature of the exposed wall in the scale model; T f,p is the furnace temperature of the
prototype; T w,p represents the surface temperature of the exposed wall in the prototype. The Tw,p
can be obtained by the ABAQUS simulation in the following part, and according to Part 2.2, Tw,m
equals to T w,p. The T f,m can be calculate by solving the above equation at different moments.
3 THE EXAMPLE OF SCALE FIRE DESIGN FOR A REDUCED SCALE RC SLAB EXPERIMENT
3.1 A brief introduction on the slab experiment
The prototype of the experiment is a concrete slab with 85cm thickness. The slab is exposed
to ISO-834 fire for 3 hours on one side and the other side exposes to the room air. It can be
simplified to a one-dimensional heat transfer problem (see Fig. 2)
The concrete used in the scale slab is the same with the prototype. And the geometric scale
factor is 1:4.
Room air
convection
conduction
Fire
convection
radiation
Figure 2: The heat transfer process in the slab experiment

3.2 The thermal numerical analysis of prototype
The thermal parameters, i.e. density, specific heat, heat conductivity are referred to the
[8]
Eurocode . For their influence on the temperature field is quite small, the steel bars are ignored.
The slab is exposed to ISO 834 standard fire for 3 hours on one side. And on the exposed side,
the heat transfers by both convection and radiation, determined by Equ.22 and Equ.23, and the
coefficient of convection = 25(/ ), = 1 , =0.8, = 5.67e8W/m K . On the
[9]
unexposed side its just convection and = 9(/ ) .
Convection: =
Radiation: =
(22)
(23)
Use ABAQUS to do numerical analysis. Fig. 3 is the temperature nephogram of the prototype
slab. And Fig. 4 is the temperature of the exposed surface of the RC slab.
Figure 3: The temperature nephogram of the prototype slab
135
1200
1100
1000
900
800
700
temperature
600
()
500
400
300
200
100
0
0
20
40
60
80
100 120 140 160 180
time(min)
Figure 4: The temperature of the slab surface
3.3 The scale fire temperature curve

According to Model 1 in 2.4.1, the heating duration of Scale Fire A is 180/16 = 11,25 min
instead of 180 min. The ISO-834 temperatures remain unchanged. And the heating duration of
Scale fire B is 19,59 min according to Equ.19 . Scale fire C can be worked out based on 2.4.3 and
the surface temperature of the slab, see Fig. 4.
1200
1000
800
temperature
()
600
ISO-834
Scale Fire A
Scale Fire B
400
Scale Fire C
200
0
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
time(min)
Figure 5: The three scale fire
4. THE COMPARISON OF THE TEMPERATURE FIELD BETWEEN THE SCALE MODEL AND
PROTOTYPE.
Assuming the scale fire coefficients of convection and radiation remains unchanged with the
prototype fire.
A reduced scale model with geometric scale factor is constructed in ABAQUS in the same
way as the prototype. This model is exposed to the 3 different design fire curves as specified in 3.3.
Also the mesh is chosen in a similar way.
In the results the temperature distribution of different nodes are discussed. These nodes are
created by the mesh which is similar in scale model and prototype. Both the prototype and the
model have 18 nodes through the thickness of the slab. Node 1 is specified as the node on the
surface layer of the exposed side of the slab and represents the whole exposed surface layer.
136
Node 18 is specified as the node on the surface layer of the unexposed side of the slab and
represents the whole unexposed surface layer. Node 2 until node 17 represents the parallel
layers in the slab between both surface layers at equal distances as shown in Fig. 6.
[C]
Figure 6: Specification of the nodes through the thickness of the slab
T (C)
1100
1000
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
node 1 prototype
node 1 model
node 2 prototype
node 2 model
node 3 prototype
node 3 model
node 4 prototype
node 4 model
node 5 prototype
node 5 model
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
node 6 prototype
node 6 model
tn
Figure 7: Temperature time histories for different nodes through the thickness (Scale Fire A)
1100
1000
900
800
700
T (C) 600
500
400
300
200
100
0
node 1 prototype
node 1 model
node 2 prototype
node 2 model
node 3 prototype
node 3 model
node 4 prototype
node 4 model
node 5 prototype
node 5 model
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
node 6 prototype
node 6 model
tn
Figure 8: Temperature time histories for different nodes through the thickness (Scale Fire B)
137
1100
1000
900
800
700
600
T (C) 500
400
300
200
100
0
node 1 prototype
node 1 model
node 2 prototype
node 2 model
node 3 prototype
node 3 model
node 4 prototype
node 4 model
node 5 prototype
node 5 model
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
node 6 prototype
node 6 model
tn
Figure 9: Temperature time histories for different nodes through the thickness (Scale Fire C)
Fig7-9 give the results of the temperature field exposed to the different scale fire, and the
temperature distribution of prototype is also shown to compare.
It is found that Scale Fire A gives much lower temperatures in the model compared to the
temperatures in the prototype exposed to ISO-834 with a maximum temperature difference of
about 400C. When the model is exposed to Scale Fire B, the temperature distribution in the
model is higher in the center of the thickness with a maximum temperature difference of about
300C. The temperature gradient dont match well either. The resulting temperature field of Scale
Fire C in the model seems to be very accurate to the temperature field of the prototype with a
temperature difference of only 40C on the exposed surface in the first moments of the
experiment.
5. CONCLUSIONS and DISCUSSIONS
The fire-resistance scale theory concerning the thermal dimension has a complete theoretical
basis. The numerical simulation results show that the scale fire works well.
The duration time of the scale fire is shorter, and the max temperature is higher compared
with the prototype fire. That leads the heating rate increasing significantly. Thus the higher
performance furnace is required.
It is obvious that the temperature gradient in the model will be larger compared to the
temperature gradient in the prototype, that makes the spalling easier to happen and also
influences the material transportation inside the concrete. These problems have not considered in
the current scale theory.
REFERENCES
[1] McGuire J H, Stanzak W W, Law M. The scaling of fire resistance problems[J]. Fire technology,
1975,11(3):191-205.
[2] Ah Book N. G M S M A. Response of direct models of reinforced concrete columns subjected to
fire[J]. ACI Structural Journal, 1990,87(3).
[3] O'Connor D J, Silcock G. A strategy for the fire testing of reduced scale structural models[J]. Fire
Technology, 1992,28(1):48-69.
[4] O'CONNOR D J, Morris B, Silcock G. A methodology for the fire resistance testing of structural
components at reduced scale[J]. Journal of testing and evaluation, 1997,25(3):273-282.
[5] Elkady H M. Effect of High Temperature on CFRP Retroffitted Columns, Protected with Different
Coatings[J]. Journal of Structural Fire Engineering, 2010,1(2):89-100.
[6] O'Connor D J, Scotney B W. Determination of equivalent thermal response parameters for
evaluating the structural response of beams subjected to transient thermal environments[J].
International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 1995,26(1):111-130.
[7] Qingming Tan. Dimensional Analysis[M]. Hefei: Press of University of Science and Technology of
China, 2005. (In Chinese)
[8] British Standards Institution. Eurocode 2(EN1992): Part 1-2 General rules Structural fire
138
design[S]. London: 2004.

[9] British Standards Institution. Eurocode 1: Actions on structures Part 1-2: General actions Actions
on structures exposed to fire[S]. London: 2002.
139
th
THERMO-MECHANICAL DAMAGE CONSTITUTIVE MODEL AND

SPALLING OF SCC EXPOSED TO HIGH TEMPERATURES
Jin Tao1, Yong Yuan2 and Luc Taerwe3
1
Key Laboratory of Concrete and Prestressed Concrete Structures of the Ministry of

Education, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
e-mail: <lily8033@163.com>
Keywords: high temperature, self-compacting concrete, constitutive model
Abstract
This paper is primarily concerned with the effect of temperature on the
mechanical constitutive law and the phenomenon of transient thermal creep. The
damaging processes in concrete are attributed to the combination of mechanical
loads and the transient high temperature distribution. Two scalar damage variables
are introduced in the stress-strain relationship. A thermal damage variable describes
stiffness degradation due to increasing temperature. A mechanical damage variable
based on the Mazars model describes the stiffness degradation process when the
strength of the material decreases with temperature. These two degradation
processes are considered to be independent. Thermo-mechanical modelling of
concrete should also take into account the thermal transient strain. The mode
developed incorporates this additional thermo-mechanical interaction strain
component. The efficiency of the proposed thermo-mechanical damage model is
demonstrated by comparing examples with the experimental counterparts.
1. INTRODUCTION
When concrete is heated to several hundred degrees Celsius its behaviour is altered significantly.
Mechanical properties such as strength and modulus of elasticity are generally found to deteriorate
with temperature, while high temperatures are found to significantly enhance the transient strain
characteristics. Furthermore, a constitutive model also has to reflect the important experimental finding
that alterations in strength and stiffness depend on the combined load and temperature history.
[1]
A constitutive equation established by Terro for normal strength concrete at elevated temperature
[2]
[3]
was based on the experimental data of Khoury , and is similar to that of Thelandersson . Based on
the test results, a model of transient strain of concrete under multiaxial loading was proposed by
[4]
Thienel and Rostasy .
There are some damage constitutive models for normal strength concrete at elevated temperature. A
[5]
macroscopic material model for rapidly heated concrete was developed by Ulm and Bazant . It
accounts explicitly for the dehydration of concrete. The thermal decohesion was considered as
chemoplastic softening within the theoretical framework of chemoplasticity.
A model for analysis of hygro-thermal behaviour of concrete as a multi-phase porous material at high
[6]
temperatures, accounting for material deterioration was presented by Gawin . The classical isotropic
non-local damage theory taking into account the thermo-chemical concrete damage at high
temperature was used.
______________________________
2
Key Laboratory of Geotechnical and Underground Engineering of the Ministry of Education,

Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
3
Magnel Laboratory for Concrete Research, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
141
Jin Tao, Yong Yuan and Luc Taerwe

[7]
A thermo-mechanical model for concrete subjected to high temperatures was presented by Luccioni .
The approach was based on a coupled plastic-damage model that has been extended to consider
damage induced by high temperatures. The model was calibrated with experimental results of residual
strength tests on concrete specimens.
An axisymmetric thermo-mechanical damage model was proposed for airfield concrete pavement
under very rapid heating and cooling processes due to high-temperature exhaust gas from vectored
[8]
thrust engines . The temperature and pore pressure distributions were investigated inside the airfield
concrete pavement. The three-dimensional thermoelastic stress-strain laws account for spherical void
effects.
A computational model allowing the thermo-mechanical analysis of concrete structures at high
[9]
temperatures by means of the finite element method was presented by Nechnech . Another model
[10]
was presented by Pearce
based on Thelanderssons formulation, and the gradient-enhanced
damage model that had been extended to include temperature dependency. Degradation of the
material stiffness due to exposure to elevated temperatures was included via a simple thermal damage
[11]
model. A similar model was developed by Kang (2001) .
This paper is primarily concerned with the effect of temperature on the mechanical constitutive law and
the phenomenon of transient thermal creep. Thermo-mechanical modelling of concrete should also
take into account the thermal transient strain. The model developed incorporates this additional
thermo-mechanical interaction strain component. The efficiency of the proposed thermo-mechanical
damage model is demonstrated by comparing examples with the experimental counterparts.
2. THERMO-MECHANICAL DAMAGE OF CONCRETE
The mechanical and thermal damage variables are introduced in order to describe the degree of the
mechanical and thermal damage process. The damage accounts for changes of material stiffness,
both due to thermally induced microcracks, caused mainly by stresses at micro- and meso-level, and
due to decrease of concrete strength properties caused by the dehydration process.
3. DAMAGE VARIABLE AND EVOLUTION
In this model, the effect of thermal damage on concrete is considered as a further decrease in the
effective resisting area of the mechanical damaged material. The successive thermal damaging
process, which is governed here by the parameter , will act on this area in a cumulated but
independent way with respect to mechanical damage. It is therefore possible to define the total
damage parameter D, which summarizes both the mechanical and thermal effects, by
D = 1 (1 d ) (1 )
where, d is mechanical damage variable,
variable.
(1)
is thermal damage variable,
D is total damage
4. THERMAL DAMAGE VARIABLE

In this model, the thermal damage parameter, , is defined in terms of the experimentally determined
evolution of elastic modulus of the mechanically undamaged material (i.e. heated to a given
temperature, without any additional mechanical load), E0 , expressed as a function of temperature.
( ) = 1
where,
is room temperature,
E0 ( )
E0 ( 0 )
is temperature,
(2)
E0 ( ) and E0 (0 ) are obtained by
experiments.
5. MECHANICAL DAMAGE VARIABLE
Mechanical damage of concrete is considered following the scalar isotropic model by Mazars (reported
[6,17-20]
by Gawin
). In this model, the damaged material at a given temperature, , is supposed to
behave elastically and to remain isotropic. Its elastic modulus at this temperature, E ( ) , can be
obtained from the value of mechanically undamaged material at the same temperature,
142
E0 ( ) [6,17-20],
d , being a measure of cracks volume density in the material,
and the mechanical damage parameter,
E ( ) = (1 d ) E 0 ( )
(3)
Taking into account the different behaviour of concrete in tension and in compression, the damage
parameter d , i.e. the mechanical part of damage, is decomposed into two parts, dt for tension and d c
for compression
[6,17-20]
. These damage variables are functions of the average equivalent strain.
For the uniaxial tension condition, the tensile stress-strain relationship can be expressed as follows
,
[6,17-20]
E
0 c
=
At
c
E [ c (1 At ) + exp( B ( )) ]
t
c
(4)
E is the secant elastic modulus, At and Bt are material costants and c is the strain at
peak stress c .
where,
Define the damage variable
dt , by means of the secant modulus Es

d t = 1 Es / E
(5)
So, the stress-strain relationship of the damaged material can be written as,
= E (1 d t )
The evolution of the mechanical damage for tension is
(6)
[6,17-20]
0
0 c
d t = c (1 At )
At
c
1
exp[ Bt ( c )]
For concrete at room temperature, the range of the constants is
[6,17-20]
0.7 At 1.0,104 Bt 105 ,0.5 104 c 1.5 104

Based on the principal strains
is a positive sign,
(8)
1 , 2 , 3 is principal strain, the equivalent strain is defined as [6,17-20],
=
Where,
(7)
1 + 2 + 3
2
X
X =
0
(9)
X 0
X <0
For the uniaxial compression condition, the equivalent strain is

stress-strain relationship can be expressed as follows
[6,17-20]
= 2 . So the compressive
1
E
c
= c (1 Ac )
Ac
E[
+
] c
2
exp( Bc ( 2 c ))
The evolution of the mechanical damage for compression is,
143
(10)
0
0 c
d c = c (1 Ac )
Ac
c
1
exp[ Bc ( c )]
For concrete at room temperature, the range of the constants is
(11)
[6,17-20]
1.0 Ac 1.5,103 Bc 2 103
(12)
The mechanical damage is obtained as the weighted sum of its two components:
d = t d t + c d c
Where,
(13)
dt , d c are the damage variables in tension and compression respectively; t , c are weighing
coefficients defined by,
it i
t =
2
i =1
ic i
c =
2
i =1
Where,
is a principal strain,
t = 1,c = 0
(14)
(15)
for uniaxial tension,
t = 0, c = 1 for
uniaxial
compression.
The temperature dependent parameters,
At , Ac , Bt , Bc ,
are characteristics of the material and
can be identified from the stress-strain relationships obtained during compression and flexural tests.
The exponent takes into account the effect of damage on the response of the material under shear
1.0 1.05 .
Finally, in Mazars model
c is
the tensile strain
[6,17-20]
temperature T , i.e. when the maximum tensile stress
, at which damage is initiated at a given
ft (T ) is
reached in a uniaxial test. It can be
calculated from the following formula:
c (T ) =
f t (T )
E (T )
(16)
6. STRESS-STRAIN RELATIONSHIP FOR CONCRETE AT HIGH TEMPERATURE

Applying the damage variable from equation (1), we obtain
= (1 D ) c0 : e (1 D )c0 :
Where,
c0 is the initial elastic modulus tensor,
is elastic strain tensor,
(17)
is expansion coefficient
tensor.
At room temperature, the elastic strain can be expressed as follows,
e = p
(18)
When concrete is exposed to high temperatures, other strains appear i.e., transient strain and
short-term creep strain. The two strains can be regarded as additional irrecoverable strains, so the
144
elastic strain can be written,
e = tr p cr
where, is the elastic strain,
short-term creep strain.
e
(19)
p is the plastic strain, tr is the transient strain and cr is the
In the experiments for SCC, the short-term creep strain is negligible compared with the
thermo-mechanical strain for practical test conditions even though steady-state creep is found to be
enhanced by high temperatures. For a structure submitted to accidental temperature conditions, the
effect of creep strain can be neglected in order to simplify the calculation in practice, but for the
[12-15]
.
structure at high temperatures for a long time, it must be considered because of the larger value
In this model, the effect of plastic strain is not considered. So the above equation can be expressed as,
e = tr
(20)
The uniaxial stress-strain relationship can be obtained by,
= (1 D ) E0 e (1 D ) E0
= (1 d )(1 ) E0 ( tr )
(21)
(22)
The stress rate can be determined as
& = (1 d )(1 ) E0 (& - & & tr ) d& (1 )% - & (1 d )%
(23)
7. APPLICATION EXAMPLES
7.1 Residual Uniaxial Tensile Tests
[9]
Uniaxial compressive tests performed by Schneider (reported by Nechnech ) and tensile tests
[9]
performed by Felicetti and Gambarova (reported by Nechnech ) on concrete specimens are
simulated here. The simulated stress-strain curves are therefore compared to those given by the
authors. In the experimental tests considered, the concrete specimen is submitted to a progressive
temperature increase up to the desired value and then cooled slowly. After this, the specimen is
submitted to a tensile force in displacement control to get the stress-strain response.
The values of mechanical properties of the concrete at room temperature and their evolutions are
[9]
given . The predicted stress-strain curves obtained with the present model are shown in Figure 1,
[9]
together with the experimental curves for the temperatures reported by the authors . The agreement
between the experiments and the model simulation is quite reasonable. These results capture the
main trends shown in the experimental data, namely the decrease in the strength of the material when
[9]
temperature increases. This is consistent with the observed experimental variation .
Figure 1: Tensile stress-strain curve
[9]
7.2 Stressed Tests

The simulated tests are performed on specimens with 104 mm diameter and 300 mm height which are
heated at 1 /min. Further, two applied stress levels are considered, 20% and 40% of fc. The variations
145
of the elastic modulus and the compressive strength are also known for each formulation (reported by
[16]
[16]
Hassen ). Their values at ambient temperature are given (reported by Hassen ).
Figures 2 to 5 show a comparison between experimental measurements and the model results for the
free thermal strain and the total axial strain from which the instantaneous elastic value is derived and
the axial transient strain for the two considered stress levels.
Numerical simulations show a good agreement with experimental measurements for both the ordinary
concrete and the high performance one, with regard to the studied components of the concrete
deformation under thermo-mechanical loading. However, a certain deviation for the total strain
prediction can be observed in the case of HPC with the stress level equal to 40% of the compressive
strength. The free thermal strain is smaller than the test results at lower temperature, which is due to
the fact that the model of free thermal strain is based on the smaller test results of SCC.
[16]
Figure 2: Results of tests and models for C30 at 20 % relative stress level
[16]
146
[16]
[16]
Figure 5: Results of tests and model for C80 at 40 % relative stress level
8. CONCLUSIONS
A constitutive model for concrete behaviour under transient temperatures has been proposed.
Constitutive relationships for concrete at high temperatures, and in particular those concerning
material damage, are discussed. The classical isotropic damage theory has been appropriately
modified to take into account both the mechanical damage and the thermo-chemical material
deterioration at high temperature.
The transient strain, due to the combined increase of stress and temperature, is irreversible and occurs
only during first heating. Loss of strength and stiffness due to mechanical processes are modelled via
an elastic Mazars damage model. The onset of mechanical damage and the softening parameter are
both temperature dependent. Stiffness deterioration resulting from exposure to elevated temperatures
is also captured by a straightforward thermal damage model. Thermal and mechanical damage are
combined multiplicatively.
The proposed model has therefore been used to predict the behaviour of different formulations of
concrete under different loading and heating conditions. Good agreement with experimental results
has been obtained. Nevertheless, the model deserves to be validated on different strength grades.
Finally, it is recognized that more experimental data are needed under multiaxial conditions. Also the
thermo-mechanical response in tension is still to be investigated experimentally.
147
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to gratitude the financial supports from the National Key Technology R&D
Program (Grant Nos. 2012BAK24B03, 2012BAK24B04) and NSFC (Grant No. 51208105). The
Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars is also gratefully
acknowledged.
REFERENCES
[1] Terro M J, Hamoush S A. Effect of confinement on siliceous aggregate concrete subjected to
elevated temperatures and cyclic heating. ACI Material Journal, 1997,94(2):83-89
[2] Anderberg Y, Thelandersson S. Stress and deformation characteristics of concrete at high
temperatures: 2 experimental investigation and material behaviour model.Bulletin 54. Sweden
(Lund): Lund Institute of Technology. 1976
[3] Thelandersson S. Modeling of combined thermal and mechanical action in concrete. Journal of
Engineering Mechanics, 1987,113 (6):893-906
[4] Thienel K. Ch., F.S. Rostky. Transient creep of concrete under biaxial stress and high
temperature. Cement and Concrete Research, 1996, 26,(9):1409-1422
[5] Ulm F J, Olivier Coussy, and Zdenek P. Bazant. The Chunnel Fire. I: Chemoplastic Softening in
Rapidly Heated Concrete. Journal of Engineering Mechanics, 1999,125(3): 272-282
[6] Gawin D., F. Pesavento, B. A. Schrefler. Modelling of deformations of high strength concrete at
elevated temperatures. Materials and Structures, 2004, 37(5): 218-236
[7] Luccioni B.M., M.I. Figueroa, R.F. Danesi. Thermo-mechanic model for concrete exposed to
elevated temperatures. Engineering Structures, 2003, 25(6): 729-742
[8] Ju J.W., Zhang Y. Axisymmetric thermo-mechanical constitutive and damage modeling for
concrete pavement under transient high temperature. Mechanics of Materials, 1998,29(1):
307-323
[9] Nechnech W., F.Meftah, J.M. Reynouard. An elasto-plastic damage model for plain concrete
subjected to high temperatures. Engineering Structures, 2002,24(5):597-611
[10] Pearcel Chris J., Claus V. Nielsen. Gradient enhanced thermo-mechanical damage model for
concrete at high temperatures including transient thermal creep. International Journal for
Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics, 2004, 28(7-8):715-735
[11] Kang S W, S.G. Hong. Material Model and Thermal Response Analysis of Concrete at Elevated
Temperatures. Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute, 2001, 3(3): 268-276
[12] Khoury G A. Strain of Heated Concrete during Two Thermal Cycles. Part1: Strain over two cycles,
during first heating and at subsequent constant temperature. Magazine of concrete research,
2006,58 (6):367-385
[13] Khoury G A. Strain of Heated Concrete during Two Thermal Cycles. Part3: isolation of strain
components and strain model development. Magazine of concrete research,2006,58 (7):421-435
[14] Browne R D, Blundell R. The influence of loading age and temperature on the long term creep
behavior of concrete on a sealed, moisture stable state. Materials and Structures. 1969, 2(8):
133-143
[15] Colina H, J Sercomber. Transient thermal creep of concrete in service conditions at temperature
up to 300 . Magazine of concrete research, 2004,56(10):559-574
[16] Hassen S, Fekri Meftah. Dehydration creep of concrete at high temperatures. Materials and
Structures,2008,41(1):17-30
[17] Dariusz Gawin, Modelling Damage Processes of Concrete at High Temperature with
Thermodynamics of Multi-Phase Porous Media. Journal of Theoretical and Applied
Mechanics,2006,44(3): 505-532
[18] D. Gawin, F. Pesavento, B.A. Schrefler, Modelling of hygro-thermal behaviour of concrete at high
temperature with thermo-chemical and mechanical material degradation, Computer Methods in
Applied Mechanics and Engineering. 2003,192(13): 17311771
[19] D. Gawin, C. E. Majorana and B. A. Schreer, Numerical analysis of hygro-thermal behaviour and
damage
of
concrete
at
high
temperature,
Mechanics
of
Cohesive-Frictional
Materials.1999,4(1):37-74
[20] D. Gawin, F. Pesavento, B. A. Schrefler, Modelling of hygro-thermal behaviour and damage of
concrete at temperature above the critical point of water, International Journal for Numerical and
Analytical Methods in Geomechanics, 2002; 26(6):537562
148
th
FLEXURAL BEHAVIOR OF IMMERSION JOINT UNDER QUASISTATIC LOADING

Wenhao Xiao*, Yong Yuan a and Haitao Yu
*
Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China, 200092

e-mail: <1989siumanho@tongji.edu.cn>
Keywords: immersion joint; pseudo-static; flexural properties; stiffness
Abstract. Generally, mechanical behaviors of immersion joint, which can be

studied by simplified calculation model, are of importance for immersed tunnel
subjected to seismic action. How to choose proper parameters is the key principle
for modeling. Therefore, experiments are needed to obtain the behaviors and
parameters of immersion joint. This article studies the flexural properties of an
immersion joint subjected to horizontal pseudo-static force. A series of tests are
conducted, considering the functions of GINA gasket and longitude limited device.
In an effort to explore systematic axial and transversal performance of immersion
joint, five types of bending-compression loading cases are performed. The
property of GINA gasket is proven quite significant in mechanical performance of
immersion joint. The flexural stiffness of immersion joint increases along with that
of GINA gasket which results in reducing the opening deformation of the joint. The
GINA gasket tends to accumulate deformation after each case. Rotations of the
joint are observed non-linearly increasing with bending moment, whether it is
pushed forward or inverse to bend.
1
INTRODUCTION
Generally, the immersion joint, which is connecting adjacent elements, is the weakest unit in
the whole tunnel. According to the stiffness ratio of joint to element, immersion joints can be
divided into three categories: rigid joint, flexible joint and partial-rigid (or partial-flexible) joint.
Whatever the type of immersion joint is, the design of it has to consider various actions during its
service lifespan. It is vital to know the behavior of immersion joint after immersion. Therefore, the
axial stiffness for this situation is required for calculation and design.
Theoretically, mechanical behavior of immersion joint was assumed whether for deformation
[1]
.[2]
[3]
action (LIU Zheng-gen ) or seismic effect (I. Anastasopoulos. et al ) YU Haitao. et al.
deduced a double-linear formula to account for the stiffness of a flexible joint, which was also
verified through numerical model. Moreover, only few experiments were found to study the
flexural mechanical behaviors of large-scaled immersion joint as well as the flexural stiffness. It
should be noted that opening of immersion joint may be caused from compression and tension of
temperature variation in tunnel elements. The differential opening of the immersion joint may be
introduced as snake movement of immersed tunnel along its longitudinal profile (Owen and
______________________________
State Key Laboratory for Disaster Reduction in Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
Key Laboratory of Geotechnical and Underground Engineering (Tongji University) of Ministry of Education,
Tongji University, Shanghai, China
149
Wenhao Xiao, Yong Yuan and Haitao Yu

[4]
Scholl ).
This paper presents a compression-bending test of a partial-flexible immersion joint with 1:10
geometric scale. The compression of scaled model is applied axial to imitate water pressures on
immersion joint at typical buried depths. Bending moments are applied cyclically at equal
amplitude in the horizontal plane. Through observed load-deformation curves both axial stiffness
and flexural stiffness of the joint will be given for the reference in practical design.
2
BACKGROUND
Figure 1: Sketch of Immersion joint applied in HZML
[5]
(a) Prototype of immersion joint
(b) Detail view of A-A

Figure 2: Immersion joint in HZML
The immersed tunnel, in the project of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao link (HZML), is
approximately 5,664 m in length. It consists of 33 elements and is finally connected two artificial
islands, as can be seen in Figure 1.
The partial-flexible immersion joint generally includes GINA gasket, Omega water proof, shear
keys, steel shell and pre-stress cables shown in Figure 2.
As results of earthquake loading and differential settlement, ground motion will cause movement
of immersed tunnel. This movement results in extra axial force and transversal force on
150
immersion joints. The compression axial force works in axial direction on the cross section of
joints as well as moment and it will be transferred from one element to another through GINA
gasket. Moreover, shear keys are used to transfer transversal force. Hence, to study the flexural
mechanical behaviors of immersion joint, only the component of GINA gasket is considered in this
paper.
3
SCALED MODEL OF IMMERSION JOINT
3.1 Model Element of the Tunnel
Figure 3: Cross-section of model immersed tunnel

The original profile of cross-section of a tunnel element, which was adopted in HZML, is
shown in Figure 2. It is of two vehicle passages and one gallery serving for emergency. For the
consideration of loading, here only horizontal bending will be applied. As the shaped corners in
passages and middle walls contribute insignificance to compression or bending of the joint, the
cross-sectional profile of model element was simplified as rectangular as Figure 3 displayed,
comparing with the original cross-section.
Based on the capacity of available facilities and the goal of the experiment, a geometric scale
of 1:10 is selected. Under this situation, the reinforcements in part of model element were
enhanced and the rest of them were collected by configuration. Figure 3 also provides the
dimensions of a single tunnel element with a width of 3800 mm, a height of 1150 mm, and a
length of 1250 mm, as well as a 150 mm-thick concrete slab. Referring to the Chinese Code for
concrete structure (GB50010-2010[6]), the strength of concrete and reinforcement are C50 and
HRB335 respectively.
3.2 Model Immersion Joint
The model immersion joint follows the design of HZML and is also simplified according to the
experiment. Based on that, a certain type of GINA gasket is designed and manufactured. Figure 4
displays the dimensions of the model GINA profile. Parameters of GINA gasket applied in this
paper are determined.
(a) Dimension of the model GINA (unit: mm)
(b) GINA profile
Figure 4: Dimensions of the model GINA profile

151
COMPRESSION-BENDING TEST
4.1 Loading Test Set-up

As illustrated in Figure 5, the tunnel model was placed in a steel setup. During a typical
experiment, one tunnel element (Model Element A) is fixed horizontally while the other one
(Model Element B) is movable, resulting in deformation in immersion joint. Therefore, a set of
reaction frame is designed, including axial reaction frame and supporting system.
Figure 5: Loading Test Set-up
4.2 Loading Patterns

Compression-bending testing combines the loading patterns of imposing axial load and
bending moment. Hence, loadings are set as 5 stages with different axial forces but the same
bending moment, as Figure 6 displayed. The bending moment, with maximum value of 350kNm,
is applied to the joint when axial force reaches given level.
Figure 6: Quasi-static loading patterns
152
FLEXURAL PERFORMANCE OF IMMERSION JOINT
5.1 Loading Patterns

Figure 7 illustrates the relative displacement of the joint under the axial force of 500kN when
subjected to bending moment of 350kNm. Initial state refers to the current compression of the
joint while no bending moment has been applied.
Figure 7: Rotation of immersion joint (with axial force of 500kN)

In this situation, it is obvious that the relative displacement increases along with the moment.
The displacement of the joint behaves symmetrically, displayed in Figure 7, and the symmetry
axis of the joint nearly remains in its geometric center during the cyclic bending.
While the axial force grows to 1000kN (see Figure 8(a)), the maximum relative displacement of
joint decreases remarkably. The joint behaves anti-symmetrically and the center of rotation starts
to move away from the geometric center of the joint. As the axial force continues to boost, the
same behaviors can be observed as well. In Figure 8(d), the maximum relative displacement,
measured at Point 5, is 0.20mm, which is almost 7 times than that measured at Point 1. Moreover,
the center of rotation is located around Point 1 in this case.
(a) Axial force of 1000kN
153
(b) Axial force of 1500kN
(c) Axial force of 2000kN
(d) Axial force of 2500kN
Figure 8: Rotation of immersion joint subjected to different levels of axial force
154
5.2 Moment-rotation Curve

Figure 9 provides the moment-rotation curves of the immersion joint at different axial forces. It
is clear that all the curves present the hysteretic behaviors of the joint. It can be seen that the
loading part and unloading part do not coincide, which means that GINA gasket performs nonelastically, resulting in a hysteretic loop in each case.
From Figure 9, the slope of the curves changes continuously during the test and residual
deformation occurs after each case. Therefore, for simulation of behaviors of immersion joint
especially for seismic analysis, plasticity and viscoelasticity need to be considered.
Figure 9: Moment-Rotation curves of immersion joint
CONCLUSIONS
This study presents the test of a scaled immersion joint subjected to compressive-bending
loading. According to Hong Kong- Zhuhai-Macau Link project, compressive loads along the
longitudinal direction of the immersed tunnel in several levels and equal amplitude of horizontal
bending moment are applied at target axial forces. Analysis of the experimental results gives
conclusions as:
(1)Joint keeps plane during bending. Rotation of the joint increases with bending moment but
it decreases with axial force.
(2)The moment-rotation curve exist hysteretic loop. It indicates that there is energy-dissipation
during bending. However, the area of the loop reduces with increasing of axial force. The
deformation of the joint might be asymmetric as the residual rotation of it is observed at each
bending cycle.
It should be noted, however, that the conclusions are drawn according to scaled tests. Size
effect should be taken into consideration in practical usage.
REFERENCES
[1] Liu, Z. (2009). Behavour and security assessment of joints of immersed tunnel (Masters thesis).
Tongji University, Shanghai.
[2] Anastasopoulos, I., Gerolymos, N., Drosos, V., Kourkoulis, R., Georgarakos, T.,... Gazetas, G.
(2007). Nonlinear Response of Deep Immersed Tunnel to Strong Seismic Shaking. Journal of
Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 133(9), 1067-1090. doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)10900241(2007)133:9(1067)
[3] YU, H., YUAN, Y., LIU, H., & LI, Z. (2014). Mechanical model and analytical solution of stiffness for
joints of immersed-tube tunnel. Enginneering Mechanics, 31(6), 145-150. doi: 10.6052/j.issn.10004750.2012.012.0987
[4] Owen, N. and R. Scholl(1981). Earthquake Engineering of Large Underground Structures. San
Francisco, California, URS/John A. Blume & Associates, Engineers.
155
[5] CCCCHZMB. (2011). Tunnel Design Solution [Format: Images]. Retrieved from
http://www.cccchzmb.com/P53-119.biz
[6] China, M. O. H. A.(2010). Code for design of concrete structure (GB 50010-2010). Beijing: China
Architecture & Building Press.
156
th
LARGE-SCALE SHAKING TABLE TEST STUDY ON SEISMIC

CHARACTERISTICS OF GRADIENT-CHANGING SLOPE
Xiao Yan*, Juyun Yuan*, Haitao Yu* and Yong Yuan*,
*

e-mail: <bwzyx323@163.com>
Keywords: Gradient-changing slope, shaking table test, similitude relation, model soil
Abstract. A series of shaking table tests were conducted on gradient-changing slope

model with the scale of 1:60. Details of experimental setup were first presented with
particular focuses on design of the similitude relation and the model soil. Based on
Buckingham- theory, similitude relations of this test were obtained. Then, model soil
matching the test similitude relations was found. Seismic waves with different sorts,
peak accelerations and frequencies were input by shaking table to verify boundary
effect of the model box and study dynamic response of the gradient-changing slope.
Test results indicate that amplification factors of PGA imply magnification trend from
bottom to top through soil. In the vertical direction, low frequency signals are
amplified, while high frequency signals are filtered. Slope surface shows different
reactions excited by different sort of seismic waves, but the trends of PGA
amplification factor distribution are nearly the same in test cases of different peak
accelerations. The response peak acceleration increase with the decreasing
frequencies of input earthquake waves along the slope surface, and the maximum
PGA is always observed at the gradient-changing location along the slope surface.
The test results are helpful to further study on seismic response of other
gradient-changing slopes and the guidance for practical engineering.
1
INTRODUCTION
Performance of soil slopes subjected to seismic loadings is an important issue in slope design. For
engineering practice, it is of particular interest to predict the dynamic response of natural and
man-made slopes under seismic loadings. In order to study dynamic behaviour of slope associated
with earthquake, physical model tests such as centrifuge model tests and shaking table tests are
1
desirable. Kutter conducted centrifuge test with clay soil and found that the displacement predicted
with strain softening would better coincide with the test results. Through a series of dynamic centrifuge
2
tests, Brennan evaluated shear modulus and damping ratio of soil. The major problem of centrifuge
model test is the scaling effect due to the difficulty of scaling the instrumentation properly.
Shaking table test is another important approach to study seismic response of soil slope. Lo
3
Grasso investigated the performance of reinforced slope through a number of shaking table tests. It
was concluded from the study that reducing the spacing of reinforcement near the top of the model is
4
beneficial for the stability of the slope. Lin and Wang conducted shaking table test to identify the
initiate status of landslide movement from the acceleration time-history curves based on nonlinear
behaviour of slope soil. In order to understand the influences of peak horizontal ground accelerations
______________________________
State Key Laboratory of Disaster Reduction in Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
157
Xiao Yan, Juyun Yuan, Haitao Yu and Yong Yuan

5
and wave frequencies on seismic displacement of slope, Huang carried out a shaking table test on
reinforced model slope. The test results indicated that the relationship between amplification response
and the plastic displacement of the slope were obtained. But most of the models are ordinary slopes
without gradient changing, so it is necessary to study the seismic response and stability of
gradient-changing slope.
In this paper, a large scale shaking table test was conducted to study earthquake response of
gradient-changing slope. In the consideration of input seismic waves with different peak accelerations,
sorts and frequencies, slope dynamic response of several cases were obtained. Some useful
conclusions are presented for understanding slope characteristics under seismic loading conditions.
2
DESIGN OF SHAKING TABLE TEST
2.1 Design of similitude relation

When design a model slope shaking table test, the first job is the design of similitude relation. To
simulate the prototype field soil in the model test, the law of similitude is applied. In the basis of the
Buckingham- Theorem, dimensional analysis of field soil was studied to find out similitude relation of
6
critical physical parameters . As critical research object, the ground soil was firstly conducted to be
analyzed. Suppose stress-strain relation of the soil could be formulated by hyperbolic model as
a + b
(1)
where a and b are constant quantities, and both their dimensions are reciprocal of stress. Then
equation (1) can be formed
1
aE + b
(2)
so the similitude relation is
S
=1
SE
S =1

in which
(3)
S , S E and S stand for similitude ratio of stress, Youngs modulus and strain
respectively.
Second, similitudes of soil dynamic parameters, especially dynamic shearing modulus, are key
points in shaking table test of model ground. Based on classic dynamic equation of soil mass in the
half-space elastic field
2u
= ( + G ) + G 2u
2
t
x
(4)
The similitude ratio of dynamic shearing modulus (m subscripts refer to model quantities, and p
subscripts refer to the prototype quantities) can be derived as
Gdm ( )
= SGd = Sl S S a
Gdp ( )
where
(5)
Sl , S and S a stand for similitude ratio of geometry, density and acceleration respectively.
The equation (5) is the governing equation of similitude relation, and other similitude ratio expressions
of physics parameters are listed in Table 1.
158
Item
Symbol
Item
Symbol
Strain
Velocity
Sv = SG1/d2 S 1/ 2
Geometry
Sl
Time
St = Sl SGd1/ 2 S 1/ 2
Unit Weight
Frequency
S = SG1/d2 Sl1 S 1/ 2
Dynamic
shearing modulus
SGd
Stress
S = S Gd
Mass
Sm = S S
Acceleration
Sa = SGd Sl1 S 1
3
l
Table 1: Similitude relation expressions

2.2 Design of model box
Figure 1 shows photographs of a manufactured active model box and the details. The overall
dimensions of the model box is 4 m long (x), 4.5 m wide (y) and 1.2 m high (z), and the thickness of all
the side and bottom boards are uniformly 5 mm. Dozens of bolts were utilized to fix the model box on
shaking table, and it is important to make sure the bottom board contacting with the shaking table
completely. Before shaking table test, several polyethylene foam boards were set along the inner side
walls, and their function is to absorb waves reflected from side walls and reduce boundary effect.
4.5 m
1.2 m
4.0 m
Figure 1: Photographs of the model box

2.3 Design of model soil
7
Seismic response of model ground is primarily a function of the small strain soil property . The
method of implied prototypes is therefore especially suited to this complex scale modelling problem.
Though the prototype field is submarine trench of immersed tunnel, seawater is not considered in this
test because of poor waterproof ability of these shaking tables.
The maximum height of the model ground is up to 1.1 m based on selected geometry similitude
ratio Sl=1/60. According to equation (5), properties of prototype soil can hardly fit for this governing
equation of similitude relation because of the small scaled ratio. Moreover, acceleration similitude ratio
was determined as Sa=5, so synthetic model soil was the best choice as material of model ground for
this testing program. Apparently, synthetic soil was recognized to sacrifice actual in-situ soil properties
such as heterogeneity, anisotropy, fabric, and stress history, but without serious detriment to the
8
critical performance in certain tests. Tavenas describe the development of an artificial model soil
using kaolinite, Portland cement and bentonite to replicate brittle Lake Champlain clay. Blaney and
9
Mallow tested numerous stiffening agents used in conjunction with bentonite to fabricate a kind of
10
synthetic overconsolidation clay for dynamic soil-pile interaction tests. Shang designed a model soil
composed of sawdust and clay for shaking table test. And Dynamic tri-axial test results indicated that
the unit weight and dynamic shear modulus are far below than the pure clay soil.
159
The synthetic soil selected for this study is therefore mixture of sawdust and sand. Model soils with
different content were tested by dynamic tri-axial apparatus, and mixture with content 1:2.5 (1 for
sawdust, and 2.5 for sand in weight) was selected as material of model ground. Table 2 lists the test
results, and Figure 2 shows the dynamic properties of the model soil.
Prototype soil
(g/cm3)
(MPa)
1.67
104.5
Model soil
(g/cm3)
0.694
Similitude ratio
(MPa)
2.84
0.416
1/37
Table 2: Properties of model soil with content 1:2.5
1.0
0.16
Prototype soil
Model soil
0.8
Prototype soil
Model soil
0.14
0.12
0.10
0.08
Gd/Gdmax
0.6
0.4
0.06
0.04
0.2
0.02
0.0
1E-4
1E-3
0.01
0.00
1E-4
1E-3
0.01
Figure 2: Dynamic properties of model soil and prototype soil

The modulus degradation and damping curves are directly modelled from the prototype soil, and
the method of implied prototypes is used to consider whether the scale model properties are
reasonable. While the similarity of site predominant period is more important in model ground shaking
table test, and the payload of shaking tables should be considered either. According to equation (5),
the best fit of SGd happens to be 1/29. Though the similitude ratio of model soil is 1/37, it can be
regarded as reasonable. Finally, model soil with content 1:2.5 was selected as model ground soil.
Besides similitude ratio of geometry, acceleration, density and dynamic shear modulus, other physical
parameters could be obtained by equations in Table 2. All these similitude ratios corresponding to this
test are listed in Table 3.
Similitude ratio
Similitude ratio
Strain
Velocity
0.288
Geometry
1/60
Time
0.0578
Unit Weight
0.4
Frequency
17.3
Dynamic shearing modulus
1/30
Stress
1/30
Mass
1.8510-6
Acceleration
Table 3: Similitude ratio

2.4 Test cases
The experiments were conducted with a totally 9 test cases. Synthetic wave, El Centro wave and
Kobe wave are considered as shown in Figure 3, and different peak acceleration and frequency are
two focuses in this study. Table 4 summarizes the sorts of seismic waves, peak accelerations and
input frequency ratio for the test.
160
0.3
0.3
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.0
-0.1
0.0
-0.1
-0.2
-0.2
-0.3
-0.3
Acceleration (g)
0.3
Acceleration (g)
Acceleration (g)
0.0
-0.1
-0.2
Time (s)
-0.3
(a) Synthetic wave
Time (s)
Time (s)
(b) El Centro wave
(c) Kobe wave
Figure 3: Input seismic waves
Case
Seismic wave
Peak acceleration (g)
Frequency ratio
Synthetic
0.25
17.32
El Centro
0.25
17.32
Kobe
0.25
17.32
Synthetic
0.4
17.32
Synthetic
0.6
17.32
Synthetic
0.75
17.32
Synthetic
0.25
11.55
Synthetic
0.25
5.77
Synthetic
0.25
Table 4: Test cases

The test model is a symmetrical gradient-changing slope with the size 4.1 m length and 3.6 m width,
while the height from slope top to bottom is 0.925 m. A number of accelerometers were adopted to
record seismic response of model ground. Figure 4 shows sensors arrangement in the test model.
Accelerometers
1:5
Longitude
1:2.5
(a) Layout of sensors for vibration in X direction
Accelerometers
Transverse
1:2
(b) Layout of sensors for vibration in Y direction
Figure 4: Instrumentation for test (Unit: mm)

3
MODEL GROUND TEST RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
3.1 Boundary effect

Boundary effect of soil container is unavoidable in model ground shaking table tests. Setting energy
absorption material alone inside walls was an effective method in shaking table tests using rigid model
11
boxes . In this test, 200-millimeter-thick polystyrene foam boards were stuck to inner sidewalls of the
model box. The boundary effect was tested, and response acceleration time histories were recorded
by sensors distributed at the same height in the model box. Set peak value of acceleration time history
recorded from sensor AX2 as 1, PGA amplification factors and frequency spectrum processed from
recorded test data were described in Figure 5. It can be observed that the PGA amplification factors at
these survey points are basically consistent, and peak acceleration of AX6 near the boundary is only
utmost 2% lower than that of AX2 in the centre. Wave shapes of the spectra at the two survey points
161
are similar in the three selected cases. Therefore, boundary effect in this test is so weak that can be
neglected.
0.015
Synthetic
El Centro
Kobe
1.25
AX2
AX6
Amplitude (gs)
PGA amplification factor
1.50
1.00
0.75
0.50
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
0.010
0.005
0.000
2.5
Distance from center point
50
100
150
200
(a) PGA amplification factor
(b) Artificial wave

0.015
0.015
AX2
AX6
0.010
Amplitude (gs)
Amplitude(gs)
AX2
AX6
0.005
0.000
250
Frequency (Hz)
50
100
150
200
0.010
0.005
0.000
250
50
100
150
200
250
Frequency (Hz)
Frequency (Hz)
(c) El Centro wave
(d) Kobe wave

Figure 5: Boundary effect in Y direction
3.2 Wave sort

0.14
0.5
Synthetic
El Centro
Kobe
AY1
AY2
AY3
0.12
0.10
Amplitude (gs)
Height (m)
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.1
0.02
0.0
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
0.00
0
50
100
150
200
250
Frequency (Hz)
PGA (g)
Figure 6: Amplification effect
Figure 7: Spectrum of seismic response
Three sort of seismic waves were input to study response of model ground under different seismic
loadings, and the results are shown in Figure 6. Test results indicate that, amplification factor of PGA
(abbreviation of Peak Ground Acceleration) imply magnification trend from monitoring point AY1 to
point AY3. Dynamic response excited by El Centro wave is a little stronger than the other two cases.
162
Figure 7 shows that low frequency signals are amplified, while high frequency signals are filtered from
bottom to top through soil.
1.0
1.0
Synthetic
El Centro
Kobe
0.9
0.8
Height (m)
0.8
Height (m)
0.25g
0.4g
0.6g
0.75g
0.9
0.7
0.6
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.5
0.4
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
PGA Amplification Factor
0.4
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
PGA Amplificaton Factor
Figure 8: Different seismic wave
Figure 9: Different peak acceleration
The distribution of PGA amplification factor along the slope surface is displayed in Figure 8. The
amplification factor raise at first, then decrease, and the maximum PGA in any case of the three is
observed at point 6 along the slope surface. The point location is where the slope gradient changing
from 1:2.5 to 1:5 happens.
3.3 Peak acceleration

In order to study response of model ground effect by magnitude of seismic waves, four test cases
with input peak acceleration from 0.25g to 0.75g are compared in Figure 9. The trends of PGA
amplification factor distribution on slope surface are nearly the same in the four test conditions. Figure
10 shows that transformation of gridlines can hardly be seen after shaing table test. The test results
indicate that, the slope soil is still in linear elastic status after excitation by strong seismic waves.
(a) Before test
(b) After testing
Figure 10: Comparison of gridlines on slope surface
3.4 Frequency ratio

Figure 11 shows that the amplification factors of PGA increase with the decreasing frequencies of
input earthquake waves along the slope surface, and in all four cases distribution trends of PGA
amplification factor appear raise at the first, then decrease from slope toe to the top.
163

1.0
FR=17.32
FR=11.55
FR=5.77
FR=1
0.9
Height (m)
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
PGA Amplification Factor
Figure 11 PGA amplification factor along slope surface in different frequency cases
CONCLUSIONS
A series of shaking table tests were conducted to investigate the seismic performance of model ground.
Detailed information about design of similitude relation, model box and model soil, have been
described and should be useful for further similar investigations. Test results demonstrate that the
model soil could amplify low frequency signals and filter high frequency signals, and the designed
model box does not impose significant boundary effect. Seismic waves with different sort, peak
acceleration and frequency were considered in these tests. The results are helpful to further study on
mechanism of slope stability under earthquake and practical engineering.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research is supported financially by the National Natural Science Foundation of the Peoples
Republic of China (Serial Number: 51208296), National Key Technology R&D Program of the Peoples
Republic of China (Serial Number: 2011BAG07B01), and National Key Technology R&D Program of
the Peoples Republic of China (Serial Number: 2012BAK24B00).
REFERENCES
[1] B.L. Kutter, Deformation of centrifuge models of clay embankments due to bumpy road
earthquakes. Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, 2(4), pp. 199-205, 1983.
[2] A.J. Brennan, N.I. Thusyanthan, S.P.G. Madabhushi. Evaluation of shear modulus and damping in
dynamic centrifuge tests. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 2005,
131(12): 1488-1497.
[3] A.S. Lo Grasso, M. Maugeri, P. Recalcati. Shaking table tests and analysis of reinforced slopes.
rd
3 Asian Regional Conference on Geosynthetics, June 21-23, 2004, Seoul, Korea.
[4] M.L. Lin, K.L. Wang. Seismic slope behavior in a large-scale shaking table model test. Engineering
Geology, 2006(86): 118-133.
[5] C.C. Huang, J.C. Horng, W.J. Chang, et al. Dynamic behavior of reinforced walls-horizontal
displacement response. Geotextile and Geomembranes, 2011, 29(3): 257-267.
[6] P.J. Meymand. Soil-pile-superstructure interaction in soft clay. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of
California, Berkeley, 1998.
[7] D. Assimaki, E. Kausel, A. Whittle. Model for dynamic shear modulus and damping for granular
soils. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 2000, 126(10): 859-869.
[8] F. Tavenas, M. Roy, P. La Rochelle. An artificial material for simulating champlain clays. Canadian
Geotechnical Journal, 1973, 10(3): 489-503.
[9] Blaney, G., and Mallow, W. (1987). Synthetic Clay Soil for Dynamic Model Pile Tests, in Dynamic
Response of Pile Foundations - Experiment, Analysis, and Observation, Geotech. Spec. Pub. 11,
ASCE, 127-148.
[10] S.P. Shang, F.C. Liu, H.X. Lu, et al. Design and experimental study of a model soil used for
shaking table test.
Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Vibration, 2006, 26(4): 199-204.
(in Chinese)
[11] R.E.S. Moss, V.A. Crosariol. Scale model shake table testing of an underground tunnel cross
section in soft clay. Earthquake Spectra, 2013, 29(4): 1413-1440.
164

KEY POINTS ON NEW "STANDARD FOR STRUCTURAL

FIRE-RESISTANCE DESIGN OF UNDERGROUND PUBLIC
BUILDING"*
Yong Yuana, Jun-Nan Qiub and Yan-Xuan Cuib
a
Key Laboratory of Civil Engineering Hazard Prevention

e-mail: <yuany@tongji.edu.cn> tel.: +86 21 6598 0234
Keywords: Underground public building; Performance based; Structural fire resistance;

design standard
Abstract. "Standard for Structural Fire-Resistance Design of Underground Public

Building", ("Standard" for short), is the first Chinese structural fire-resistance
design guideline for underground public buildings. The "Standard" takes
performance-based design concept into consideration, permits and recommends
numerical fire-resistance design method which makes it more precise and user
friendly compares to other standards. The main contents of the "Standard" include:
the basic rules and design methods of classification of fire-resistance fortification
for underground public building, fire hazard analysis, fireproofing performance
level, high-temperature material properties, fire effects, fire-resistance checking
computation and structure measures. It is fit for reinforced concrete (RC) structure,
steel structure and steel-concrete composite structure. This paper gave a simple
introduction on the background, methodology and main content of the "Standard",
and also explained some key issues in detail in order to make it more
understandable for fire experts and designers.
1. BACKGROUND
Underground structures are becoming increasingly popular in large and medium-sized cities since it
can make a better use of space resources, release land pressure in urban area and generate
enormous social, economic and environmental profit. At the same time, underground public structures
are becoming larger, deeper and more diversified. In China, numerous underground public structures
have been built in big cities, including underground parkings, subway stations, underground stores,
underground cinemas and so on. A set of new unban landmarks have sprung up, such as the
underground market of the People Square in Shanghai, the National Theater in Beijing, the economical
center of the Bell Tower in Xian. Underground public structures are becoming more and more
important in the development of cities.
Investigation results indicated that, the fire hazard is the most frequently happened and harmful
disasters in underground space, which is characterized by quick temperature rise, high temperature,
1
difficult to extinguishment and long duration . According to the fire disaster happened before , fire can
cause not only the loss of human and equipment, but also the damage of structures and even lead to
the collapse of the whole structure. The fire hazard in Subway Line 1, Taegu, Korea, happened on Feb.
_______________
*
b
National Science and Technology Support Program, No.: 2012BAK24B04

165
Yong Yuan, Jun-Nan Qiu and Yan-Xuan Cui
18, 2003, lasted for about 4 hours and the RC structure of the station was serious damaged, with
2
concrete cracking and spalling as well as the exposure of reinforcements (Fig.1). On Sep. 27, the
Gretzenbach underground parking in Switzerland was encountered with a fire hazard, inducing the
3
collapse of the whole structure (Fig.2). On Aug. 8, a fire hazard happened in an underground storage
4
in Changsha, lasted more than 9 hours .
Figure 1: Exposure of reinforcements in the subway station in Taegu
Figure 2: Collapse of the Gretzenbach parking

Before the "Standard ", no one is available specialized on the structural fire-resistance design of
underground structures in China. Thus, the design of fire-resistance of underground structures were
mainly conducted taking standards of ground structures as reference, which cannot fulfill the
requirements of fire resistance of underground structures, as they are different from ground structures
in aspects of materials, fire scenarios, fire-resistance requirements and so on. Taking the
fire-resistance design of a subway station as an example, Code for design of metro of China
5
(GB50157-2003) "Code for fire protection design of civil air defence works of China (GB
6
50098-2009)" regulate partly on the fireproofing and evacuation of subway stations, but for the
fire-resistance design of the structures, only the fire-resistance grades are defined and the standards
for ground structures are still adopted in the structural design process, such as Code of Design on
7
Building Fire Protection and Prevention of China (GB50016-2006) and Fire prevention in high level
8
residential mansions of China(GB 50045-2001) . At present, the integral level of structural
7-9
fire-resistance design in China is relative low, designing based on member analysis , which is too
conservative for some cases and maybe dangerous sometimes since it is out of the real fire scenario.
Whats more, prescriptive design method based on tabulated data is not flexible enough in real cases.
10
Some countries have already adopted performance-based numerical analysis methods, which is
superior to the standards in China in the aspects of safety, economy, and applicability. In order to
overcome the limitations of the existing standards in China and taking the performance-based
advanced design method into the fire-resistance design of underground public structures, a new
standard for structural fire-resistance design of underground public building is in huge demand.
2. METHODOLOGY
Since this standard is the first one for structural fire-resistance of underground structures, with no
relative standards as reference in China, sufficient investigation and analysis of existing foreign
166
standards and mature research results are indispensable to fully reflect the characteristics of
underground structures in the Standard.
Performance-based fire-resistance design concept is introduced in the Standard, which is a key
issue of fire-resistance design recently. It has huge advantages compared to traditional prescriptive
11
design approach . The basic principle of performance-based fire-resistance design is to predict the
reaction of the whole structure in fire hazard based on a correct description of the external action and
12
the structure itself and then judge the safety of the structure . According to the requirements of the
performance-based fire-resistance design concept, firstly, the criterion and indexes of fire resistance of
structures should be determined based on classification of fire-resistance fortification and its fire
scenarioSecondly, proper calculation method for temperature field and bearing capacity of structures
should be selected, and in the end the safety of the whole structure exposed to fire is checked. Method
based on analysis which is more flexible and precise compared to tabulated data is encouraged for
fire-resistance design. According to the literature review on the relative standards in foreign countries
and mature calculation methods for structural performance under elevated temperatures,
analysis-based methods for thermal analysis and bearing capacity are proposed. These methods
based on analysis can be divided into simplified methods and advanced methods which can be chosen
according to the demand and technical conditions.
3 MAIN CONTENT OF THE STANDARD
The Standard is divided into 8 chapters, which are General Provisions, Vocabulary and Symbols,
Essential Requirements, Fire Scenario Analysis, High-temperature Material Properties and Fire
Protection Materials, Fire Effects, Checking Computing, and Structure Measures. It almost covers
every aspect of the fire-resistance design for structures.
In the chapter of Essential Requirements, classification of fire-resistance fortification, the grades of
characteristic fire scenarios, determination of fireproofing performance level, and basic design
principles are defined. The circumstance, ignition site, and accuracy of fire simulation are introduced in
the chapter of Fire Scenario Analysis. In the chapter of High-temperature Material Properties and Fire
Protection Materials, thermal and mechanical properties of concrete and steel bars under elevated
temperatures are given, common fireproofing and thermal insulation materials as well as their
properties are listed. Calculation methods for temperature field, internal force and deformation of
structures and members are illustrated in the chapter of Fire Effects. Load combination rule in fire
conditions, bearing capacity checking method, limit fire insulation checking method, and requirements
for advanced analysis are given in the chapter Checking Calculation. In the chapter of Structure
Measures, common protect procedures, fire-resistance constructions, prevention measures for
concrete spalling, and minimal thickness of concrete cover are listed.
4. KEY POINTS
4.1 Classification of fire-resistance fortification
Underground public structures are divided into 3 classes in the Standard, which are important
building (Class ), common building (Class ), unimportant building (Class ).
The classification of underground public structures is a measurement for the fire-resistance
importance of underground structures. Underground public structures consist of various buildings,
which are varied in scales, usages, and potential losses in fire hazard. In the Code of Design on
Building Fire Protection and Prevention of China (GB50016-2006), Fire resistance level of
Underground, semi-underground building should be Class 1, which is ambiguous and general. The
scales of structures, losses of staff and economy as well as social influence, effect of losing usage
function as well as difficulty of repair should be considered in the classification of fire-resistance
fortification of underground buildings.
For convenience, the Standard offers the classification of several typical underground buildings.
Different underground buildings can be classified incorporate with the existing codes, taking the
characteristic of their functions or various key indexes, such as the number of parking cars for
underground parking, number of jointed lines and floors for railway stations, and number of books for
underground libraries.
4.2 The fire scenario
The Standard divides the fire scenario of underground public structures into three grades, i.e.
167
normal fire scenario, serious fire scenario, extraordinarily serious fire scenario.
The characteristic fire scenarios mainly embody fire risk and fire potential damage. The grades are
2
divided based on the heat release rate and temperature curve. The T model is used to describe the
rate of fire development.
Q = 2
(1)
Where: Q is the heat release rate, is the parameter of fire development, and T is the fire lasting
time. It is vary as a super-fast fire, fast fire, medium fire or slow fire when gets the values of 0.1876,
0.0469, 0.0117 or 0.0029.
According to fire scenario grades in the "Standard", normal fire scenario means that the heat
release rate is medium or fast and the temperature curves should not exceed the ISO 834; serious
2
fire scenario refers to that the heat release rate is fast according to the T model, flashover occurs in a
short time, and the temperature curve beyond ISO - 834, but not reach RABT curve. Extraordinarily
Serious fire scenario mainly refers to a fire after explosion or at the place storing large amounts of
flammable. The average temperature is over 1000, and the fire curve over the RABT.
4.3 Determination of fireproofing performance level
The fireproofing performance level of underground public structure in fire is classified into three
levels, normal operation level, repairable structure level and life safety level. Specific information are
listed as follow:
Level A. normal operation: structure can work well during fire and does not need repair after fire.
Level B. repairable structure: structure may be damaged in fire, but it can work after simple repair.
Level C. life safety: structure should not collapse during fire, and no severe damage after fire.
The performance level is determined by fire-resistance fortification and characteristic fire scenario
of the building, as shown in table 1.
fire scenario
fortification
Normal
Serious
Extraordinarily Serious
Class
Level A
Level A
Level B
Class
Level A
Level B
Level C
Class
Level B
Level C
Level C
Table 1 The performance level

The classification of fireproofing performance level takes the concept for seismic-resistance design:
no damage under minor earthquakerepairable under medium earthquakeno collapse under severe
earthquake.
Obviously, fire performance level is influenced by not only the construction scale and the usage
function, but also fire risk and fire potential damage. The structure will be designed in different
fire-resistance level depending on its performance level in order to achieve a safe and reliable design.
What should be declare here is that the object of the performance level is structure, not building, as in
one building, subjected to different fire scenarios in different fire compartments, the structures may
belonging to different fireproofing performance level.
4.4 The structures function requirement
The Standard proposed two function requirements for structures, 1) bear the loads while exposing
to fire, 2) prevent fire from spreading. So there are two kinds of ultimate state 1) bearing capacity
ultimate state, 2) insulating fire ultimate state. Different members may have one or two function
requirements, and should be judged carefully by case. For example, the bearing column has only load
requirement, while the bearing wall at the edge of fire compartment has both two requirements.
In the normal Emergency Management of Fire Disasters or Fire Code, the structures are supposed
to bear the load well during fire and can isolate fires from spreading. But in fact, the degradation of
material properties of concrete and steel bars will lead to a severer decrease in the bearing capacity of
structures and even cause collapse. Meanwhile, fire can also spread to the next room when the
temperature of the unexposed side of the structure is high enough to ignite the fuel by radiation, or
168
directly go through the structure when cracks appear. These structural "failure" in fire need the codes
like the Standard to avoid.
4.5 Material property
According to design requirements, the Standard gives the working properties of construction
materials (concrete, steel) and fire protection materials (fire prevention board, fire-proof paint and other
fire insulation materials) at elevated temperatures.
Material properties at elevated temperatures is an essential part of calculation based structural
analysis. The right material properties ensures accurate analysis results and safety design. Material
10, 13, 14
properties in the "Standard" are derived from the domestic and foreign relevant codes
and
15
mature achievements , ensure the parameters are right. Material properties at elevated temperatures
contain thermal properties and high-temperature mechanical properties. Thermal properties are mainly
applied to the thermal analysis, calculating temperature distribution while mechanical properties are
used for mechanical response analysis, such as stress and strain, structure deformation.
This part fully considers the requirements of the fire-resistance design of underground building: 1)
The Standard contains most underground building materials and fire prevention material properties. 2)
Based on the investigation of the materials used in underground structures, the most popularly
recommended research results of high-strength concrete are adopted in. 3) The up limit temperature
for material properties is 1200 , taken from RABT fire curve which is a typical underground fire curve.
4) In order to keep step with the upgrade of building materials, the Standard encourage to use new
materials as long as their thermal and mechanical properties are fully validated by experiments.
Since fire disaster is a small probability event, the strength of steel and concrete at normal
10,
temperature takes the standard values during numerical calculations. This is a common conventions
14
, which should be distinguished with the structure analysis at room temperature.
4.6 Thermal analysis
The Standard employs 4 methods to do thermal analysis. They are fire testing, tabulated data,
simplified method and advanced method.
The simplified method can calculate the temperature distribution under ISO-834 fire curve by easy
formula with many limitations which should be considered strictly. It's only fit for ISO-834 standard fire,
and the calculation depth for concrete should not exceed 30mm. Advanced methods do temperature
field calculation by numerical approach which are always computer-depending. Theoretically, they can
calculate the temperature field transiently and precisely under any circumstances. The fire scenarios
and thermal boundaries are required to be the analyzing results of real underground structures, such
as soil or rock of the fourth type of thermal boundary conditions.
16
The results of calculation and analysis show that the four methods are consistent, and can satisfy
the engineering precision. However, these methods are different on the degree of difficulty, applicability
and accuracy which should be considered carefully in order to choose appropriate method.
4.7 Checking computation of bearing capacity
The Standard supplies three simplified methods (500C Isotherm Method, 300 And 700 Method,
and Zone Method) for checking computation of structural bearing capacity, two simplified methods for
steel structures and an advanced method for all kinds of structures. Meantime, test validation method
is also employed for the checking of bearing capacity.
Table 2: Checking computation methods and its structure level*
Structural level
Member
Sub-structure
Structure
Simplified method
Advanced method
Test
Methods
*NoteY stands for yes, and N for no.
169
The main idea of the three simplified methods for reinforced concrete structures are similar:
decrease the cross-section of concrete based on the temperature field; reduce the strength of steel
bars based on their temperature, and then use the design method in room temperature to calculate the
bearing capacity of the member. Take the 500C Isotherm Method for example. It assumes that the
thickness of the damaged concrete equals to the average depth of the 500C isotherm. The damaged
concrete, the concrete with temperatures excess 500C, is assumed not to contribute to the load
bearing capacity of the member, while the residual concrete of the cross-section retains its initial
10
strength and elastic modulus. The 500C Isotherm Method is from Eurocode 2 , and is firstly proposed
by Anderberg based on the test investigation on siliceous concrete. It is always conservative when
being applied to structures with concrete containing other aggregates However, there are exceptions,
for instance, flint (250),which have lower thermal stability than siliceous aggregates, the isotherm
temperature should be below 500.
Advanced method adopts modern numerical computation and high-temperature material properties,
to calculate the fire behavior of the structure. It should be based on fundamental physical behavior and
lead to a reliable approximation of the expected behavior of structural component. Theoretically, it can
be applied to any materials and any types of structures. The advanced method should fulfill the four
requirements: 1) real fire scenario should be used when analyzing the fire response of the whole
structure. 2) Accurate material models should be adopted in. 3) The influence of thermal deformation
and the counteract between adjacent components should be considered. 4) Potential failure mode are
not covered in the advanced calculation method, they should be excluded by appropriate measures
(e.g. insufficient rotation capacity, spalling, local buckling of compressed reinforcement, shear and
bond failure, damage to anchorage devices).
5. CONCLUSIONS
The "Standard" adopts performance-based concept for fire-resistance design, and introduced a set
of advanced, safe and flexible fire-resistance design methods. It focuses on the underground public
buildings, takes full account of the specificity of the fire performance of underground structures and can
service the fire-resistance design of underground public structures.
Fire can cause huge damage to buildings and can even lead to collapse of the structure in
extremely conditions, so it need reasonable design to ensure the safety of the structure. However, at
present the structural fire-resistance design is far from enough, neither the design level nor people
attention can compare with that of another sudden disaster, earthquake.
The Standard is aims to cause the attention of civil engineers, promote the development of
structural fire resistance research and improve the safety level of the underground public building.
REFERENCES
[1] Yun Zhou, Tong-Bi Tang, Hong-Mei Liao. Review and Prospect of Disaster Prevention of Urban
Underground Space [J]. Chinese Journal of Underground Space and Engineering,
2006(3):467-474. (In Chinese)
[2] Jia Mi. Spatial Cognition and Wayfinding in Underground Public SpacesTake Shanghai PeopIe
Square for Case[D]. Tongji University, 2007. (In Chinese)
[3] Muttoni A, Frst A, Hunkeler F. Deckeneinsturz der Tiefgarage am Staldenacker in Gretzenbach[J].
Medieninformation vom, 2005,15:2005.
[4] . 1 9 [EB/OL]. [5-11].
http://www.chinanews.com/sh/2011/08-08/3242504.shtml.
[5] Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the Peoples Republic of China. GB
50157-2003 Code for design of metro of China [S]. Beijing: China Planning Press, 2003. (In
Chinese)
50098-98 Code for fire protection design of civil air defence works of China [S]. Beijing: China
Planning Press, 2001. (In Chinese)
50016-2006 Code of Design on Building Fire Protection and Prevention of China [S]. Beijing:
China Planning Press, 2006. (In Chinese)
50045-2005 Fire prevention in high level residential mansions of China [S]. Beijing: China
Planning Press, 2005. (In Chinese)
170
[9] Xin-Hong Lu, Yue Cai. Architectural Structure Fireproof Design [J]. Housing Science,
2004(06):23-26. (In Chinese)
[10] British Standards Institution. Eurocode 2(EN1992): Part 1-2 General rules Structural fire
design[S]. London: 2004.
[11] WPI S. Regulatory reform and fire safety design in the United States: the Second Conference on
Fire Safety Design in the 21st Century, USA, 1999[C].
[12] Yong-Jun Liu, Bin Yao, Chang-Kun Chen, et al. Several key issues of performance-based fire
resistance design method [J]. Fire Science and Technology, 2003(06). (In Chinese)
[13] Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of Guangdong Province. DBJ/T
15-81-2011 Code for fire resistance design of concrete structures in buildings [S].China
Architecture & Building Press, 2011. (In Chinese)
[14] China Association for Engineering Construction Standardization. CECS200:2006 Technical code
for fire safety of steel structure in buildings [S]. 2006. (In Chinese)
[15] Phan L T, McAllister T P, Gross J L, et al. Best practice guidelines for structural fire resistance
design of concrete and steel buildings[M]. National Institute of Standards and Technology, 2010.
[16] Jun-nan Qiu, Yong Yuan, Yan-xuan Cui. Methods to Calculate the Temperature Variation along
Thickness of a RC Slab in Fire [J]. Structural Engineers (accepted).
171
th
FIRE SCENARIO RESEARCH OF PERFORMANCE-BASED FIRE

DESIGN FOR UNDERGROUND STRUCTURE*
Yong Yuana**, Yan-Xuan Cuib, Jun-Nan Qiub and Yao Liuc
a**
Key Laboratory of Civil Engineering Hazard Prevention, Shanghai 20092, China

e-mail: <yuany@tongji.edu.cn>, Tel: +86 21 6598 0234
Keywords: Fire resistance design, Performance-based method, Fire scenario, Heat release
rate.
Abstract. According to the fire fortification category of different underground

constructions, the fire resistance rating of structures in corresponding fire scenario
can be gotten by fire design code. Performance-based design is not only reflected in
the size and using function of buildings, but also consider the risk and hazard of the
fire scenarios in which the structures and components locate. In this paper, the
concept and classification of fire fortification and fire scenario for underground
construction is proposed. According to a typical subway station, the paper want to
explore the setting method of fire scenario, study the selections of fire source location
and heat release rate and analyze the results of numerical simulation. Through the
research of fire scenario, important foundations can be provided for
performance-based fire code.
1. INTRODUCTION
Urban public space for underground was used more and more widely, however, we must also
actively prevent the fire hazards, while enjoying the convenience of underground public buildings.
Traditional building fire safety design specifications are mainly the prescription type design method,
which is based on the basic rules of fire, fire science experiments and experiences. Measures should
be taken to clearly define technical and specific design parameters in all aspects of building fire
protection with "prescription" form. However, with the diversity of scale and function of the building
structure, traditional "prescription type" fire protection design specification has been lagging far behind
the development of today's fire protection design of underground construction. Therefore, in order to
meet modern fire safety design requirements some countries has proposed the performance-based
fire safety design of the building in the 20th century, which is based on pre-determined performance
targets, combining with the construction of the actual functional requirements and fortification levels to
[1].
determine the appropriate safety assessment and the final choice of design reasonable performance
*National Science and Technology Support Program, No.: 2012BAK24B04

b
c

Beijing Urban Engineering Design & Research Institute Corporation, LTD, Beijing 100037, China
173
Yong Yuan, Yan-Xuan Cui, Jun-Nan Qiu and Yao Liu
2. UNDERGROUND BUILDING FIRE FEATURES

Because the peripheral of underground building construction are generally wrapped soil or rock,
there are less vents exit and stronger nature of close. Also there are large quantity and complex type of
combustibles in the underground buildings, often mixed with a lot of electrical equipment and electrical
lines.
As the above characteristics of underground construction, the fire safety problem should be paid
more attentions. Also the type and characteristics of the building should be considered to analyze the
fire safety features. For example, the subway station fire hazard as follows:
1) Subway stations are generally divided into waiting hall, platform, control room and other
components. And its a highly concentrated flow of place, with complex electromechanical equipment
and scattered locations. In the large space of building, some fire alarm facilities systems must be
imperfect, once fire accident happens, it may be automatically cut off the power supply and the
ventilation and air conditioning system will fail.
2) With less entrances and large traffic, once fire accident happens, it is not easy for people
evacuation. The high temperature flue gas and poisonous fumes gather in the space, it can bring great
difficulties for people security and rescue.
3) With large humidity in underground space, the normal operation of the equipment will be
affected and cable wires inside the station prone to aging, which cause the electrical leakage and short
circuit, so that electrical equipment fire may happens.
3 PRINCIPLES FOR FIRE SCENARIO SETTING METHOD
By analyzing the fire characteristics of subway station, fire scenario setting method of subway
station should follow the following principles.
1) Fire scenario should be based on the actual geometry, spatial structure characteristics to
simulate the subway station. The number of actual station entrances and the location of entrances,
stairs should be same as reality. Such as the Mechanical ventilation and automatic sprinkler devices
should also be considered in the fire scenario.
2) Fire scenario focused on the actual high frequency fire accident and dangerous places.
Different positions and different intensities of fire source need be taken into consideration. When the
smoke ventilation equipment fail due to some electrical faults, the fire scenario should also be
simulated to conduct a comprehensive simulation study.
4 TYPICAL FIRE SCENARIO OF SUBWAY STATION
4.1 Heat release rate classification during fire process
The heat release rate during fire process is an important parameter for evaluating the
2
characteristics of fire. The T model is often be used in the in the world to describe the heat release
[2].
rate relationship with time of fire process
Q = T 2
(4-1)
In the equation, Q--HRR,

-- Fire growth factor
T--Time
In the classification of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), based the different , fire
development process can be divided into four categories: slow fire, medium fire, rapid fire, ultra-fast
fire, Table 4-1.
Table 4-1: Different fire development levels of parameter
-2
Classification of fire development process
/(KWs )
slow fire
0.00290
medium fire
0.01127
rapid fire
0.04689
ultra-fast fire
0.18760
174
4.2 Fire source strength

Design of the fire scene, the intensity of the fire source is an important parameter, generally using
the heat release rate curve to show the relationship with time. The heat release rate of the fire source
usually refers to the steady state of the fire without flashover phenomenon. There are only a few
publicly available data related to the heat release rate of subway station fire. Because the full-scale
experiments are very difficult to carry out, its hard to measure specific heat release rate. The NFPAs
text does not refer to the available data. The Metro Fire Code in our country also hasnt the fire source
intensity t requirements. In the UK Building Research Establish reports, statistics acquisition show that
strength of fire source in the gathered public fire place is 2.0 ~ 2.5MW. The National Bureau of
Standards (NIST) measures the actual building fire of a burning full-scale selling kiosk in the laboratory,
[3].
by which the fire source strength obtained as 2.0MW
By subway station research and analysis, the conclusion can be acquired about materials in
subway station as follow. (1) The baggage carried by passengers as well as some stations selling
kiosks and supermarkets can lead to fire accident in subway station mainly because of the fuels like
clothing, paper, food, etc.(2) Electrical fire may happens in electrical equipment room of subway station.
According to a conservative estimate given by the Hong Kong metro engineering and technical
personnel, the fire source intensity scale is 2MW, while considering arson as well as terrorist attacks,
the fire heat release rate will not exceed 5MW [4]. Therefore, this proposal selected subway station fire
source intensity as 5MW. The HRR curve shows in Figure 4-2.
6000
5000
HRR/KW
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
0
12
15
18
TIME/ minute
Figure 4-2: HRR curve of subway station fire
5. CONCLUSIONS
According to the fire scenario and the discussion on the fire characters of subway station, we may
draw the following conclusions,
1) By summarizing the existing literature and research methods and the actual subway station fire
behavior, reasonable principles of fire scene setting method are gotten based on the characteristics
subway station fire.
2) Determine the subway station heat release rate as 5MW. Based on research and analysis,
subway station fire hazard and harm large areas are waiting hall, platform and electrical equipment
room.
3) Breaking out the traditional "prescription type" fire code and making use of performance-based
method to explore the subway fire.
6. REFERENCES
1
YANG Yun, CAO Li-ying. Preparatory study on scenario design for subway station[J]. Journal of
Natural Disasters. 2006,15(4):page121-125.
2.
ZHU Wei, HOU Jian-de, LIAO Guang-xuan. On the approach of typical fire scenario for
performance-based fire protection analysis[J]. Fire Safety Science, 2004,13(4):page 250-255.
175
Megret O, Vauquelin O. A model to evaluate tunnel fire characteristics[J].Fire Safety jounal,

2000,34(4) page282-288.
LU Li-ming, YUAN Yong, LIU Xian. FDS simulation and fire characters analysis of typical subway
station[C]. International Conferences on Transportation Engineering 2009.page171-176.
176
PSH14
Special Session on
High-Speed Impact and Energy Absorption
th
MULTIOBJECTIVE CRASHWORTHINESS OPTIMIZATION

FOR FUNCTIONALLY GRADED FOAM-FILLED TUBES
UNDER OBLIQUE LOADS
Guangyao Li*, Zheshuo Zhang, Guangyong Sun, Fengxiang Xu
and Xiaodong Huang
*
State Key Laboratory of Advanced Design and Manufacture for Vehicle Body
Hunan University, ChangSha, 410082, China.
e-mail: <huang.xiaodong@rmit.edu.au>
Keywords: Functionally graded foam (FGF), Energy absorption, Crashworthiness,

Multiobjective optimization.
Abstract. This paper investigates the crashworthiness optimization design of

functionally graded foam (FGF) filled tubes under oblique loads. The density of
the FGF varies along the axial direction of the tube and is controlled by the
gradient exponent. The FE models for FGF-filled tubes are established and
further used for optimization. To optimize the crashworthiness of FGF-filled tubes,
the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA-II) is used to seek for an
optimal gradient exponent so that the specific energy absorption is maximized
and peak crashing force is minimized simultaneously. The multiple impact angles
are considered to improve the robustness of the optimization. The numerical
results demonstrate that the optimal FGF-filled tubes have better crashworthiness
characteristics compared with tubes filled with uniform foams.
1
INTRODUCTION
Thin-walled structures have been widely used as energy absorbers in crashworthiness

applications such as automotive and aeronautical industries to protect passengers from injury due
1,2,3
to their excellent energy absorption capacity
. To improve the energy absorption capability of
the thin-wall structures without increasing volume and too much weight, cellular materials such as
honeycombs, polyethylene foam and metal foams are often taken as filler materials into thin4,5
walled structures . Among these available filler materials, aluminum foam is the most common
filler material.
The investigations on foam-filled thin-walled structures in the existing literature mainly focused
on the uniform density foam. To further excavate the energy absorption potential of foam-filled
thin-walled structures, a novel material named functionally graded foam (FGF), containing microscale cells varied continuously in a predefined manner, has been considered for replacing the
6,7
uniform foam material . It has been identified that the crashworthiness characteristics of FGFfilled tubes are superior to the uniform foam-filled tubes under the axial loading.
However, thin-walled tubes working as energy-absorbing devices often experience oblique
loads during an actual vehicle crash event. According to the requirements of Federal Motor
Vehicle Safety Standards 208, the full vehicle front impact should endure a load applied with a
8
30 impact angle to the longitudinal axis . So far, there is no report on the crashworthiness of
______________________________
State Key Laboratory of Advanced Design and Manufacture for Vehicle Body, Hunan University, Changsha,
410082, China
Centre for Innovative Structure and Materials, School of Civil, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, RMIT
University, GPO Box 2476, Melbourne 3001, Australia
177
Guangyao Li, Zheshuo Zhang, Guangyong Sun, Fengxiang Xu and Xiaodong Huang
FGF-filled tubes under oblique loads. In this paper, the crashworthiness of FGF-filled square
tubes under various impact angles will be investigated using the nonlinear finite element analysis
package, LS-DYNA. In order to seek for the optimal designs of FGF-filled tubes, the
multiobjective optimization is formulated with maximizing specific energy absorption (SEA) and
minimizing peak crushing force (PCF) simultaneously. A selective method, such surrogate
techniques as the radial basis functions (RBF), has been adopted for the approximations of
objective functions. The Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA-II) is further used to
obtain the optimal Pareto frontier for such a multiobjective optimization problem. The results will
demonstrate that the optimal FGF-filled tubes can be recommended as an efficient energy
absorber.
2
FINITE ELEMENT SIMULATION
As an effective energy absorption member, the thin-walled square tube filled with FGF is
considered in this study. The tube has the square cross-section 80mm 80mm and 2mm
thickness, and the initial length L = 240 mm, which are taken from the typical sizes for the front
side rail of a passenger car. The moving tube is attached with the 600kg mass and impacted onto
an inclined rigid wall with angle as shown in Fig. 1. The initial velocity of the tube is assumed
to be 15 m/s which typically encounters in a passenger vehicle crash event.
Density of foam (kg/m )
540
n=0.1
480
n=0.2
420
n=0.5
n=1
360
n=2
300
n=5
n=10
240
0
Figure 1: A FGF-filled tube under an oblique load
40
80 120 160
Distance (mm)
200
240
Figure 2: Variation of foam density
Unfortunately, there is no effective constitutive model available for functionally graded foam
materials to date. To deal with this issue, the foam is divided into a number of layers along the
grading direction. Each layer is considered as a uniform foam material whose constitutive
9
relationship is based on an isotropic uniform material model developed by Deshpande and Fleck .
The yield criterion of the foam is defined as follows:
= e Y 0
(1)
where Y is the yield stress, and the equivalent stress
e2 =
where
1 + (1 3)
e
2
v
is given as:
+ 12 m2
represents the Von Mises effective stress and
)
m
(2)
is the mean stress.
is a
parameter which can be determined from the shape of the yield surface and can be written as:
12 =
9(1 2v p )
2(1 + v p )
(3)
p
where v is the plastic coefficient of contraction. For the aluminum foam, v =0 for most cases.
Thus, 1 =2.12 is used throughout this paper.

10,11
The strain hardening rule is implemented
as
Y =P +
e
1
+ 2 ln

D
1 ( e D )
178
(4)
where
is an equivalent strain,
P , 2 ,
and
are material parameters which are
related to the foam density as,
f
1
( P , 2 , , ) = C0 + C1

f0
ln
D

f0
where
is the foam density and
f 0 is
(5)
the density of the base material.
C0 , C1 and are the
constants as listed in Table 1.
(MPa)
(MPa)
(MPa)
C0
0.22
C1
720
140
320
42
2.33
0.45
4.66
1.42
Table 1: Material constants for the used foam

20
Experiment
FE analysis
Force (kN)
16
12
8
4
0
0
12
18
24
30
36
42
48
Displacement (mm)
(a)
(b)
Figure 3: Comparison of (a) force-displacement curves and (b) collapse mode (left: side view;
12
middle and right: front view) between FE analysis and experimental results .
The nonlinear explicit FE software, LS-DYNA, is used to simulate the crashing behavior of the
FGF-filled square tubes under multiple impact angles. The external tube is meshed with
Belytschko-Tsay four-node shell elements with five integration points through the thickness and
one integration point in the plane. The filled foam is modeled using eight-node solid elements with
one-point reduced integration. Stiffness-based hourglass control is employed to avoid spurious
zero energy deformation modes, and reduced integration was used to avoid any possible
volumetric locking. The interface between the foam and wall of column was modeled as the
automatic surface to surface contact. Meanwhile, the automatic single surface contact was
also applied to both the tube wall and foam to avoid any interpenetration during deformation. To
account for contact between the foam-filled tube and the rigid wall, node to surface contact were
assigned. For all contacts, the static and dynamic coefficients of the friction are 0.3 and 0.2,
respectively. In order to determine the size of elements and the layers of the filled foam, a
convergence test was carried out to minimize the effect of mesh refinement on the accuracy of
the numerical results, thereby maintaining reasonable computational cost. The shell elements
with 2 mm 2 mm for the tube and the solid elements 4 mm 4 mm 4 mm for the foam are
identified to be sufficiently accurate and suitable to simulate the crushing deformation of foamfilled tubes.
179
12
The available experimental results in Reyes et al. are used to validate the developed model.
Figure 3 shows the comparisons of the force-displacement curves and collapse modes between
the current simulation and the experiment. It demonstrates that the proposed model agrees fairly
well with the experiment for both force-displacement relationship and collapse mode.
3
MULTIOBJECTIVE OPTIMIZATION UNDER A SINGLE IMPACT ANGLE
As an energy absorber, the foam-filled tubes per unit mass are expected to absorb energy as
much as possible. Thus, SEA should be chosen as an objective function and maximized for the
crashworthiness optimization. Meanwhile, the PCF of the structure reflects the severity of the collision,
which is highly related to the occupant injury. So this indicator is defined as another objective function
and minimized in the optimization problem. To account for these two objectives simultaneously, the
mathematical optimization model is formulated as:
min{ SEA( i , n ), PCF ( i , n )}
o
o
o
o
s.t. i = 0 , 10 , 20 or 30
n L n nU
(6)
where n is the gradient parameter for density of filled foam, n and n are the lower and upper limits of
L
U
the gradient exponent n, respectively. In this paper, n = 0 and n = 10 are used. Four impact angles
0, 10, 20 and 30 are considered here.
In fact, a single crashworthiness simulation of a FGF-tube requires considerable computational
time while the conventional optimization methods usually require a large number of FEA runs.
Therefore, a selective method, such surrogate techniques as the radial basis functions (RBF) method
6,13,14
. The RBF method has been
has been adopted for structural crashworthiness optimization
15
identified to be very promising for highly nonlinear problems . In this study, the RBF method is
exploited to approximate the objectives. The choice of sample points in the RBF method can
substantially affect the accuracy of the RBF method, so as to the accuracy of the optimal results. The
D-optimal design of experiment (DoE) method provides a means of selection for the sampling points
in the design space in an efficient way. The full factorial design method is used to generate more
averagely distributed sampling points in the design space and more appropriately construction for
16
RBF . Herein, 19 sample points in the design spaces for every impact angle are obtained by using
the full factorial design method. Based on the resulting numerical results, the RBFs of SEA and PCF
under a given impact angle can be easily constructed. Numerical tests indicates that the maximum
relative error for RBFs of SEA and PCF at 40 random validation points is less than 3% for all four
impact angles. Thus, the established RBFs are accurate enough for the late design optimization.
-2
a = 0 deg
a = 10 deg
a = 20 deg
a = 30 deg
Ideal optimum
-4
-SEA ( kJ/kg )
-6
-8
-10
-12
-14
-16
-18
-20
40
60
80
100 120 140

PCF ( kN )
160
180
Figure 4: Pareto fronts of multiobjective crashworthiness optimization for various impact

angles
To seek the Pareto fronts of a multiobjective optimization problem, the the Non-dominated Sorting
Genetic Algorithm (NSGA-II) algorithm could be employed to explore the design space due to its
180
17
relatively fast convergence and well-distributed Pareto front . The resulting Pareto fronts of PCF
against SEA for FGF-filled tubes under four different impact angles are shown in Fig. 4. It can be
clearly observed that these two objective SEA and PCF conflict with each other for all design cases.
This means that any increase in SEA always leads to an undesirable increase in PCF, and vice versa.
The optimal design of FGF-filled tubes is therefore a matter of making a trade-off decision from a set
of compromising solutions on the Pareto front. Additionally, the Pareto front gradually moves to the
top-left region as the impact angle increases from 0 degree to 30 degree, indicating that both PCF
and SEA decrease with an increase of impact angle.
Impact angle
Single objective
PCF (kN)
SEA (kJ/kg)
min. PCF
max. SEA
8.62
0.10
92.61
148.44
10.12
19.92
10
min. PCF
max. SEA
8.60
0.10
67.37
144.82
8.31
17.19
20
min. PCF
max. SEA
5.22
0.57
48.99
83.10
7.58
12.20
30
min. PCF
max. SEA
8.89
1.07
44.75
60.95
4.03
7.03
Table 2: Optimal design for a single optimization objective under various impact angles
The optimal solutions at the end points of the Pareto curves are marked with stars in Fig. 9 which
correspond to the single-objective optimization (minimizing PCF or maximizing SEA). For these
designs, the optimal gradient exponent for the variation of the foam density and the corresponding
SEA and PCF are listed in Table 2. There are two distinctive optimums for the two single objectives
under each specific impact angle, that is, one for minimizing PCF and another for maximizing SEA.
The optimal gradient exponent n varies with the impact angle, which reveals the impact angle have
great effect on the optimization crashworthiness of FGF-filled tube. To reveal the advantage of the
FGF-filled tubes, a uniform foam(UF)-filled tube is defined with the same weight to that of a FGF-filled
tube. Figure 5 shows the comparison of the collapse modes between the optimized design for
maximizing SEA and the UF-filled tube under the impact angle =20. It clearly shows that the FGFfilled tube follows the progressive collapse mode, while the UF-filled tube is bent globally. Therefore,
the optimized FGF-filled tubes have higher energy absorption capacity compared with the UF-filled
tube.
(a)
(b)
Figure 5: Comparison of collapse modes under the impact angle =20 (a) the optimized FGFfilled tube; (b) the UF-filled tube.
4
MULTIOBJECTIVE OPTIMIZATION UNDER MULTIPLE IMPACT ANGLES
Consider the multiple possible impact angles in the real-world car accident, the optimization of
FGF-filled tubes under a given impact angle may result in an unreliable design. To address this
18
issue, a non-deterministic design method proposed by Qi et al. is employed here. A number of
representative load cases are considered and a weighting factor is assigned for each load case.
The weight factor is determined according to the relative importance of each load case. Thus, the
multiobjective optimization problem for FGF-filled tubes under multiple impact angles can be
formulated as follows
181
min wi SEA( i , n ), wi PCF ( i , n )

i
i
o
o
o
o
s.t. i = 0 , 10 , 20 and 30
n L n nU
(7)
where wi is the weight factor for the representative load case i . Here, two design cases will be
studied: Design case I (w1=0.1, w2=0.2, w3=0.3 and w4=0.4) and Design case II (w1=0.4, w2=0.3,
w3=0.2 and w4=0.1).
Based on the constructed RBFs for multiple objective functions, the NSGA-II can generate the
Pareto fronts for the above two design cases as depicted in Fig. 6. A group of Pareto solutions in
the performance space provides designers with a range of design options. It can be seen that the
optimal design also depends on the assigned weight factors which should be determined
according to the application environment.
-2
Design
Design
Ideal optimum
-4
-SEA ( kJ/kg )
-6
-8
-10
-12
-14
-16
-18
-20
40
60
80
100 120 140

PCF ( kN )
160
180
Figure 6: Pareto fronts of two design cases under multiple impact angles.
Both ends of the Pareto fronts denote that the optimal solution of FGF-filled tubes for single
weighted-objective functions (marked with stars). When maximizing weighted-SEA only, the
optimal results for both design cases are listed in Table 3. It can be seen that the maximum error
between RBFs and FEAs is less than 0.3% which demonstrates the constructed RBFs are
accurate and reliable. Based on the total weight of the optimal FGF-filled tubes, the
corresponding UF-filled tubes are established and compared. Table 6 clearly shows that the
optimized FGF-filled tubes improve the weighted-SEA significantly compared with their UF-filled
counterparts.
Design
case
0.23
II
0.10
Weighted-SEA(kJ/kg)
FGF-filled Tubes
Error
RBF
FEA
(%)
10.4
10.4
0.29
1
4
15.3
15.3
0.03
4
5
UF-filled
tubes
Improvement
(%)
8.19
27.53
13.92
10.30
Table 3: Comparison between optimal FGF-filled tubes and UF-filled counterparts for both
design cases.
182
CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, the crashworthiness optimization problems of FGF-filled tubes under multiple
impact angles have been investigated. The FE models are established using the nonlinear explicit
FE software, LS-DYNA. The multiobjective optimization problem is considered by maximizing the
specific energy absorption and minimizing the peak crushing force simultaneously with respect to
the gradient exponent and the impact angle. It is found that the optimal design highly depends on
the given impact angle. Therefore, the optimization under multiple impact angles is implemented
by using the weight factors, which is more robust than that for a specific oblique load. The results
obtained by optimizations demonstrate that the FGF-filled tubes have much better
crashworthiness capacity than the UF-filled tubes, therefore the optimized FGF-filled tubes can
be recommended as an efficient energy absorbers for cars.
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[2]
[3]
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Mechanics and Physics of Solids 2000; 48(6-7):1253-1283.
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applicable to aluminium foams, International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 2002; 44(2):359
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modeling of aluminum foam including fracture and statistical variation of density, European
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184
th
16-17October 2014, Tianjin, China
A SMEARED CONSTITUTIVE MODEL FOR REINFORCED

CONCRETE AND ITS APPLICATION IN SEISMIC ANALYSIS
Pian Chao*, Zhihua Wang *, Yiding Zhang and Guoyun Lu *
*
Institute of Applied Mechanics and Biomedical Engineering,

Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China
e-mail: <luguoyun@tyut.edu.cn>
Keywords: reinforced concrete; constitutive model; damage; elasto-plastic analysis;

seismic analysis, ABAQUS
Abstract. A smeared reinforced concrete model is achieved in ABAQUS with the

help of build-in concrete damaged plasticity constitutive model. In this model,
reinforced concrete is taken as a uniform continuum with steel bars dispersed in
concrete. This constitutive model is simplified to be piecewise linear especially for
high strength reinforced concrete materials. Using this model, a numerical
example of a shear-wall experiment is presented and load-displacement curve is
in agreement with experimental results. A frame-core wall structure under rarely
met earthquake is simulated in ABAQUS using the constitutive model. Model
analysis and elasto-plastic time history analysis are carried out. The calculated
results, including damage evolution of core wall, vertex displacement time-history
curves and floor displacement angle curve are attained to direct the engineering
practice.
1
INTRODUCTION
Reinforced concrete is a widely used material in high-rise buildings. How to simulate it

efficiently is the hotspot in the study of reinforced concrete. ShenJumin summarized three kinds
of finite element models of reinforced concretediscrete model, smeared model and embedded
model. In smeared model, the material is taken as a uniform continuum with reinforcement
smeared in concrete according to reinforcement ratio, which greatly simplifies modeling process
without having to create reinforcement element. Discrete model costs too much work and its hard
[1-4]
to get a good result for the complex interaction between concrete and reinforcement . So a
[5]
simple and effective reinforced concrete needs to be created. ShenXinpu considered reinforced
concrete as a homogeneous material with the method of equivalent elastic modulus described by
[6]
Kong Dandan and created a constitutive model of this homogeneous material by modifying
concrete damaged plasticity model in ABAQUS. And this model is suitable to simulate the
mechanical behavior of concrete under cyclic loading. In fact, this method is essentially equal to
the smeared model. But ShenXinpu only modified the curves of concrete under uniaxial tension
while the large plastic deformation of steel bar in yield stage was not considered. In addition, the
cooperative work of concrete and steel bars was also not taken into consideration.
This paper modifies the reinforced-concrete damaged plasticity model, which takes the yield
stage of steel bar into consideration when reinforced concrete is under tension and cooperative
work of steel bars and concrete is also considered when under compression. As a result of that,
______________________________
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY 12180 USA

185
Chao Pian, Wang Zhihua, Zhang Yiding and Guoyun Lu
reinforced concrete mechanical behavior in later stage is more close to actual situation. This
constitutive model is simplified to be piecewise linear especially for high strength reinforced
concrete materials. A shear-wall test is simulated in ABAQUS with the use of this constitutive
[7]
model . It is found that the result with the use of constitutive model in this paper is more close to
[5]
experiment result by comparison with the result with the use of constitutive in paper ,especially
the mechanical behavior in the later stage. Elasto-plastic time history analysis of a super highrise frame-core wall structure under rarely met earthquake is carried out based on this
constitutive model. The calculated results, including damage evolution of core wall, vertex
displacement time-history curves and floor displacement angle curve are attained to direct the
engineering practice.
2
THE CONSTITUTIVE MODEL OF REINFORCED CONCRETE

[5]
In this paper the constitutive model in paper is modified by taking the yield stage of steel bar
into consideration when reinforced concrete is in tension and cooperative work of steel bar and
concrete is also considered when under compression.
The smeared model of reinforced concrete is to disperse steel bars into the concrete and
regard reinforced concrete as a kind of continuous and homogeneous material. Steel bars
contribution to integral rigidity depends on the reinforcement ratio. It is assumed that steel bars
and concrete have the same strain. And at macro level, the strength of equivalent material is
assumed to have the same performance as actual reinforced concrete. The nominal stress of the
equivalent material is:
= ( s ) S + ( c ) (1 S ) = [ E ( s ) S + E (c) (1 S )] = E
(1)
E is taken as the equivalent Youngs modulus of the equivalent material.
E (s ) and E (c ) are
respectively the Youngs modulus of steel bar and concrete. S is reinforcement ratio.
On the basis of the smeared model mentioned above, stress-strain relationship of the
equivalent material can be simplified to be piecewise linear. The tensile stress-strain relationship
is divided into three stages. In the first stage, both concrete and steel bars are elastic. The
second stage begins from the yield point of concrete and ends at the yield point of steel bars. In
the third stage, concrete is invalidated and steel bars have large plastic deformation. The tension
[8]
stiffening effect is considered in the second stage by improving the stiffness of steel bars .
The compressive stress-strain relationship also consists of three stages. Concrete and steel
bars remain elastic in the first stage. The second stage begins from the yield point of concrete
and end at the peak stress of concrete. And next steel bars begin to yield. The stress of the
equivalent material enters into decreasing stage. The higher reinforced ratio is, the slower the
[9-11]
decrease is
.
3
THE NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF A SHEAR WALL TEST

[7]
The reinforced concrete shear-wall SW22 in paper is simulated in ABAQUS using the constitutive
model mentioned above to verify the feasibility of it. The geometry size of the shear-wall is illustrated
in Fig.1. The vertical reinforcement ratio in shear-wall SW22 is 2.5%. Vertical load of 182kN is applied
at the top of the beam. The parameter of concrete and steel bar is in Table.1.
An 8-node reduced integration solid element type is applied. Parameters of the damaged plasticity
model are typed in ABAQUS material module. Quasi-static analysis is adopted to simulate the
monotonic loading. The result of simulation and experiment is compared in Fig.2. Concluded from the
figure, the bearing capacity of the shear-wall using the constitutive model of this paper is superior to
[5]
the model in paper , especially in later stage. In addition, simulation result is a little smaller than
experiment result for the reason that, I think, parameters of the equivalent material is conservative
without consideration of strengthen stage of steel bar and the contribution of steel stirrups and
horizontal reinforcement. However, the mechanical behavior is similar to experiment, which tensile
[12]
zone first enters into damage and then compression zone, which is reflected in Fig.3 .
186
Figure 1: Model dimension of shear wall experiment
Vertical
load/kN
182
Concrete
compressive
strength/MPa
43.0
Concrete
tensile
strength/MPa
2.16
Fig
Figure
2: Comparison of results between
test and simulation
Yangs modulus
of
concrete/MPa
32800
Yield strength
rength
of steel
bar/MPa
470
Yangs modulus
of steel
bar/MPa
2e5
Table 1: Material property of shear wall
(a) Tensile damage field
(b) Compressive damage field
Figure 3: Damage field of shear wall
(a) whole model
(b) core wall
Figure 4: Finite element analysis model
ELASTO-PLASTIC
PLASTIC ANALYSIS OF A TALL BUILDING
Elasto-plastic
plastic time history analysis of a super high-rise
high
frame-core
core wall structure is carried out in
this section. The height of the building is 150.4m. The seismic precautionary intensity in this place is 8.
Column and beam is simulated with beam element while shear-wall
shear wall is simulated with shell element.
Finite element model is shown in Fig.4. Only shear-walls
shear
adopt the constitutive
ive model in this paper for
[13]
the reason that concrete damaged plasticity model cannot be used in beam element . El Centro
(EW/NS) is applied to the structure with peak acceleration of 400cm/s2.
4.1 Mode analysis
To assure the accuracy of the FEM model, the
the results of model analysis of ABAQUS and
SATWE are compared in Table 3 on the condition of almost the same mass. From Table 2, it can
be concluded that vibration periods basically agree with each other.
187
First six mode shapes are shown in Fig.5. The first and second mode shapes are first-order
first
translation. Fourth and fifth mode shapes are second-order
second order translation. The third and sixth mode
shapes are torsion modes. Considering asymmetric structure arrangement, the translation-torsion
translation
coupling earthquake response
ponse has a bad influence on anti-seismic
anti seismic capability of structure. Period
ratio is a key index to control torsion effect. The period ratio has been worked to be 0.54, which
satisfies the demand of the code.
Mode
1
2
3
4
5
SATWE
3.07
2.37
1.89
0.71
0.63
Abaqus
2.86
2.37
1.54
0.65
0.60
Mode
6
7
8
9
10
SATWE
0.61
0.35
0.31
0.28
0.23
Abaqus
0.51
0.29
0.28
0.26
0.25
Table 2: Comparison of calculated in ABAQUS and SATWE
T1=2.86T2=2.37T3=1.54
T4=0.65T5=0.60T6=0.51
Fig
Figure
5: Comparison of mode shapes
4.2 Damage evolution of shear-wall
shear
Final damage field of shear wall is shown in Fig.6. Tensile damage first appears in some parts
of Floor 3 and then in coupling beams from low to high. Tensile damage also appears in some
parts of Floor 5 and Floor 6. Compressive damage begins in coupling beams from low to high and
also occurs in some parts of Floor 3. In general, the place with relatively serious damage is
located in Floor 3-4
4 and Floor 21-22
21
and in coupling beams. Because from Floor 3 to 4, structure
arrangement changes a lot and the thickness of shear-wall
shear wall changes from Floor 21 to 22. Lateral
stiffness changes a lot in these places. These results are reasonable in structure design.
188
4.3 Vertex displacement and floor displacement angle

During seismic, elastic and elasto-plastic
elasto plastic displacement of vertex of the structure is shown in
Fig.7. As can be seen, elastic and elasto-plastic
elasto plastic displacement is the same in the first two seconds.
This shows that the structure keeps elastic at this stage.
s tage. Then stiffness of the structure decreases
for damage. As a result of that, two curves separate, which is mainly reflected in the different
amplitude and hysteresis of one curve compared with the other one. The amplitude of elasitcelasitc
plastic curve is less
ss than that of elastic curve and the decrease of stiffness makes the period of
the elasto-plastic
plastic curve shorter than elastic curve. These results coincide with the results in other
related papers, which prove the validity of the model in this paper.
Curvess of floor displacement angle are shown in Fig.8. The maximum floor displacement angle
in direction X is 1/222 and 1/152 in direction Y, which satisfies the demand of the code.
(a) Compressive damage
bTensile damage
Figure 6: Final damage field of shear wall of improved model
(a) Vertex displacement time-history

history curves in X (b) Vertex displacement time--history curves in Y
Figure
ure 7:Vertex displacement time-history curves
a
aDirection X
b Direction Y
Fig
Figure
8: Floor displacement angle curve
189
CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION
With the use of the damaged plasticity model of equivalent material of reinforced concrete in
this paper, a shear-wall experiment and a reinforced concrete frame-core wall structure is
simulated in ABAQUS. The simulation result of shear wall experiment is close to the test result
and simulation result of high-rise building can predict the weak story of the structure in a
reasonable way.
In general, the simplified way to simulate reinforced concrete in this paper can relatively
accurately describe the behavior of shear-wall. However, the smeared model in this paper is not
able to simulate the area with unevenly distributed steel bars and the internal force of steel bars
cannot be attained. In addition, the constitutive model in this paper is only able to simulate
isotropic materials. Besides, the mechanical behavior of reinforced concrete under cyclic loading
needs further study.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This project is sponsored by The National Nature Science Fund of China (No. 11372209) and
Research Project Supported by Shanxi Scholarship Council of China (2013-044).
REFERENCES
[1] ShenJumin, Wang Chuanzhi, Jiang Jianjing. Concrete structure[M]. Beijing: Tsinghua University
Press,1993:171-199 (in Chinese)
[2] Zhang Jie, GaoRongyu. Finite element analysis between the separate and monolithic reinforced
concrete model[J]. Journal of Anhui Institute of Architecture & Industry, 2013, 35(3):1-9
[3] Wang Dongsheng, Wu Tiejun. Reinforced concrete units in ANSYS software[J]. Journal of
Wuhan University of Technology, 2004,(4):526-529
[4] Lu Xinzheng, Ye Lieping, Miao Zhiwei. Elasto-plastic analysis of buidings against earthquake [M].
Beijing: China Architecture Industry Press, 2009: 105121. (In Chinese)
[5] ShenXinpu,WangChenyuan,ZhouLin.A damage plastic constitutive model for reinforced concrete
and its engineering application [J].Engineering Mechanics,2007,24(9):122-128
[6] Kong Dandan, Zhao Yinhua,WangPing,ZhangShuqing. Equivalent modulus method in finite
element analysis for steel-bar-reinforced concrete [J]. Journal of Shenyang University of
Architecture (Nature Science Edition), 2005, 121(13):200-203
[7] LefasD,Kotsovos M D,Ambraseys N N. Behavior of reinforced concrete structural walls: strength,
deformation characteristics, and failure mechanism [J]. ACI Structural Journal, 1990, 87(1): 23-31.
[8] Long Yuchuan, Zhou Yuande, Zhang Chuhan. Reinforcement stiffening model for reinforced
concrete interaction effects [J]. J Tsinghua Univ(Sci&Tech), 2007, 47(6):793-796
[9] Cheng Wenxiang,YanDeheng. Design principle of oncretestructure[M]. Beijing: China
Architecture & Building Press,2008:110-111(In Chinese)
[10] Yang Zheng, HouJian, QiuMingxing. Analysis on bearing capacity of axially compressed RC short
columns [J]. Building Structure, 2011, 41(S2):150-155
[11] GB50011-2010Code for design of concrete structure [S]. Beijing: China Architecture Industry
Press, 2010. (In Chinese)
[12] Wu Qinghua,ZhouYun,LiuZili,LiuFeng. Effect of transverse reinforcement ratios on the capability
of short-limb shear-walls with large span longitudinal rods[J]. Journal of Hefei University of
Technology, 2007.30(8):1049-1052
[13] Mao Renxing, Yan Xiaoming. Analysis of the seismic performance of No. 2 tower of
ZhuoyueHuanggang century center [J]. Building Structure, 2008, 38(8):36-38
190
th
DYNAMIC BEHAVIOUR OF AUXETIC METAMATERIALS

Jianhu Shen*, Shiwei Zhou, Xiaodong Huang, Xin Ren, Dong Ruan
and Yimin Xie
School of Civil, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, RMIT University,

394 Swanston Street, Melbourne CBD, Victoria, Australia, VIC3000
e-mail: <jianhu.shen@rmit.edu.au> webpage: http://www.rmit.edu.au/research/cism
Keywords: Auxetic, Deformation pattern, Poissons Ratio, high speed impact
Abstract. Auxetic metamaterials have enhanced indentation and penetration

resistance due to their high shear strength and modulus. Its auxetic performance
under dynamic loading cases is an important property for shields and armour
applications. In the present study, compressive tests at different impact velocities
on auxetic metamaterials were conducted for two different initial geometries. A
photographic technique was applied to measure the Poissons ratio. When the
dynamic data are compared with those of quasi-static experiments, it is found that
the NPR for the buckling induced metamaterial is sensitive to the rate of loading,
while the NPR for the metamaterial with initial auxetic behaviour is insensitive to
the loading rate. It is also found that impact force measured by the test machine
was dominated by the inertia force of the metamaterials.
1
INTRODUCTION
Cellular materials are commonly used as packaging and cladding materials to protect products and
1
personnel during collision and impact events . The auxetic cellular materials with Negative Poissons
Ratio (NPR) have remarkable resilience under dynamic impact loading compared to the conventional
2
foams . The mechanical characterization of those auxetic cellular materials at varying strain rates is
3
essential for their efficient use in dynamic loading applications .
The earliest work on synthetic NPR metamaterials was a foam with re-entrant cells that unfolded in
4
all directions under unidirectional tension , after that it was found that NPR was a common
5
phenomenon in many crystals as in cubic metals . Most of the earlier work focused on periodic 2D
6
geometries with NPR and mechanisms were revealed as chiral in microstructures and rotation of
7
rigid units. Later on, analytical studies were conducted on 3D auxetic cellular materials consisting of
8
9
10
networks of beams, multi-pods and rigid units . Due to the limitation of fabrication techniques, only
11
very few designs of synthetic 3D auxetic materials have been developed . In all of these
microstructures, the auxetic behaviour exhibited only in the limit of small strains, and the design of 3D
auxetic systems capable of retaining the unusual properties at large strains still remains a challenge
11, 12
. This limited its application in packaging and protective structures and materials, in which the
large deformation is essential and inevitable. Most recently, a metallic 3D architecture based on a
13
bow-tie functional element has been fabricated which extends the strain range for NPR to 0.1.
12
Babaee et al. put forward a new design of 3D NPR bucklicrystals using various buckliball as building
______________________________
School of Civil, Environmental and Chemcial Engineering, RMIT University, 394 Swanston Street, Melbourne
CBD, Victoria, Australia, VIC3000
Faculty of Engineering and Industrial Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, John Street, Hawthorn,
VIC 3122, Australia
191
Jianhu Shen, Shiwei Zhou, Xiaodong Huang, Xin Ren, Dong Ruan and Yimin Xie
cell and extend the strain range further to 0.3. However, the topology of their building cell was
relatively complicated and the manufacture approach included extra bonding interface which resulted
11
in scattering of the mechanical properties of their NPR materials. Most recently, inspired by a planar
14, 15
metamaterial with NPR behaviour induced by elastic instability,
the authors discovered the similar
16
buckling induced NPR behaviour in metamaterials with very simple building cells , and they have
more potential to be used in the applications mentioned above. For conventional cellular materials,
the deformation pattern will transform from unformed mode to localised deformation mode as
17
indicated in the previous research results . For an effective NPR behaviour, the deformation needs
to be uniform for better performance. Thus the NPR may become less obvious or even disappear
when the loading rate increases. However, there is a lack of scientific data on the dynamic NPR
behaviour of metamaterials with buckling induced auxeticity.
In this paper, dynamic NPR behaviour of simple auxetic metamaterials was tested to investigate
performance of this newly designed auxetic metamaterials. Uniaxial dynamic compressive tests were
1
2
-1
conducted at strain rates of 10 and 10 s by using a High Rate Instron machine to study the
dynamic NPR behaviour of the simple auxetic metamaterial. Two different auxetic specimens with
different initial geometries were tested. The experimental results were discussed together with quasi16
static data from our previous research .
2
EXPERIMENTS
2.1 Specimens and its base material

The detailed Information on the design of the microstructures of this auxetic metamaterial can be
18
found in the previous paper by the authors .The specimens of bulk material were fabricated using 3D
printing (Objet Connex350) with a silicone-based rubber material (TangoPlus FLX930) and a
16
supporting material. According to the standard of compressive tests and recent research on other
cellular materials, the specimen size effect is negligible for foams when the dimension of a specimen
is sufficiently larger than the cell size, i.e. 7 times of the cell size for metallic foams. To obtain reliable
19
homogenized material properties , the test specimens had eight building cells in each normal
direction. The dimensions were determined by the accuracy of the 3D printer and the difficulty of
removing the supporting material without any damage to the microstructures of the designed model.
The sizes are heightwidthdepth = 100100100mm. The original printed model contained
supporting material, which must be carefully removed by a drilling process followed by flushing using
water. In spite of extreme care being taken during the removal of the supporting material, several
thinnest links in the bulk material with SC cells were broken. An epoxy adhesive was used to repair
these damages. Due to the cost of the specimen, only two configurations were considered, i.e.,
originally designed simple auxetic metamaterial and the metamaterial shaped by 8% of buckling
mode.
(a) Front view

(b) 3D view
Figure 1: An example of the auxetic metamaterial specimens for impact tests
Figure 1 shows a typical specimen for a dynamic compressive test from different view angles. The
highlighted points in the centre region were used to calculate the Poissons Ratio. According to the
quasi-static experiment, the deformation is purely elastic and reversible. Thus only two specimens
were used to test its performance under different impact velocities. One specimen is originally
designed auxetic metamaterials as shown in Figure 1. The other is a similar auxetic metamaterials
with altered geometry by introducing 8% imperfection from desired buckling mode.
192
2.2 Experimental set-up

The dynamic tests were performed using a High Rate Instron Test System. The dynamic uniaxial
-1
compressive tests were conducted at different strain rates, namely, 10 to 100 s to obtain effect of
loading rates on auxetic metamaterial under dynamic loading with different strain rates. A high rate
method with different drive profiles was adopted. The drive profiles were created to control the end
strain of the dynamic compression tests to protect the specimens from total failure. A photograph of
the dynamic experimental setup is shown in Figure 2. The specimen was placed on the bottom
compression platen which was positioned at a considerable long distance from the top platen at the
beginning of each test. The specimen was accelerated to the required velocity across that distance
before the top surface of the specimen touched the top platen. Double sided sticky tape was used to
retain the specimen on the bottom platen and avoid any possible slippage of the specimen. The
surface friction effect is an important factor for most compression test. To minimize this effect, the
double sided glue was only applied to the centre region of the cross-section.
Strong
High Speed
Camera
Loadcell
Specime
V0
Piston
Figure 2: Experimental setup

For all the tests, a sampling rate of 500 kHz was used for dynamic compression tests. The load
history was measured by a Kistler load cell 9071A without data filter. The displacement history was
measured by an inherent LVDT with data filter by setting cut off frequency of 1000 Hz.
Displacement (mm)
1.5
110
115
120
125
130
135
1.6
Force
Velocity-6m/s
1.4
1.0
0.0
Position / 150mm
Velocity / 6m/s
Force /1.4kN
Drive /3.2V
-0.5
0.6
0.4
0.2
-1.0
0.00
4
0.8
0.02
0.04
0.06
Velocity (m/s)
1.2
0.5
Force (kN)
Recorded signal
1.0
140
8
0.08
Time (s)
0.0
110
115
120
125
130
135
140
Displacement (mm)
Figure 3: Overall impact processes and the velocity variation with respect to displacement of
specimen. (The chart in the right hand is an enlarged view of the curves in the square with dash-line
in the left chart).
193
When the top surface of the specimen touched the top platen, the bottom platen and specimen
began to decelerate, which resulted in a dropping strain rate during the compression process as
shown in Figure3. High Rate Instron Test System provides a feedback mechanism by its FastTrack
VHS8800 controller to change the drive profile of the hydraulic system according to the force history
from experimental data. Thus a relatively constant loading rate can be achieved during later
experiments. The initial drive profile is a constant value. It can be increased according to the force
history obtained by the load cell to obtain the new drive profile. The consistency of the strain rate
during compression of the specimen can be improved further by iterating the procedure several times.
However, due to the weak resistance of the TangoPlus specimen, compressive force of is too
sensitive to the loading rate. Thus drive profiles obtained from specimens after two iterations were
selected for all tests for each strain rate. The effect of drive profiles after iteration on force
20
displacement curves was similar to that for aluminium foams in our previous study .
High speed camera was used to capture the deformation process. The NPR was calculated from
the centre region as shown in Figure 1(a) from those photographs.
3 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
3.1 Deformation features
D=0.0mm
D=2.7mm
D=5.4mm
D=21.9mm
D=29.7mm
Figure 4: Typical deformation process for auxetic metamaterial originally designed with an impact
velocity of 10 m/s
For the original designed auxetic metamaterials, the overall deformation was not uniform and was
18
different from the deformation pattern observed at quasi-static loading rate . The deformation started
from the surface to the bottom platen even before the specimen contacted with the top platen, which
indicated that the inertia force during the accelerating process will cause obvious deformation in the
specimen. Thus the inertia force is not negligible. The deformation propagated from the bottom to the
top of the specimen gradually. No obvious crush band was observed for tests at impact velocities
ranging from 1 m/s to 10 m/s. The alternating ellipses deformation mode occurred at the quasi-static
18
loading rate occurred gradually with the propagation of the deformation. At the same time the
ellipses with vertical long axes deformed slower than that with horizontal long axes. This trend
became more obvious when the impact velocity increased as shown in front view of the specimen at
an initial impact velocity of 10 m/s in Figure 4. It indicated that the absolute value of NPR became
smaller with the increasing impact velocity.
D=0.0mm
D=3mm
D=5.8mm
D=21.1mm
D=29.3mm
Figure 5: Typical deformation process for auxetic metamaterial with 8% of buckling mode with an
impact velocity of 10 m/s
For the auxetic metamaterials with altered geometry by 8% imperfection from the buckling mode,
the overall deformation is more uniform than the previous specimen for all impact velocities as shown
in Figure 5. The deformation started from the centre of the specimen and then propagated to the top
and bottom parts, which was similar to the deformation patterns observed at a loading rate of
194
0.1mm/s. The deformation was nearly uniform in the centre region of the specimen for all impact
velocities. Due to the influence of the friction force on the top and bottom surfaces, the construction
cells deformed less at region closet to top and bottom platens. Contrast to original designed
metamaterial, the altered metamaterial have enhanced NPR behaviour under dynamic loading. The
alternating ellipses deformation appeared to deform simultaneously rather than sequentially. The
ellipses with vertical long axes deformed in the similar magnitude as that with horizontal long axes. No
localised crush bands were observed at all impact velocities.
3.2 Variation of NPR with respect to stain
Y1
P1
X1
X2
Y2
Figure 6: Illustration of calculating PR in the centre region.

The Poissons Ratio (PR) was calculated from four points in the centre region of the tested specimen
in one surface. For each point such as P1 in Figure 6, the original horizontal length of this point was
taken as X2-X1 and the original vertical length as Y2-Y1 where Xi and Yi is the coordinate of the
adjacent points around P1. The PR was calculated as the negative ratio of the length change in
horizontal direction and vertical direction.
195
0.4
10 m/s
1 m/s
0.1mm/s
Poisson's ratio
0.2
0.0
-0.2
-0.4
0.00
0.05
0.10
0.15
0.20
0.25
0.30
0.35
Strain
Figure 7: Variation of NPR with respect to strain at different impact velocities for original NPR
metamaterial
Figure 7 shows the variation of the NPR with respect to strain for original designed metamaterial
for three different loading rates, i.e., quasi-static (0.1mm/s), medium impact (1m/s) and high speed
impact (10m/s). Similar to that at quasi-static loading, the PR is positive during the compression test
before buckling occurred. Only after buckling occurred, auxetic behaviour became evident. The PR
exhibited a nonlinear relationship to the strain with obvious decreasing. In other words, for most
impact velocities, the Poissons ratio was not always negative during the whole deformation process.
The initial negative PR at an impact velocity of 10 m/s may be caused by the initial deformation during
the acceleration process. The auxetic behaviour became less obvious with decreasing absolute value
of NPR as shown in Figure 7. Thus for buckling induced NPR materials, increasing the loading rate
diminished the NPR behaviour.
196
0.4
10 m/s
1 m/s
0.1mm/s
Poisson's ratio
0.2
0.0
-0.2
-0.4
0.00
0.05
0.10
0.15
0.20
0.25
0.30
0.35
Strain
Figure 8: Variation of NPR with respect to strain at different impact velocities for altered NPR
metamaterial
For the auxetic metamaterials with altered geometry by 8% imperfection from the buckling mode,
the NPR behaviour was observed from the beginning of the compression tests at all impact velocities.
The overall PR and strain curve exhibited a nonlinear decreasing trend. The value of NPR at the
same strain under impact loading was lower than that under quasi-static loading as shown in Figure 8.
This trend indicated that NPR behaviour for this type of metamaterials performed better under impact
loading conditions.
3.3 The effect of inertia force on the compressive force and NPR behaviour of auxetic
metamaterials
Force and displacement histories were obtained from the Instron machine (VHS 8800). The
nominal stress strain curves are shown in Figure 9. The apparent dynamic stress strain curves were
totally different from these at quasi-static loading rate. Different from other cellular materials with a
steep elastic region followed by a plateau collapse region up to densification, the nominal stress strain
curve exhibited an initial peak force followed by a plateau force with large fluctuation and pretty low
stress level compared with the initial peak stress. No obvious densification was observed even when
the strain was up to 40%. The initial peak stress, plateau stress and fluctuation were all increasing
with the increasing loading rate. For original designed metamaterial in Figure 9, l the peak stress at
quasi-static loading was 0.0013MPa, which was 55 times less than the peak stress (0.071MPa) when
the impact velocity was 1m/s and it was 279 times less than the peak stress (0.363MPa) when the
impact velocity was 10m/s. For altered metamaterial with 8% imperfection in Figure 10, l the peak
stress at quasi-static loading was 0.00076MPa, which was 34 times less than the peak stress
(0.026MPa) when the impact velocity was 1m/s and it was 376 times less than the peak stress
(0.290MPa) when the impact velocity was 10m/s.
197
0.40
Dynamic stress (MPa)
0.35
0.30
V= 1m/s
V= 2m/s
V= 4m/s
V= 6m/s
V= 8m/s
V= 10m/s
Specimen:
Size (mm):100x100x100
Feature: none imperfection
Number of building cells: 8x8x8
0.25
0.20
0.15
0.10
0.05
0.00
0.00
0.05
0.10
0.15
0.20
0.25
0.30
0.35
0.40
Strain
Figure 9: Nominal stress strain curves for auxetic metalmaterial with original design
0.32
Nominal dynamic stress (MPa)
0.28
0.24
Specimen:
Size (mm):100x100x100
Feature: 8% imperfection
Number of building cells: 8x8x8
1 m/s
2 m/s
4 m/s
6 m/s
8 m/s
10 m/s
0.20
0.16
0.12
0.08
0.04
0.00
0.00
0.05
0.10
0.15
0.20
0.25
0.30
Norminal Strain
Figure 10: Nominal stress strain curves for altered auxetic metamaterial with 8% imperfection
Comparison between the nominal dynamic strain-stress curves, the stress was higher for the
buckling induced auxetic metamaterials. As shown in Figure 2, the load cell was fixed on the top
platen. Therefore, the measured force included the inertial force (the force required to stop the
specimen from moving at given initial velocity) of the specimen. The average stress enhancement in
the plateau collapse region caused by the inertia of specimen can be estimated using the theorem of
momentum as
198
Ft = mv F =
where
AL
v2
m
v= 0
v=A 0
L d
d
t
v
and i A = F
, thus,
i =
0v 2
d
(1)
is the nominal stress enhancement caused by the inertia effect, A is the cross sectional
area, L is the initial length of the specimen,

the duration of the inertial force, and
is the density of ,
v is the compression velocity, t is
is the densification strain. The expression is identical to that

21
obtained from 1D structural shock model which was put forward by Reid et al.
and further
22
developed by Harrigan et al. for cellular materials . It should be noted that the deformation pattern of
the auxetic metamaterials did not satisfy the requirements for 1D structural shock model in the highest
loading velocities, i.e. 10 m/s. For example, there is no obvious shock front and the crush process of
the metamaterials is not sequential from the impact end etc. However, this estimation gives an
average enhancement for the effect of inertial force on the plateau stress of cellular material under
compression. Consider two extreme cases with maximum inertial force for our tests, i.e. 0 = 139
3
kg/m ,
d = 0.3 ,
-1
V0=10 ms the value of stress
is 0.046MPa, which is much more larger than
the measured static plateau stress, 0.0011 MPa. It can be seen the peak force occurred only in a
limited strain range, i.e. 0.05. If we change d = 0.05 , the corresponding value is 0.23MPa which is
close to the peak stress in Figure 10. Thus the dynamic stress enhancement observed our
experiments was mainly caused by the inertia force. It should be noted that the density for the altered
3
metamaterials, i.e., 193 kg/m , was larger than that for the buckling induced metamaterials. However,
the peak force for the altered metamaterial was less than that of the buckling induced metamaterials.
Thus the deformation patter should also contribute to the stress enhancement. According to previous
studies on cellular materials, when the inertia force was the dominate force for the deformation
process, the deformation pattern will be totally different from that at the quasi-static loading rate.
Usually it changed from uniformed deformation pattern to localised deformation pattern. It did not
occur in our experiments. The mechanisms behind this phenomenon will be a very interesting future
topic.
CONCLUSIONS
The inertia effect of the buckling induced metamaterials was investigated in this paper by conducting
experiments at different impact velocities on cubic specimens of two newly designed auxetic
metamaterials. The variation of the NPR with respect to stain curves at different loading rates was
obtained at the macroscopic level. The following conclusions can be drawn from our investigations.
(1) For buckling induced auxetic metamaterial, the auxetic behaviour indicated by the absolute
value of NPR became less obvious under high velocity impact;
(2) For altered auxetic metamaterial, the auxetic behaviour was enhanced by the increasing
impact velocity;
(3) The dynamic enhancement for peak stress was very prominent, which is 2 orders larger than
the peak force at quasi-static loading rate. The underlying mechanism can be explained by
inertia force from the specimen in the current experimental configuration;
(4) The inertia dominated deformation process under high velocity impact did not change the
deformation pattern for altered auxetic metamaterials from that at quasi-static loading rate;
(5) Altered auxetic metamaterials designed by the authors have great potential for various
engineering applications such as packaging, acoustic and vibration isolation, and impact
energy absorption against localised indentation and penetration.
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200
th
COMPRESSIVE CHARACTERIZATION OF MAGNESIUM MATRIX

COMPOSITES REINFORCED WITH SIC PARTICLES OVER WIDE
RANGE OF STRAIN RATES
Jing Xiao*,a, Dong Wei Shu*,b and I. R. Ahmad
*
*,c
School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University,

50 Nanyang Ave., Singapore 639798
-mail: <jxiao1@e.ntu.edu.sg>
Keywords: AZ31B alloy; Magnesium nanocomposite; Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar;

Dynamic behaviour.
Abstract. Magnesium alloys due to their low density, high strength to weight ratio
and good impact resistance have attracted much research interest in automotive,
aerospace and electronics industries. However, the poor ductility and low strength
of magnesium alloys limit their usage in impact situations. The mechanical
properties of magnesium and its alloys can be further enhanced by using a
suitable reinforcement. In this study, magnesium alloy AZ31B and its composite
containing 0.5vol.% SiC nano-particles are subjected to quasi-static and dynamic
compressive loading to investigate the influence of strain rate and the presence of
nano-particles on the mechanical behaviour. Compared to quasi-static loading,
both materials exhibits highest yield stresses and compressive strength, best
ductility, and thus a largest energy absorption capacity at strain rate of 2400 s-1.
Under dynamic loading, the flow stress at the same strain of both materials
increases with increasing strain rate from 700 s-1 to 2400 s-1. In terms of nanoparticle addition, its influence on the enhancement of yield stress and ultimate
compressive strength at high strain rates are notable while the increase of
ductility is not as obvious as strength. Although AZ31B nanocomposite displays
smaller strength than AZ31B alloy at quasi-static condition, the improvement of
energy absorption capability possessed by AZ31B nanocomposite under all
strain-rate condition is observed.
1
INTRODUCTION
The use of light metals as construction materials is generally viewed as becoming of key
importance in the future with increasing demand for economical use of scarce energy resources,
1
skyrocketing crude oil process, and ever-stricter control over emissions . Magnesium is the lightest
metal and the sixth most abundant element in the earths crust. Lightness and high specific strength
make magnesium alloys important materials for applications where weight reduction is vital. In recent
2
years, the use of magnesium alloys as automotive and aerospace parts has increased many folds .
However, the poor ductility and low strength of magnesium alloys limit their usage. Composite
materials have the ability to combine the properties of reinforcing phase with that of the matrix phase
such that the resultant properties of the composite materials are better than the properties of their
__________________
e-mail:
e-mail: <mdshu@ntu.edu.sg>, <iram0002@e.ntu.edu.sg>

201
Jing Xiao, Dong Wei Shu and I. R. Ahmad
monolithic counterparts. The ceramic type of reinforcements is the most commonly used in
magnesium-based
based composites. Of all the ceramic reinforcements, silicon carbide particles are the
most widely investigated and used. Micro-sized
Micro
reinforcements
orcements have been found to be effective in
3
enhancing stiffness and strength but usually accompanied by
by a decrease in ductility . Recent studies
show that its possible to obtain simultaneous enhancement in strength and ductility when ceramic
4,5
nano-particles
particles are incorporated into a magnesium matrix .
The use of magnesium alloys and magnesium matrix composites in structural applications, where
the materials response is extremely different from their normal behavior, requires the information of
their dynamic behavior. However, limited studies on mechanical
mechanical response of magnesium alloy and its
6-10
nanocomposites at high strain rates are available . In this work, the high strain rate behavior of
magnesium alloy AZ31B and its composite containing 0.5vol.% SiC nano-particles
particles is investigated.
The rate dependence
ce of their strength, ductility and energy absorption are discussed. The effect of the
presence of SiC nano-particles
particles on the mechanical properties of the alloy is identified as well.
2
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP AND

A
SPECIMENS
Quasi-static
static compression tests have been performed using INSTRON 5500R universal testing
machine with maximum load 150 KN and maximum displacement 500 mm.
11
Split Hopkinson Pressures Bar (SHPB) has been used for high strain rate compressive testing.
The apparatus
pparatus consists of a striker bar, an input bar, an output bar and an absorbing bar at the end as
shown in Figure 1. A gas gun is used to drive the striker bar. Two diametrically opposing strain
gauges were mounted in the middle of the input and the output
output bar to monitor the strain on respective
bars. The cylindrical specimen is placed between the input and the output bar. All bars have a
diameter of 12.7 mm. The length of the input, output, and absorbing bars is 1 m each and that of the
striker bar is 300mm.
Figure 1: Simplified schematic drawing of the Split Hopkinson Pressure bar
A commercial ingot of AZ31B alloy and its composite ingot reinforced with 0.5vol.% SiC nanoparticles were studied. The average diameter of the SiC nanoparticle is 60nm.Cylindrical
60nm.Cy
specimens
have been machined from these two ingots and the specimen for quasi-static
quasi static testing has 16mm
length and 8mm diameter while the specimen for dynamic testing has 8mm length and 4mm diameter.
3
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Quasi-static compression tests on the 16mm long specimens were carried out on an Instron
machine operating at a cross-head
head speed of 0.96mm/min (corresponding to a strain rate of 0.001 s-1).
s
Three tests were performed for both monolithic and nanocomposite to ensure the repeatability of the
test results. Both monolithic and nanocomposite fracture through shear failure at an inclination
approximately 45 to the loading axis. The results for quasi-static
quasi static compression are presented in
Figure 2. It can be noted that AZ31B reinforced
reinforced with 0.5vol.% SiC nanoparticles has smaller
compressive strength but better ductility than AZ31B. The decrease in maximum strength is about
27%, while the increase in failure strain is about 23%.Hence, the energy absorption capability of both
materials should be calculated.
202
Engineering stress (MPa)
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
AZ31B Reinforced
AZ31B
20
0
0
0.05
0.1
0.15
0.2
0.25
Engineering strain
Figure 2: Compressive behavior of AZ31B and 0.5 vol.%SiCp/AZ31B at a strain rate of 0.001 s
-1
Figure 3 shows stress-strain curves for the monolithic alloy and the nancomposite for static and
dynamic compression. It can be noted that stress values of SiCp/AZ31B for dynamic compression are
much higher than those for quasi-static compression, while the difference between two conditioning
loadings of AZ31B isnt as obvious. For both the monolithic alloy and nanocomposite, the stress and
-1
-1
strain increases with increasing strain rate from 700 s to 2400 s . At a strain of 0.07, approximately
-1
-1
29% and 33% increase are observed with increasing strain rate from 700 s to 2400 s for AZ31B
and SiCp/AZ31B respectively.
Engineering stress (MPa)
350
300
250
200
150
700/s
1400/s
2400/s
0.001/s
100
50
0
0
(a)
0.05
0.1
0.15
0.2
Engineering strain
203
0.25
0.3
450
Engineering Stress (Mpa)
400
350
300
250
200
100
0.001/
s
0.1/s
50
700/s
150
0
0
(b)
0.05
0.1
0.15
0.2
0.25
0.3
Engineering Strain
Figure 3: Stress-strain relationship of (a) AZ31B alloy (b) 0.5 vol.%SiCp/AZ31B

With respect to nano-particle addition, for high stain rates, its effect on yield stress and
compressive strength is obvious as shown in Figure 4. By using straight line approximation, the
SiCp/AZ31B nanocomposite has yield stress about 80 %, 150 %, and 66% higher than AZ31B at 700
-1
-1
-1
50 s , 1400 100 s and 2400 100 s respectively. Therefore, the yield stress of SiCp/AZ31B
nanocomposite is higher than the AZ31B under high strain rate loading. According to Figure 4, it is
clear that the compressive strength for SiCp/AZ31B nanocomposite is higher than the AZ31B alloy as
well. The SiCp/AZ31B nanocomposite has ultimate compressive stress 39 %, 38% and 41% higher
-1
-1
-1
than AZ31B at 700 50 s , 1400 100 s and 2400 100 s respectively. However, strain at
maximum compressive stress only has a small increase after the addition of silicon carbide
nanoparticles. Even though the ductility of AZ31B nanocomposite doesnt increase much, the
significant increase in compressive strength indicates that AZ31B nanocomposite has a larger energy
absorption capability.
To quantitatively evaluate and compare the energy performance of AZ31B and its nanocomposite,
the energy per unit volume at various strain rates was calculated by
=
(1)
where is the area under the stress-strain curve up to failure strain. However, specimens
-1
-1
-1
tested at 700 50 s , 1400 100 s
and 2400 100 s are not broken therefore the energy
absorption is calculated by taking the area under the stress-strain curve up to 0.07 strain. It can be
observed from Figure 5 that both materials have larger energy absorption at higher strain rates.
AZ31B nanocomposite can absorb more energy than its monolithic alloy at all strain rates although
-1
the difference between two materials at 0.001 s is not as significant as the difference at high strain
rates. The results indicate a high possibility of replacing AZ31B with its nanocomposites in the future.
204
Figure 4: Stress-strain
strain curves obtained at various strain rates comparison between AZ31B and
0.5vol.% SiCp/AZ31B
Energy Absorbed (MJ/m3)
18
16
AZ31B
14
0.5%SiC/AZ31B
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
0.001
700
1400
Strain rate
2400
(s-1)
Figure 5: energy absorption capability of AZ31B and 0.5 vol.% SiCp/AZ31B
CONCLUSIONS
Samples made from AZ31B alloy and its composite containing 0.5vol.% SiC nano-particles
nano
were
205
subjected to quasi-static and high strain rate compressive loading. Compared to quasi-static loading,
both materials display enhanced properties under high strain rate loading. Higher stresses are
observed at higher strain rates and the strain also increases when the strain rate increases. The
addition of ceramic nano-particles has smaller influence on the ductility than its influence on the
enhancement of yield stress and compressive strength. Larger energy absorption capability of
nanocomposite indicates its potential to replace magnesium alloy in applications where impact/shock
loads are encountered. Composites with other amounts of nano-particles will be studied in future to
obtain possibly simultaneous enhancement in strength and ductility.
REFERENCES
[1] M. Gupta, N.M.L. Sharon, Magnesium, magnesium alloys, and magnesium composites, John
Wiley & Sons, 2011.
[2] X. Jing, W.S. Dong, Dynamic Response of Magnesium Alloy and its Nanocomposite under High
Strain Rate Compressive Loading, Applied Mechanics and Materials, 394 (2013) 20-25.
[3] D.J. Lloyd, Particle-reinforced aluminum and magnesium matrix composites, International
Materials Reviews, 39 (1994) 1-23.
[4] S.F. Hassan, M. Gupta, Development of high performance magnesium nanocomposites using
solidification processing route, Materials Science and Technology, 20 (2004) 1383-1388.
[5] S.F. Hassan, M. Gupta, Development of nano-Y2O3 containing magnesium nanocomposites using
solidification processing, Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 429 (2007) 176-183.
[6] I.R. Ahmad, X. Jing, D.W. Shu, Effect of temperature on the mechanical behaviour of magnesium
alloy AZ91D in the range between 30C and 250C, International Journal of Mechanical
Sciences.
[7] K. Ishikawa, H. Watanabe, T. Mukai, High temperature compressive properties over a wide range
of strain rates in an AZ31 magnesium alloy, Journal of Materials Science, 40 (2005) 1577-1582.
[8] M. Sanjari, S.A. Farzadfar, S. Yue, E. Essadiqi, Very high strain rate deformation of AZ31B Mg
alloys using split Hopkinson pressure bar, in: S.R. Agnew, N.R. Neelameggham, E.A. Nyberg,
W.H. Sillekens (Eds.) Magnesium Technology 2010, 2010, pp. 481-486.
[9] Y. Chen, Y.B. Guo, M. Gupta, V.P.W. Shim, Dynamic tensile response of magnesium
nanocomposites and the effect of nanoparticles, Materials Science and Engineering a-Structural
Materials Properties Microstructure and Processing, 582 (2013) 359-367.
[10] Y.E. Essa, J. Fernandez-Saez, J.L. Perez-Castellanos, Experimental study of the strain rate and
temperature effects on the mechanical behavior of a magnesium-silicon carbide composite,
Journal of Testing and Evaluation, 31 (2003) 449-457.
[11] H. Kolsky, An investigation of the mechanical properties of materials at very high rates of loading,
Proceedings of the Physical Society. Section B, 62 (1949) 676.
206
th
EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON DYNAMIC BOND BEHAVIOR OF

CFRP-TO-STEEL
Jin Yang, Jingsi Huo*, Yuan Lu and Yan Xiao,
*
College of civil Engineering, Hunan University

Changsha 410082
e-mail: <jingsihuo@gmail.com>
Keywords: CFRP-to-steel, dynamic bond behavior, impact load
Abstract. Carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) sheets/plates are widely used
in reinforced concrete structures. In recent years, it has attracted much attention
to the rehabilitation of steel bridges and buildings with CFRP. Since the reinforced
structural elements are possibly subjected to dynamic loads, it is essential to
understand the dynamic bond behavior which plays a vital role in a reinforced
system. The dynamic bond behavior of CFRP-to-steel interface in shear was
experimentally investigated in this paper. The influence of various loading rates
(quasi-static loading, 1.71m/s, 2.21m/s, 2.62m/s) on the dynamic bond behavior
was investigated. Based on the strain readings, CFRP tensile strain distribution
along the bond length and load-slip cure were obtained. The test results indicated
that the maximum strain developed in the CFRP under dynamic load was larger
than that under static load, while the effective bond length was not changed
obviously.
1
INTRODUCTION
Steel structures are possibly damaged by fatigue and corrosion. Application of externally
bonded CFRP sheets/plates to upgrading of steel structures has become popularly in recent
1~6
years . Extensive researches have shown that bond behavior of the CFRP-to-steel interface
7~10
plays a key role in FRP reinforced system
. The ultimate strength of CFRP always is
underused due to premature debonding failure which is induced by high stress concentration. The
load bearing capacity of the strengthened structures cannot reach the expected value. The
existing researches mainly focus on the bond behavior of CFRP-to-steel interface under static
11,12
loading, whereas there is little research reported on the dynamic bond behavior
. However,
steel structures in practice are possibly subjected to dynamic loads excited by earthquake,
explosion and collision. The dynamic response of CFRP-to-steel interface perhaps is different
from that under static loading due to high strain rates and stress wave propagation. It is
necessary to pay much attention to the bond behavior of CFRP-to-steel interface under impact
loading so as to develop reasonable design method to upgrade steel structures with CFRP. A
series of 3-point bending tests on the dynamic bond behaviour of CFRP-to-steel interface were
13
conducted in the paper based on the impact test method described in Chen et al 2012 . The
paper presents the summary of the impact tests and some discussions on the test results.
______________________________
College of civil Engineering, Hunan University, China
University of Southern California, USA

207
Jin Yang, Jingsi Huo, Yuan Lu and Yan Xiao
EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM
2.1 Materials
The measured yield strength of steel was 309MPa and the Youngs modulus was 190GPa. An
unidirectional CFRP sheet with a single layer thickness of 0.167mm was used and the ultimate
strength, Youngs modulus and ultimate strain were found to be 3400MPa, 239.6GPa and 0.015,
respectively. A two-component epoxy resin (ESA-T) with the tensile strength of 65MPa, Youngs
modulus of 3200MPa and ultimate strain of 0.02 was used for bonding the CFRP sheet to the
steel flange.
2.2 Specimen preparation
Four I-shaped section steel beams of 1000mm long span, including one under static loading
and three under impact loading, were experimentally studied to discover the dynamic behavior of
CFRP-to-steel interface. The summary of the specimens and the main results of the static and
impact tests were shown in Table 1. The bottom flange and the web of the beams at mid-span
were cut off to eliminate the flexural resistance of the steel beams. The bottom flange surface
was brushed to remove any rust, oxide and grease in order to make the surface smooth. Twolayer of CFRP sheet with 500mm length and 50mm width were glued to the bottom of the steel
beam. The bonding length and unbonded length on the right bottom were set to be 200mm and
50mm respectively. An additional 100mm wide and 200mm long CFRP sheet was glued to the left
block so as to make sure the right CFRP sheet fail first. Three strain gauges were mounted onto
the unbonded CFRP sheet surface, and ten strain gauges with a spacing of 20mm to measure
the strain distributions of bonding CFRP sheet. The details of the specimen and locations of the
strain gauges were shown in Figure 1.
Maximum
Impact
Effective bond
Ultimate load/kN
strain/
velocity/m/s
length/mm
22.94
5734
70
1.45
24.86
6213
70
1.93
26.69
6670
70
2.38
32.87
8215
70
S denotes static test; D denotes dynamic test and C denotes CFRP.
Specimen
SC
DC-1
DC-2
DC-3
Notes:
Failure
mode
25
61
70 70
75 75
850
75
bp
75
280
L50
p 50
S1a
S1b
S1c
S2
Lp
S4
S3
100
280
61
S6
S5
S8
S7
S9
S10
S11
25 25
75 75
200
Table 1: Summary of impact test
30 201020 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 10
200
Figure 1: Details of specimen and layout of strain gauge(unit: mm)

2.3 Test set-up and test method
The beams were impacted by a drop hammer to failure to investigate the dynamic behaviour of
13
CFRP-to-steel interface in shear . The test beams were pin supported at the two ends with the span
208
of 850mm. The impact test was carried out using the drop hammer with up to 1000 kg mass and a
maximum drop height of 16 meters, as shown in Figure 2. The hammer with a weight of 198kg was
released
eased at a 400mm height to freely fall down along the guide rails. The specimens were in three
point-bending
bending under impact loading at the middle span. An oscilloscopic fast data acquisition system
captured the electric signals of the impact force and strain gauges at a rate of 5 millions sample/s per
channel. A MotionScope M2 high-speed
high speed camera at 1000 frames per second was used to capture the
debonding process.
Hammer
Specimen
Video camera
Pin support
Figure 2: Impact test set up

3
TEST RESULTS
3.1 Failure modes

1
The work of Zhao and Zhang has showed that CFRP bonded steel joints possibly
experiences six failure modes, including (a) steel/adhesive interface failure,, (b)
( adhesive layer
failure, (c) CFRP/adhesive interface failure,
failure (d) CFRP delamination, (e) CFRP rupture and (f)
steel yielding. It could be found that impact load has no effect on failure modes. Only the failure
mode (a) was observed for both static test and impact tests, as shown in Figure 3.
(a) SC
(b) DC-3
Figure 3:
3 Failure modes of CFRP-to-steel interface
3.2 Strain time history of CFRP
FRP sheet
Figure 4 shows the strain
train time histories
histor
of CFRP sheet under impact loading.
loading The strain S1
was the mean of measured strains in the unbonded region. Obviously, the mid-span
mid
gauge S1
209
developed earlier than the last one S11. It indicates that the strain development of the CFRP
started from the mid-span gap to the CFRP end. It means that the debonding should initiated at
the location close to loading point.
8000
4000
3000
2000
1000
6000
/me
5000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
0
0
0.5
S1
S2
S3
S4
S5
S6
S7
S8
S9
S10
S11
7000
6000
/me
8000
S1
S2
S3
S4
S5
S6
S7
S8
S9
S10
S11
7000
1.5
2.5
3.5
0.5
t/ms
/me
(a) DC-1
1.5
2.5
t/ms
(b) DC-2
10000
9000
8000
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
S1
S2
S3
S4
S5
S6
S7
S8
S9
S10
S11
0.5
1.5
2.5
t/ms
(c) DC-3
Figure 4: Strain time history of CFRP sheet
It can be found from Figure 4 that the CFRP sheets under impact loading experienced much
larger strains than those under static loading. Due to the linear elastic behavior of the CFRP
sheet, the stress developed in the CFRP sheet is directly proportional to the strain, indicating that
the ultimate load of CFRP-to-steel interface under impact loading is much higher than that under
static loading. This means that the bond behavior of the CFRP-to-steel interface is sensitive to
the dynamic load.
3.3 Effect of impact loading on strain distributions of CFRP sheets
Figures 5 and 6 present the strain distributions along CFRP sheets of the specimens under
static and impact loads, respectively. CFRP strains developed only within a small region close to
the loading point for both static and impact test before reaching the maximum strain, as shown in
Figure 5(a) and Figure 6(a). CFRP sheet started to debond from the steel beam at the ultimate
load. Afterwards, the region of the CFRP strain development expanded quickly, but the maximum
strain in the debonded region remained nearly constant, as shown in Figure 5(b) and Figure 6(b).
This illustrated that debonding started from the loading end to the free end of CFRP sheet. It is
also observed that the strain distributions beyond the debonded region are similar for the static
test and the impact test (Figure 5(b) and Figure 6(b)) as debonding propagated, indicating that
the shear stress distributions are similar in these regions.
Figure 6 also shows that strain distribution gradient of CFRP sheet under impact loading is
sharper than that under static loading, which indicates that the shear stress is increased under
impact loading. Based on the strain distributions, it could be found that the effective bond length
is shorter under impact loading than that under static loading.
210

7000
5000
0.3
4000
0.4
3000
0.5
2000
1000
6000
5000
4000
0.6
3000
0.7
2000
0.8
1000
0
0
20
40
60
80
P/Pu=1
7000
0.2
e (me)
e (me)
8000
P/Pu0.1
=
6000
Propagation of debonding
0
100
Distance from the loaded end(mm)
50
100
150
200
(i)PPu
(ii) P=Pu
Figure 5: Strain distributions in specimen SC

7000
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
7000
5000
4000
20
40
60
80
Propagation of debonding
3000
2000
1000
0
0
0
P/Pu=1
6000
e (me)
e (me)
8000
P/Pu=
6000
100
50
100
150
200
(i) PPu
(ii) P=Pu
Figure 6: Strain distributions in specimen DC-2

3.4 Load-displacement behaviour
Figure 7 shows the comparison of the dynamic load versus slip curves with the corresponding
static tested results. The slip of the CFRP-to-steel interface is obtained by integrating the strain
distribution along the sheet length. The curve can be divided into three stages, namely elastic
stage (I), elastic-damage stage (II) and debonding-damage stage (III). At the first stage, the load
versus slip cure is almost linear, and the initial slope of the cure for the dynamic test is slightly
higher than that of static test. At the second stage, the cure becomes nonlinear before the
ultimate load of the CFRP-to-steel interface is reached. At the final stage, the curve remains a
long plateau during propagating.
I II III
40
P/kN
30
SC
20
DC-1
DC-2
10
DC-3
0
0
0.3
0.6
0.9
1.2
1.5
1.8
S/mm
Figure 7: Comparison of the load-displacement cures between static and dynamic tests
211
CONCLUSIONS
The paper conducted a series of drop-weight impact tests to investigate the dynamic bond
behavior of CFRP-to-steel interface. The tested results showed that the dynamic failure modes of
CFRP-to-steel interface were not changed compared with the static tests. The strain distribution
gradient of CFRP sheet under impact loading was sharper than that under static loading. The
dynamic ultimate loads of CFRP-to-steel interface were larger than the corresponding static
values, while the effective bond length was not changed obviously.
5
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The research described in this paper was conducted at the CIPRES-2 Testing Lab, Ministry of
Education Key Laboratory of Building Safety and Efficiency of the Hunan University, under the
supports of the 973 Program for National Key Basic Research Program of China ( Project No.
2012CB026204) and the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET-110123).
REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
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[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
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[9]
[10]
[11]
[12]
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Miller T C, Chajes M J. Strengthening of a Steel Bridge Girder Using CFRP Plates. Journal of
Bridge Engineering, 2001, 6(6): 514-522
Edberg W, Mertz D, Gillespie Jr J. Rehabilitation of Steel Beams Using Composite Materials. In:
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York, 1996, 502-506
Sen R, Liby L, Mullins G. Strengthening steel bridge sections using CFRP laminates. Composites
Part & engineering, 2001, 309-322
Liu X, Silva P F, Nanni A. Rehabilitation of steel bridge members with FRP composite materials.
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Linghoff D, Al-Emrani M . Performance of steel beams strengthened with CFRP laminate Part
1: Laboratory tests. Composites Part B: Engineering, 2010, 41(7): 509-515
Xia S H, Teng J G. Behaviour of FRP-to-Steel Bonded Joints. Proceedings of the International
Symposium on Bond Behaviour of FRP in Structures (BBFS 2005), 411-418
Yu T, Fernando D, Teng J G, et al. Experimental study on CFRP-to-steel bonded interfaces.
Composites Part B: Engineering, 2012, 43(5): 2279-2289
Fawzia S, Zhao X L, Al-Mahaidi R. Bond-slip models for double strap joints strengthened by
CFRP. Composite Structures, 2010, 92(9): 2137-2145
EI Damatty A A, Abllsbagure M. Testing and modeling of shear and peel behavior for bonded
steel/FRP connectionsThin-wa1led Structures. 2003: 987-1003
Al-Zubaidy H A, Zhao X L, Al-Mahaidi R. Dynamic bond strength between CFRP sheet and steel.
Composite Structures, 2012, 94(11): 3258-3270
Al-Zubaidy H A, Zhao X L, Al-Mahaidi R. Experimental evaluation of the dynamic bond strength
between CFRP sheets and steel under direct tensile loads. International Journal of Adhesion and
Adhesives, 2013, 40: 89-102
Chen, J.F., Li, X.Q., Lu, Y., et al. (2012). A new method for FRP-to-concrete bond behavior
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212
PSH14
Special Session on
Holistic Consideration of Structural Performance in Strong Earthquakes
th
SEISMIC RESPONSE ANALYSIS OF CABLE-SLIDING MODULAR

EXPANSION JOINTS' EFFECT IN LIMITING RELATIVE
DISPLACEMENT SUBJECTED TO NEAR-FAULT GROUND MOTION
Kang Gao*, Xinzhe Yuan
Jingyu Wang and Wancheng Yuan
*
State Key Laboratory for Disaster Reduction in Civil Engineering

Department of Bridge Engineering, Tongji University
e-mail: <gao.kone@gmail.com>
Keywords: near-fault ground motion, the effect in limiting relative displacement, cablesliding modular expansion joints(CMEJs), seismic isolation bridge, pulse effect
Abstract. According to the studies about the diverse damages of bridge

structures in the past shows that bearings' invalidation is main reason of the
damage of isolated bridges and causes oversized relative displacements between
piers and girders, which can lead to severe collision of superstructure. This is
extremely dangerous when near-fault motion occur, because it has obvious pulse
effect and this may greatly increase the risk of colliding between girders.
Aiming at this problem, this paper puts forward a device named Cable-sliding
modular expansion joints (CMEJs) that can control the relative displacement and
avoid collision happened. The working principle and mechanical model are
described, and then based on a triple continuous seismic Isolation bridge which
has different heights of piers, a 3D model with/without CMEJs was established.
The responses of continuous beam bridges using the CMEJs are
comprehensively inspected under the consideration of the pulse effect, and then
making a real simulation of limit performance of CMEJs, focused on CMEJs'
restraining effect.
The calculation shows that pulse effect would magnify the seismic response
of isolation bridges. In addition, the device can well control the displacement and
prevent collisions. And when the isolation technology combined with CMEJs can
be more effective to play their respective roles. The advantage in controlling
displacement is obvious.
1
INTRODUCTION
Near-field earthquake movement has caused the attention of both seismologists and structural
engineers and has become a hot spot worldwide at present. One of the most distinct characters
of these earthquakes is that earthquake focuses are very close to cities. From the earthquake
disaster investigation, we find that buildings and bridges near the fault are strong damaged by
near-field effect.
Bridge expansion joints are necessary components for the accommodation of movements
resulting from thermal effects, traffic vibrations, and natural hazards, to name a few. However, as
one of the important components of bridge, the aseismic behavior of expansion joints has long
______________________________
Professor, State Key Laboratory for Disaster Reduction in Civil Engineering Department of Bridge Engineering,
Tongji University, 1239 Siping Rd, Shanghai 200092, China. e-mail: <yuan@tongji.edu.cn>
213
Kang Gao, Xinzhe Yuan, Jingyu Wang and Wancheng Yuan
been neglected by researchers. What's more, research on the effect of expansion joints on the
seismic response of bridges is very limited and the past efforts have been concentrated on the
1,2
enhancement of durability, cold resistance and noise-resistance of expansion joints .The
damage of expansion joints not only affects the function of a bridge immediately after an
3
earthquake but also results in a significant impact on the overall seismic response of a bridge .
In addition, the widely use of isolation bearings may results in an increase of deck response
displacement and the risk of pounding between adjacent bridge. Consequently, it is important to
take into account in the analysis the effect of expansion joints on the overall bridge response. In
4,5,6
addition, there are some disadvantages on the standards at home and abroad , when it comes
to the effect of the near-field earthquake to structures. So it is necessary to study the seismic
performance of the bridge under near-field earthquakes. Although scholars have been gradually
carried out some studies of common bridges' seismic response characteristics under near-field
earthquake, there were still fewer for seismic isolation bridges.
The article carried on researches below in view of above several questions:
1).Study the characteristics of near-filed ground motion and select earthquake waves;
2).Developed the research of Cable-sliding modular expansion joints (CMEJs) and described
the working principle and mechanical model;
3).Based on a triple continuous beam bridge, a 3D model with/without CMEJs was
established. By selecting 12 earthquake waves with or without pulse effect,6 respectively and
using non-linear time history analysis, compared the seismic response with or without CMEJ
under this two sets of waves.
2
SELECTION OF NEAR-FIELD GROUND MOTION
There are three obvious differences in regard to amplitude, spectrum and duration of ground
motion. In general, near-fault pulse-type ground motions have a high acceleration, velocity,
amplitude of displacement time history, rich low-frequency component, long cycle and short
duration.
PGA
PGV
PGD
Dist. PGV/PGA
M
Types
No.
Name
Station
2
/(cm/s )
/(cm/s)
/(cm)
/(km)
/(s)
1999TCU0681
7.6
462
263
430
3.01
0.569
Chichi
NS
1999TCU0682
7.6
566
177
324
3.01
0.313
Chichi
EW
1999TCU1203
7.6
193
36.93
33.6
7.41
0.191
Chichi
NS
With pulse
effect
1999TCU1204
7.6
225
63.17
50.61
7.41
0.281
Chichi
EW
19945
6.7 JEN-022
424
106
43.1
5.43
0.250
Northridge
19946
6.7 SCS-052
612
117
54.3
5.35
0.191
Northridge
1971-San
7
6.6
ORR021
324
15.6
2.4
1.80
0.048
Fernando
19898
Loma
6.9 CAP000
529
35
9.1
15.20
0.066
Prieta
1999TCU065Without
9
7.6
814
126.22
126.2
0.59
0.155
Chichi
EW
pulse
effect
199410
6.7 PKC-360
433
51.2
8.0
7.3
0.118
Northridge
199411
6.7
ELI-090
155
7.3
2.7
36.50
0.047
Northridge
199412
6.7 TUJ-262
163
8.0
0.8
19.70
0.049
Northridge
Table1Characteristic parameters of selected ground motions
7,8
According to the reference , there is an indicator for velocity pulse ground motions, when
the ratio of PGV/PGA to about 0.2.The records of earthquake events in the past as the seismic
214
input in this paper and all ground motion records are from the Pacific Earthquake Engineering
Research center (PEER) database, as shown in table 1. Among them, No.1~No.6 is the near field
ground motion pulses and No.7~No.12 is non-pulse ground motions. For better analysis the effect
in limiting relative displacement of cable-sliding modular expansion joints(CMEJs), 12 waves'
PGA is adjusted to 0.6g.
3
THE STRUCTURE AND RESTORING FORCE MODEL OF CMEJS
In a modular expansion joint, there have a support box every few meters along the
transverse direction of the bridge. On the basis of the conventional design, CMEJs use the cable
through the both ends of the support boxes and support bars and connect them together. When
earthquake occurs, through controlling movement of bars in the boxes by cables, to realize limit
the relative displacement between beams. Because both ends of the support boxes are fixed in
the two ends of the beams, so the cable can limit the relative displacement of beams. And the
premise is that connected components do not damage before cables. As shown in Figure 1.
(a) Cross-section view of a CMEJs system
(b) Normal state of a CMEJs system
(c) When the adjacent girders get close
(d) When the adjacent girders far away
Figure 1: Working mechanism of CMEJs

When the adjacent girders get close and an impending collision, the cable can control the
girders to prevent collision and play a role of limiting the relative displacement, as shown in
Figure 1(c); And vise versa, as shown in Figure 1(d). In addition, because the cable through
supporting boxes and bars, which ensure expansion joint itself does not damage. According to
the requirements of different bridge structural design, adjusting cable free movement can realize
the limiting effect. When an earthquake occurs, the relative displacement between the girders
within the free movement, the cables do not work; when the displacement is larger than the free
movement, they can work effectively.
This paper does not consider expansion joint itself constitutive model. According to the
9
paper shows that the expansion joint has little function of limiting the relative displacement, but it
is very limited and far less than the cables' stiffness. What's more, without considering the
expansion joint damage before cables.
4
GENERAL INFORMATION OF MODEL AND ANALYSIS CASES
Figure 2 is a 3D model of a triple continuous beam bridge (430m+36+56+36+430m).

According to the structure design, a three-dimensional dynamic finite element model is
215
established and girders, piers are simulated as space beam and column element. In this paper
only longitudinal inputs are considered. In order to analyze the seismic response of isolated
bridges with CMEJs under near-field earthquake, the following four cases are established
respectively:
Case1:without CMEJswithout pulse effect;
Case3:with CMEJswithout pulse effect;
Case2:without CMEJswith pulse effect

Case4:with CMEJswith pulse effect
In general, the expansion joint's clearance is determined by static calculation. The number is
10cm in this paper. In order to satisfy the requirements of the bridge's thermal effects and normal
operation, the free movement of cables choose 8cm. When the relative displacement between
girders is more than 8cm, cable can play its roles; When the displacement is more than 10cm, the
cables are failure. Fig.3 is the recovery force model of bearings and CMEJ.
Figure 2: Finite element model of isolated bridge with FPS bearings and CMEJs
Figure 3: Recovery force model of CMEJ and FPS
Figure 4: Distribution diagram of bearings
5 SEISMIC RESPONSE WITH OR WITHOUT CMEJ UNDER NEAR-FAULT GROUND

MOTIONS
Acceleration (g)
To study the effect of the CMEJs under near-fault ground motions, the above analytical model
for CMEJs was implemented to the target bridge as shown in Figure 2. Because the structure is
symmetrical, so we only consider the half bridge
0.4
when discussed in this paper. To better reveal the
0.2
effect of CMEJs in limiting the relative
0
displacement of the adjacent girders under six
pulse-type ground motions, we introduced the
-0.2
No.1
-0.4
-0.6
-0.8
0
10
15
20
25
30
Time (sec)
Figure 5: The No.1 ground motion record

in the analysis
216
seismic response in detail under No.1 as seen in Figure 5.

Figure 6 shows the relative displacement between left deck and middle deck under the No.1
ground motion. The responses of disregarding the effect of CMEJ in the analysis are also shown in
Figure 6 for comparison. The relative displacement between left deck and middle deck by
disregarding the effect of CMEJ are about +0.2m and -0.18m in tensile and compressive directions,
respectively, which is larger than gp and pounding occured. On the other hand, that value became
+0.098m and 0.091m in the tensile and compressive directions, respectively, if the CMEJ is included
in the analysis. Thus, the relative displacement decreases by 50% and 49% by including the CMEJ in
the analysis in the tensile and compressive directions, respectively.
Figure 7 shows the pulling force of CMEJ under the No.1 ground motion. There are three times in
the tensile direction and two times in the compressive direction, which is also clear in Figure 6.
Because the free movement of cables are 8cm,so the cables is working when the gap larger than
gp..As is obvious from Figure 5, there is a pulse acceleration with high magnitude spikes from 8s to
15s. So we can see from Figure 6 and 7, the cables' pulling force are 7.4MN,2.1MN and 1.21MN at
11.83s,13.025s and 13.58s in the tensile direction and 4.5MN,1.68MN at 15.165s and 16.205s in the
compressive directions.
0.1
with CMEJ
without CMEJ
11.83s
Pulling force (MN)
Rel.Displ. (m)
0.2
13.58s
13.03s
0.0
15.16s
-0.1
16.21s
-0.2
0
10
15
20
25
30
6
3
0
5
Figure 6: Relative displacement between left

deck and middle deck under the No.1 nearfault ground motion
15
25
30
Figure 7: Pulling force of the CMEJ under the

No.1 near-fault ground motion
0.6
0.6
0.4
Rel.Displ. (m)
No.2
No.8
0.2
0.0
-0.2
-0.4
0.3
0
-0.3
with PE
without PE
-0.6
-0.9
-0.6
0
10
15
20
25
30
10
Figure 8: The No.2 and No.8 ground motion

records
Acceleration (m/s )
0.04
0
-0.04
-0.08
-0.1m
-0.12
0
10
15
20
25
25
30
8
with PE
without PE
with PE
without PE
+0.1m
20
Figure 9: The relative displacement between

left deck and P5
0.12
0.08
15
Time (sec)
Time (sec)
Rel.Displ. (m)
20
Time (sec)
-6
Time (sec)
Acceleration (g)
10
-3
4
0
-4
-8
30
Time (sec)
10
15
20
25
30
Time (sec)
Figure 10: Relative displacement between left

deck and middle deck
Figure 11: Acceleration at the right end of

the left end
6 SEISMIC RESPONSE WITH PULSE EFFECT OR WITHOUT PULSE EFFECT IN

CONSIDERING THE EFFECT OF CMEJS
Velocity pulse will increase the acceleration, velocity, displacement impact. For small damping,
the effect of velocity pulse is larger and it allows bridges under high energy impact, which may result
217
in large displacements and deformations. To explain the seismic response with PE(pulse effect) or
without PE(pulse effect) in considering CMEJs, the response of bridge under No.2 and No.8 ground
motion were analyzed. As is obvious from Figure 8, the No.2 has a significant pulse acceleration
within 9~13s. Though they have the same PGA, but No.8 does not have such features.
Figure 9 shows the relative displacement between decks and girders and used left deck and P5
as an example. It is important to note that the relative displacements are significantly amplified if the
PE is considered in analysis. From this figurewe can see that CMEJs cannot work very well in
restraining the relative displacement between piers and girders.
Figure 10 shows the relative displacement between adjacent girders with PE or without PE.
Focusing on the responses between 10 to 20s, the displacements significantly amplified with PE.
However, the displacements are restricted to 0.1m when the CMEJs are installed and collision will not
occur. On the other hand, the decks without CMEJs will be destroyed by pounding and aggravated
the destruction of piers and girders under near-fault earthquake. Figure 11 is corresponding
acceleration at the right end of the left deck. As is obvious from Figure 10, there is significant pulse
wave with PE.
7
CONCLUSIONS
A new device Cable-sliding modular expansion joints (CMEJs) was developed to investigate the
effect of controlling the relative displacement and avoid collision happened. The proposed model was
implemented to an analysis of a triple continuous isolation bridge which has different heights of piers
with PE or without PE. Although experimental verification for the evaluation of properties of CMEJs is
required, the following conclusions may be deduced from the analytical results presented herein.
1. In the bridge with CMEJ, the peak relative displacement between the adjacent girders is
significantly decreased resulting in avoiding collision. The relative displacement of adjacent girders
can be reduced within safety range by setting a reasonable length of free movement. The installation
of a CMEJ can reduce the relative displacement achieving a more economical design.
2. CMEJs cannot work very well in restraining the relative displacement between piers and
girders. Once the relative displacement is larger than allowable displacement(overlap length) and
girder falling will be occur. Whether the cables can hold the girders or not, further work is needed to
validate this point. But in theory, the capacity of cables can satisfy the requirements.
3. Pulse effect can significantly increased the seismic responses of bridges which located near
earthquake fault zone, especially for seismic isolation bridges. The disregarding of PE is dangerous
for them and leads to non-conservative design.
4.The installation of CMEJs have no substantial change to the responses of the bridges with PE
or without PE for seismic isolation bridges. But it can be a protection device for the bridge and limit the
relative displacement of the adjacent girders.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors are grateful for the financial support received from National Science Foundation of
China(No: 51278376,90915011).
REFERENCES
[1] Dexter, R. J., Osberg, C., and Mutziger, M.Design, specification,installation, and maintenance of
modular bridge expansion joint systems, Journal of Bridge Engineering[J]. 6(529), 529538
(2001).
[2] Crocetti, R., and Edlund, B.Fatigue performance of modular bridge expansion
joints,Perform.Constr. Facil[J].4(167), 167176(2003).
[3] Quan, G.,and Kawashima, K. Effect of finger expansion joints on seismic response of
bridges,Structural Engineering and Earthquake Engineering[J],27(1),113(2010).
[4] Caltrans Seismic Design Criteria. design manual-version 1.4[S].California Department of
Transportation, Sacramento(2006).
[5] AASHTO.LRFD Bridge Design Specifications, 4th Ed[S]. American Association of State Highway
and Transportation Officials, Washington, DC(2007).
[6] Japan Road Association. Part V.Seismic Design-Design Specifications for Highway Bridges[S].
Tokyo, Japan(1996).
[7] Yang D X, Li G, Cheng G D. Seismic response of base-isolated structure subjected to near-fault
pulse-like ground motions[J].Earthquake and Engineering Vibration,25(2):119-124(2005)
218
[8] Somerville P.G.,Smith N. F.,and Graves R.W.,etal.Modification of empirical strong ground motion
attenuation relations to include the amplitude and duration effects of rupture
directivity.Seismological Research Letters, 68(1):199-222,(1997)
[9] Emily M,Timothy W,Jamie E.P,Reginald DesRoches,and Paul B,Development of an
Experimentally Validated Analytical Model for Modular Bridge Expansion Joint Behavior, Journal
of Bridge Engineering[J]. 19(235), 235244(2014).
219
th
EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF THE INTERACTING

FORCE AT THE PRIMARY-SECONDARY STRUCTURE
INTERFACE
Ellys Lim* and Nawawi Chouw
*
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the University of Auckland,

Private Bag 92019, Victoria Street West, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
e-mail: <elim882@aucklanduni.ac.nz> webpage: http://www.cee.auckland.ac.nz
Keywords: Secondary structure, primary-secondary structure interaction, interacting
force, shake table tests
Abstract. Current design of secondary structures uses the floor response

spectrum to predict the maximum response of secondary structures. The effect of
a secondary structure on the overall system is not considered. A number of
numerical studies have suggested that the interaction between the primary and
secondary structures (PSSI) can significantly alter both responses of the primary
and secondary structures. The forces activated at the mainsecondary structure
interface depend on the dynamic properties of the ground motions as well
as the primary and secondary structures. In this study, shake table tests were
performed. The secondary structures considered had substantially higher
frequency and lighter mass than those of the primary structure. Three different
fundamental frequencies and masses of secondary structures were considered.
The results showed that higher masses and lower frequencies exerted larger
interacting forces at the primary-secondary structure interface. The presence of a
secondary structure in general reduced the bending moment in the primary
structure. The correlation between the interacting forces and the deformation in
the primary structure was presented.
1
INTRODUCTION
All elements in a structure that are not part of the primary load-bearing members can be
considered as secondary structures. Included in this category are non-structural components
and large objects in a building, e.g. furniture, museum collections, computer systems,
communication towers and other crucial machinery. Because secondary structures are usually
not designed to bear external loads such as earthquakes, in the case of minor earthquakes
where primary structures are likely to survive, secondary structures could potentially be
1-4
damaged .
In recent decades, there has been an increasing awareness of designing secondary
structures to resist earthquake. Usually, the floor response spectrum approach is used, i.e. the
response spectrum of the primary structure is applied as the loading of secondary structures in
the same manner as the ground spectrum to the main structure. With this approach, however,
_________________
* PhD Candidate

221
Ellys Lim and Nawawi Chouw
the primary-secondary structure interaction is neglected, and thus results in inaccurate

5, 6.
prediction of the response of the secondary structure
Current seismic design provisions use
the equivalent lateral force method as the basis for design of secondary structures. Either the
acceleration of the primary structure is used as the load or an amplification coefficient is
7-10
applied to incorporate the earthquake load demand . Either way, the interaction between the
primary and secondary structures interaction is not considered. Proper design of a secondary
structure can only be achieved if the load can be accurately defined. In order to achieve this,
the understanding of the primary-secondary structure interaction is necessary.
Many numerical studies in the past have revealed that the interaction between primarysecondary structures is influenced by four factors: (1) Tuning effect, i.e. the effect of the
coincidence of the frequencies of the primary and secondary structures and the dominant
frequencies of the excitation, (2) feedback effect, i.e. the effect of the interacting forces
induced in the primary-secondary structure interface due to the relative motions of the two
subsystems, (3) non-classical damping, i.e. the disparity between the damping coefficients in
the subsystems that renders classical damping assumption inapplicable, and (4) spatial
coupling due to multiple supports of secondary structures on the primary structure, i.e. an
11-16
excitation occurring at one support may affect that at the other supports
.
In this study, only the first and second factors are considered. The influence of these
factors is investigated experimentally. By modelling the whole system simultaneously, i.e. both
the primary and secondary structures, the response of the subsystems including the
interaction effect can be determined. The interacting force at the primary-secondary structure
interface and deformation of the primary structure with different secondary structures are
measured. The correlation between them is also investigated.
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
2.1 Experimental model

The experimental model consisted of an elastic fixed-base single degree-of-freedom
(SDOF) primary structure with an SDOF secondary structure affixed to its beam (see Figure 1).
The primary structure has an effective height hp of 575 mm and lumped mass mp of 57 kg. The
fundamental frequency fp and damping ratio p were found to be 1.51 Hz (T = 0.662 s) and 4.8%,
respectively. The model was based on a prototype scaled by 15.
In this study, five different secondary structures were considered (see Table 1). The effects
of different masses and frequencies of the secondary structure on the deformation of the
primary structure and on the interacting force at the interface between subsystems were
investigated. The damping ratios of the secondary structure s were obtained from free vibration
tests of the secondary structure atop the primary structure.
Case
ms (kg) fs (Hz) Ts (s)
Case
ms (kg) fs (Hz) Ts (s)
ms1
0.967
12.5
0.08
0.0534
fs1
1.889
8.5
0.12
0.0956
ms2
1.219
12.5
0.08
0.0709
fs2
1.889
10
0.1
0.0923
fs3
same as ms3
1.889 12.5 0.08 0.1043
*ms0 refers to the case without secondary structure (primary structure only)
ms3
Table 1: Considered configurations
222
Figure 1: Sketch of the experimental setup
The interacting force in the considered system is the vertical reaction force, denoted by
Rv1 and Rv2 in Figure 2. The secondary structure was bolted down to the beam of the primary
structure, with two load cells tightly lodged in between. Thus, the configuration allowed only
two support locations, at which the primary and secondary structure interacted. The height of
the secondary structure hs was 45 mm for all cases. The distance from the centre of gravity
c.g. to the centre of the load cell b is 14 mm. Both load cells were equally-spaced from c.g.,
and thus Rv1 was equal to Rv2 in the opposite direction, and load cell-to-load cell distance B
was 28 mm. Both load cells were preloaded by the weight W.
Figure 2: Forces in the secondary structure
223
2.2 Earthquake simulation

A simulated earthquake based on the Japanese design spectrum (JDS) for hard soil
17, 18
condition was used as the excitation, as shown in Figure 3
.
Ground acceleration (g)
0.05
0.03
0.01
-0.01 0
10
15
20
Time (s)
-0.03
-0.05
(a)
(b)
Figure 3: Earthquake excitation. (a) Target and response spectra and (b) time history
3.1 Interacting force

As shown in Figure 2, the interacting force between the primary and secondary structures
was measured by using compressive load cells. Figure 4 shows the comparison of the reaction
forces (Rv) at the support locations of the secondary structure of the configurations ms1, ms2,
and ms3. For clearer presentation, only 10 seconds of the response is shown. The same time
window will be used for all the results presented herein. The corresponding maximum vertical
forces were 3.146 N, 3.230 N, and 3.794 N, respectively. As anticipated, secondary structures
with heavier mass, i.e. larger inertia force, exerted larger reaction force at the primarysecondary structure interface compared to those with lighter mass.
Reaction force, RV (N)
4
2
0
5
10
11
12
13
14
15
-2
ms1
ms1
-4
ms2
ms2
Time (s)
ms3
ms3
Figure 4: Reaction forces of secondary structure with different masses

Figure 5 shows the reaction forces at the support locations of the secondary structure for
fs1, fs2, and ms3. The maximum vertical forces were 5.389 N, 4.890 N, and 3.794 N,
respectively. Although the weight remained constant, when the secondary structure was more
flexible, i.e. it had a lower fixed base frequency, the reaction force was larger compared to that
of the stiffer structures. Secondary structures with lower frequencies are likely to be more
severely excited by the low frequency excitation, thus results in a larger response of the
secondary structure.
224

6
Reaction force, RV (N)
4
2
0
5
10
11
12
13
14
15
-2
-4
-6
fS1
fs1
ffs2
S2
ms3
mS3
Time (s)
Figure 5: Reaction forces of secondary structure with different frequencies

3.2 Deformation of the primary structure
The deformation of the primary structure was measured in terms of the bending moment at
the lower end of its columns using strain gauges. A comparison between the bending moments
of primary structure only and the whole system is presented in Figures 6 and 7. The maximum
bending moment for case mS0 was 76.428 Nm. With the secondary structure, the maximum
values were reduced to 60.270 Nm, 57.088 Nm, and 50.136 Nm, for case mS1, mS2 and mS3,
respectively. For case fS1 and fS2, the maximum bending moments were 51.951 Nm and
50.185 Nm, respectively.
Bending moment (Nm)
80
40
0
5
10
11
12
13
14
-40
-80
15
m
S0
HS06
m
S1
mS1
mS2
m
S2
mS3
m
S3
Time (s)
Figure 6: Reduction in bending moment due to a secondary structure with different masses
Bending moment (Nm)
80
40
0
5
10
11
12
13
14
-40
-80
Time (s)
15
m
S0
HS06
ffS1
S1
ffS2
S2
m
mS3
S3
Figure 7: Reduction in bending moment due to a secondary structure with different

frequencies
In the cases considered, the presence of a secondary structure appeared to reduce the
deformation in the primary structure. Secondary structures with a heavy mass caused less
deformation, most likely due to the larger damping induced in the system (see s values in
225
Table 1). For secondary structures with the same mass, the reductions in bending moment
were similar, with a slight decreasing trend alongside the increase in frequency.
3.3 Interacting force and deformation relationship
The bending moment in the secondary structure (BMS) can be calculated by using the
reaction forces at the two supports
=
where RV1 and RV2 = reaction forces at the two supports, B = support-to-support distance, b =
c.g. to RV2 distance (see Figure 2).
The maximum BMS calculated from Equation (1) in Table 2 are directly proportional to the
maximum interacting forces IF.
IF (N)
BMS (Nm)
BMP (Nm)
BM ratio
mS1
3.146
0.088
60.270
0.0015
mS2
3.230
0.090
57.088
0.0016
mS3
3.794
0.106
50.136
0.0021
fS1
5.389
0.151
51.951
0.0029
fS2
4.890
0.137
50.185
0.0027
Table 2: Influence of mass and secondary structure frequency on bending moments in the two
subsystems
Figure 8 illustrates the relationship between the maximum bending moment BM ratio to the
ratio of the dynamic properties of the primary and secondary structure separately, i.e.
depending on the mass ratio and the frequency ratio. Assuming a same primary structure,
Figure 8(a) suggests that secondary structure with higher mass will results in higher BMS / BMP
ratio, with increasing maximum reaction force and decreasing maximum bending moment, as
mentioned in previous section (prior to Figs. 4 and 6). On the other hand, as shown in Figure
8(b), the higher fs / fp, the interacting force at the interface decreased more significantly
compared to the decrease in the bending moment, thus resulted in lower BMS / BMP ratio.
0.0035
0.0030
0.0030
0.0025
0.0025
BMS/BMP
BMS / BMP
0.0035
0.0020
0.0015
0.0020
0.0015
0.0010
0.0010
0.0005
0.0005
0.0000
0.015
(a)
0.0000
0.02
0.025
ms / mp
0.03
0.035
(b)
7
fs / fp
Figure 8: Effect of (a) mass and (b) frequency ratio on bending moment ratio
226
CONCLUSIONS
This study addresses the effect of different masses and frequencies of the secondary
structure on the interaction between primary and secondary structures as well as on the
deformation of the primary structure.
The results of the shake table experiments show
1. For secondary structures with the same fixed-base frequency but different masses fixed
on the same primary structure, those with higher mass exerted larger interacting force
compared to the lighter structures.
2. In the case of secondary structures of a constant mass, those with lower frequencies
exerted higher interacting force compared to the more rigid structures.
3. When a secondary structure is present, the deformation in the primary structure was
significantly reduced. Secondary structures with heavier mass caused less deformation.
In the case of constant mass, those with higher frequency caused larger reduction in
deformation.
4. The interacting force-bending moment ratio increased as the primary-secondary
structure mass ratio increased. On the contrary, when the frequency ratio increased,
the force-deformation ratio decreased.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to thank the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment for the
support through the National Hazards Research Platform under the Award 3703249. The authors
would also like to thank all colleagues for their supports throughout the research.
REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
[11]
[12]
[13]
[14]
Y. Chen and T.T. Soong, State-of-the-art-review: Seismic response of secondary systems,

Engineering Structures, 10, 218-228 (1988).
R. Villaverde, Earthquake resistant design of secondary structures: A report on the state of
the art, Eleventh World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Paper no. 2013 (1996).
K. Naito and N. Chouw, Measures for preventing secondary structures from uplift during nearsource earthquakes, Proceedings of the 40 years of European Earthquake Engineering,
Ohrid, August (2003).
Y. Chen, T. Larkin and N. Chouw, The effect of foundation uplift and plastic yielding on
induced seismic vibration of secondary structures, Proceedings of the Annual New Zealand
Earthquake Engineering Society Conference, Wellington, April (2013).
J.L. Sackman and J.M. Kelly, Seismic analysis of internal equipment and components in
structures, Engineering Structures, 1 (1979).
J.D. Gillengerten and F. Naeim, Design of nonstructural systems and components. The
seismic design handbook, 683 (2001).
Uniform Building Code, Chapter 16: Section 1632 Lateral force on elements of structures,
nonstructural components and equipment supported by structures, 2, 163, U.S.A. (1997).
FEMA 273-4, NEHRP Guidelines for seismic rehabilitations of buildings, Federal Emergency
Management Agency, Washington, D.C. (1997).
ASCE 7-05, Minimum design load for buildings and other structures, American Society of Civil
Engineering Standard, U.S.A. (2005).
NZS4219, Seismic performance of engineering systems in buildings, Standard New Zealand,
Wellington (2009).
T. Igusa and A.D. Kiureghian, Dynamic characterization of two-degree-of-freedom equipmentstructure systems, Journal of Engineering Mechanics, ASCE, 111(1), 1-19 (1985a).
T. Igusa and A.D. Kiureghian, Dynamic response of multiply supported secondary systems,
Journal of Engineering Mechanics, ASCE, 111(1), 20-41 (1985b).
T. Igusa and A.D. Kiureghian, Generation of floor response spectra including oscillatorstructure interaction, Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics, 13, 661-676 (1985c).
A. Asfura and A.D. Kiureghian, Floor response spectrum method for seismic analysis of
multiply supported secondary systems, Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics, 14,
245-265 (1986).
227
[15] R.A. Burdisso and M.P. Singh, Multiply supported secondary systems part I: response
spectrum analysis, Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics, 15, 53-72 (1987a).
[16] R.A. Burdisso and M.P. Singh, Seismic analysis of multiply supported secondary systems with
dynamic interaction effects, Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics, 15, 1005-1022
(1987b).
[17] Japan Society of Civil Engineering (JSCE), Earthquake resistant design code in Japan,
Maruzen, Tokyo (2000).
[18] N. Chouw and H. Hao, Study of SSI and non-uniform ground motion effect on pounding
between bridge girders, Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, 25, 717-728 (2004).
228
th
SECURITY ANALYSIS OF NUCLEAR CONTAINMENT SUBJECTED

TO LARGE-SCALE COMMERCIAL AIRCRAFT CRASH
Feng Lin*, Hai Tang and Xianglin Gu
*
Department of Building Engineering, Tongji University No.1239 Siping Road,

Shanghai 200092, China
e-mail: <lin_feng@tongji.edu.cn> webpage: http://asns.tongji.edu.cn
Keywords: Containment, Aircraft crash, Multiple disasters, Concrete structure
Abstract. The security performance of the nuclear containment AP1000 was

assessed under a large-scale commercial aircraft crash of a Boeing 767-400. A
numerical model based on finite element method was built including the
containment and the soil. A load-time history curve for the impact action was
used. It was found that the maximum dent depth for the shield building is about
0.31 m. A penetration or spalling of the cylindrical wall was not observed and a
possible nuclear leak after the disaster was therefore prevented. The ground peak
accelerations for the central point of the containment were 1.62m/s2, 0.77m/s2
and 1.19 m/s2 in x, y and z direction, respectively.
1
INTRODUCTION
Containments in nuclear power plants (NPPs) are constructed to protect the plant, public and
environment from nuclear leak in an unforeseen event. In general, aircraft crash is believed to be
one of the potential hazards and should be considered as obligatory loads condition for designing
a nuclear containment. Previously only small-scale aircrafts and the fighters with high speed were
taken into account. This consideration is inappropriate today because larger-scale commercial
aircrafts are used worldwide. This type of aircrafts could be really used as attack weapons by
terrorists as shown in the 9-11 event in 2011. As a result, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) proposed a rule that required some but not all new reactors to review their
designs to improve the chances that they could withstand an aircraft crash. This rule is also
highly recommended by the related administrations in other counties.
Many efforts have been made to the studies on the dynamic responses of aircraft crashes on
123
nuclear containments
. In these studies, the types of the containments included IRIS
containment building, BWR Mark III containment and PHWR (Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor)
nuclear containment, with all of them constructed in reinforced concrete. The airplanes, such as
Boeing 707-320, Phantom F4, Boeing 767-400, Airbus A-320, Boeing 747-400, were used with
various impact velocities. The impact loads were modeled as loads-time historical curves
obtained based on the principle of momentum transfer of crushable aircrafts. Generally, loadstime history curves were more convenient for using than modeling a real aircraft. It was also
reported that no significant differences between the dynamic responses of structures when using
the two loads approaches. The considered impact positions were either the midpoint of the
cylindrical portion or the junction of dome and cylinder. Results indicated that the considered
outer containment walls may undergo local damage of penetration and spalling, e.g. penetration
______________________________
Department of Building Engineering, Tongji University
229
Feng Lin, Hai Tang and Xianglin Gu
depth about 1m for Boeing 747. However, the overall stability of the containment structures was
ensured.
Recently, the generation III+ reactor AP1000 has being developed due to security
improvement and economical benefits. Four AP1000 reactors are under construction at Sanmen
Nuclear Power Plant in Zhejiang, China. As a contribution to the assessment of the safety
performance of the containment of AP1000, this study focused on the impact of a large-scale
aircraft (Boeing 767-400) and the consequent ground vibrations. Different from previous studies,
these vibrations raised concerns here because they could detrimentally affect the safe operation
of the adjacent nuclear facilities. However, dynamic responses of the nuclear facilities to the
vibrations were out of the scope of this study.
2
NUMERICAL MODEL
2.1 Modeling of the containment

The concerned containment is primarily consisted of an exterior shield building and an interior
steel containment vessel, as shown in Fig. 1. The total height of the shield building was 69.7 m,
containing a cylindrical wall, conical roof, ring beams, PCS (Passive Containment Cooling System)
water storage tank and knuckle region. The cylindrical wall was constructed using reinforced
concrete with its outer diameter of 22 m and the wall thickness of 914 mm, respectively. The roof
was composed of a reinforced concrete conical roof slab and steel supporting system including
32 steel girders arranged in radial direction. Between two steel girders ring beams 2W36135
and 13MC820 circumferential secondary beams was constructed to support the conical roof.
The PCS water storage tank located at the top of the shield building and was supported by the
roof supporting system. The function of the PCS is to provide the safety-related ultimate heat sink
for the plant and to cool the containment following an accident. The interior steel containment
vessel was connected to two spheroidal end sockets. The height of the vessel was 65 m with an
inner diameter of 39 m and a thickness of 45 mm. The concrete compressive strength was
designed to be 27.6 MPa, and the yield strength of the reinforcing bars was 400 MPa.
A three-dimensional model based on finite element method (FEM) was built as shown in Fig. 2.
The aircraft was assumed to impact in the midpoint of the shield building. At the impact point and
adjacent region of the cylindrical wall, the concrete and the reinforcing steel bars were separately
modeled using solid and beam elements, respectively. The often used shell elements were not
applied in this region because the shell elements could not well reflect the local damage and
penetration depth of the impact. The cylindrical wall was divided into six radial layers modeled
by hexahedral elements (SOLID164) for concrete and by beam elements (BEAM161) for
reinforcing
steel
bars,
respectively.
The
H-J-C
damage
material
model
4
(MAT_JOHNSON_HOLMQUIST_CONCRETE) was adopted for modeling the concrete. This
material model can describe complex behavior of concrete subjected to large strains and high
pressures as in situations related to impacts or explosions. A plastic kinematic model
(MAT_PLASTIC_KINEMATIC) was used for the reinforcing steel bars with consideration of plastic
hardening and strain rate effects. In addition, one center integral point (CONSTANT STRESS
SINGLE POINT INTEGRATION) in solid elements and 22 Gauss quadrature one center integral
point (HUGHES-LIU) in beam elements were applied. The slip behavior between concrete and
reinforcing steel bars was not considered.
Outside the impact region of the cylindrical wall, the wall was modeled using four-node shell
elements (SHELL163). The commonly used MAT_CONCRETE_EC2 model was applied for the
concrete and reinforcing steel bars with the corresponding material parameters proposed in
5
Eurocode 2 .
The interior steel containment vessel was modeled using shell elements (SHELL163) and the
material behavior was described using the similar material model of reinforcing steel bars in the
shield building. In addition, only half of the containment was modeled due to symmetry. Element
failure of the erosion algorithm (*MAT_ADD_EROSION) was used in the computation to describe
the cracking and fracture behavior of the concrete.
2.2 Modeling of the impact action
6
A load-time history curve was used in the study to model the impact action of Boeing 767-400.
As presented in Fig.3, the load peak is 250 MN and the crash lasts for about 400 ms. The impact
position, i.e. in the middle of the shield building, was assumed to be a circular region with a
diameter of 12 m.
230
69.7m
Shield building
Steel
Containment
Vessel
12m
Basement
44m
Figure 1: Profile of the containment

A trial computation was performed to verify the proposed modeling approach. The
7
containment was chosen and then modeled following the approach in Section 2.1. As a result,
the maximum deformation in the shell body after impacting of a Boeing 767-400
767
was 95 mm,
2
which was similar to the predicted result of 92 mm .
Meridional
reinforcements
Circumferential
reinforcements
Concrete
Layered Shell element
Shell element
Solid element
basement
1.37m
Fig
Figure
2: Modeling of the containment
300
250
P(MN)
200
150
100
50
0
0
100
200
Time(ms)
300
400
time history curve for the impact

imp
action of a Boeing 767-400
Figure 3: The load-time
231
2.3 Modeling of the soil

The surveyed soil layout and soil properties are presented in Table 1, and the FEM model of
the soils is illustrated in Fig. 4. Eight-node isoparametric elements (SOLID164) were used for the
modeling of the soils. It was assumed that the mechanical behaviors of the layered soils were
8
ideal elasto-plastic, which could be described using the Drucker-Prager model . An appropriate
mesh size of the soil model depended primarily on the accuracy and numerical efficiency. In
general, based on the wave propagation theory, the maximum mesh size, le, used in a FEM9
based dynamic analysis should fit Eq. (1) :
1 1
1 1
le
~ T =
~
12 6
12 6 fT
(1)
Where T is the wave length corresponding to the dominant wave frequency, fT ; denotes the
propagation velocity of the wave under consideration. For the impact-induced ground vibration,
the Rayleigh wave (R-wave) was the predominant component of the surface waves and played a
10
predominant role . Basically, the dominant wave frequency, fT , can be obtained from the Fourier
acceleration amplitude spectra of the vibration points presented in Section 4 after the numerical
computations. The propagation velocity of the R-wave can be derived according to the soil layout
and soil properties in Table 1 as well as the soil distribution on soil ground. Eventually, the mesh
size, l e , of 5 m 5 m 5 m was adopted and verified by trial computations.
The soil model dimensions were adopted as 500 m 500 m in plane with a thickness of 30 m,
which was adequately accurate according to the theory of R-wave propagation and the study
11
results presented by Lou et al . The commonly used non-reflecting boundaries (transmitting
boundaries) were set in the undersurface and in the four vertical side surfaces of the soil model
so that the waves could transmit through these boundaries without reflections and refractions, as
they actually did in the real infinite soils.
Additionally, one center integral point in solid elements was applied, resulting in computational
efficiency as well as undesired zero energy modes (hourglass modes). To prevent from these
modes, viscous damping and small elastic stiffness were used. The shield building and interior
steel containment vessel were fixed at the upper surface of the soil.
Type
Density
3
(kg/m )
Dyn. shear
modulus
(MPa)
Poisson
ratio
Cohesion
(MPa)
Internal
friction
angle ()
Damping
ratio
Shear wave
velocity
(m/s)
Quartz
sandstones
2610
8.9E3
0.3
7.67
42.83
0.102
1857
Table 1: Physical and mechanical parameters of the soils
30m
Soil model
Impact- induced ground vibration

at the point to be investigated
Figure 4: Modeling of the soils
232
LOCAL FAILURE OF THE SHIELD BUILDING
Displacement(mm)
Fig. 5 illustrates the deformation contour of the shield building after the impacting. It can be
seen that the maximum dent depth for the shield building is about 0.31 m. This dent depth was
smaller than the spacing between the shield building and interior steel containment vessel,
resulting in the intactness of the steel containment vessel. A penetration or spalling of the
cylindrical wall was not observed and a possible nuclear leak after the disaster was therefore
prevented.
The deformation-time history curve for the central point in the impact region of the shield
building is presented in Fig. 6. It was found that the maximum deformation happened at about
0.31 s after the crash began. The curve ascended suddenly at about 0.16 s because the impact
loads in Fig. 3 increased abruptly at that time.
The strain contour for the reinforcing steel bars in the shield building is presented in Fig. 7.
The results indicated that the maximum plastic strain of the reinforcing steel bars was about
1.06%, which was smaller than the ultimate strain of the material. As a result, the reinforcing steel
bars did not rupture.
400
300
200
100
0
0
Figure 5: Displacement contour of the

shield building after impacting of a
Boeing 767-400 (unit: mm)
100
200
300
Time(ms)
400
500
Figure 6: Deformation-time history curve for the

central point in the impact region of the shield
building
Figure 7: Strain of the reinforcing steel bars in the shield building

4
GROUND VIBRATION
The impact-induced ground vibrations were obtained in the form of acceleration histories for
ground and the containment in x, y and z directions. As an example, the ground peak
2
2
2
accelerations for the central point of the containment were 1.62m/s , 0.77m/s and 1.19 m/s in x,
y and z direction, respectively, as illustrated in Fig. 8. The vibration duration lasted for about 4
233

2
seconds. After this period of time the accelerations were less than 0.2 m/s which was believed to
be insignificant.
X-Acceleration(m/s2)
2
1
0
-1
-2
0
1000
2000
Time(ms)
3000
4000
Y-Acceleration(m/s2)
0.8
0.4
0
-0.4
-0.8
0
1000
2000
Time(ms)
3000
4000
1000
2000
Time(ms)
3000
4000
Z-Acceleration(m/s2)
1.5
1
0.5
0
-0.5
-1
Figure 8: The impact-induced ground vibrations for the central point of the containment
in the form of acceleration histories
5
CONCLUSIONS
The security performance of the nuclear containment AP1000 was assessed under the crash
of a Boeing-767-400. The following results were obtained based on the numerical model:
(1) The maximum dent depth for the shield building is about 0.31 m. A penetration or spalling
of the cylindrical wall was not observed and a possible nuclear leak after the disaster was
therefore prevented.
(2) The ground experienced significant vibrations. The ground peak accelerations for the
2
2
2
central point of the containment were 1.62m/s , 0.77m/s and 1.19 m/s in x, y and z direction,
respectively.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research was sponsored by the National High-Tech Development Plan (863 Program)
under Grant No. 2012AA050903. The authors would like to extend their sincere gratitude to the
Ministry of Science and Technology, China for the supports.
234
REFERENCES
[1]
R.L. Frano and G. Forasassi, Preliminary evaluation of aircraft impact on a new term nuclear
power plant, Nuclear Engineering and Design, 2011, 241:5245-5250.
[2] M.R. Sadique, M.A. Iqbal and P.Bhargava, Nuclear containment structure subjected to
commercial and fighter aircraft crash, Nuclear Engineering and Design, 2013, 260:30-46.
[3] A. Siefert, M. Ries and F.O. Henkel, Difference between decoupled and integral airplane crash
analysis regarding computatioin of response spectra for component design, Structural Mechanics
in Reactor Technology (SMiRT22),San Francisco, USA, 2013.
[4] J. Hallquist, LS-DYNA keyword user's manual, Livermore Software Technology Corporation;
2012.
[5] European Committee for Standardization, Design of concrete structures-part 1: general rules and
rules for buildings, EN 1992-1-1. Brussels; 2004.
[6] S.J. Cheng, A finite element model of a large commercial wide-body aircraft for nuclear power
plant anti-impact designning and load characteristics, Nuclear Power Engineering and
Technology, 2013,1:51-55.
[7] H. Abbas, D.K. Paul,P.N. Godbole and G.C. Nayak, Reaction-time response of aircraft crash,
Computers & Structures, 1995, 55(5):809-817.
[8] D.C. Drucker and W. Prager, Soil mechanics and plastic analysis for limit design, Quarterly of
Applied Mathematics,1952, 10(2): 157-65.
[9] E. Kause and G. Manolis, Wave motion in earthquake engineering, Boston: WIT Press; 2000.
[10] B.A. Bolt, Earthquake. New York: Freeman; 1988.
[11] M.L. Lou, D.G. Pan and L.C. Fan, Effect of vertical artificial boundary on seismic response of soil
layer, Journal of Tongji University (Natural Science) 2003, 31(7):757-61 (in Chinese).
235
th
EFFECT OF FIBRE LENGTH ON THE DYNAMIC PROPERTIES OF

COCONUT FIBRE REINFORCED CONCRETE COMPOSITE
Wenjie Wang* and Nawawi Chouw
*
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the University of Auckland,

Auckland 1142, New Zealand
e-mail: <wwan586@aucklanduni.ac.nz>
Keywords: coconut fibre reinforced concrete, drop-weight impact, load transmitting

behaviour
Abstract. Impact loads, e.g. due to falling parapet, during a strong earthquake can
greatly damage structures and harm people in the surroundings, e.g. pedestrian in
the walkway. This has been observed in many major earthquakes, especially in the
vicinity of unreinforced masonry structures. To prevent damage resulting from
such a loading, impact resistant structures need to be developed. In this study
protective structures made of coconut fibre reinforced concrete (CFRC) composite
are considered. Coconut fibre is selected because of its high energy absorption
capability in comparison with other natural fibres. The inclusion of coconut fibre in
the concrete will also enhance the damping of the composite. This paper presents
the dynamic properties of CFRC structures under impact loading. Drop-weight
impact experiments were conducted to explore the effect of different fibre lengths,
i.e. 25 mm, 50 mm and 75 mm, on CFRC impact resistance. The failure modes of
CFRC with different fibre lengths were investigated. Experimental results showed
that longer fibre can provide a better impact resistance.
1
INTRODUCTION
In recent years fibre reinforced concrete has been studied increasingly. To enhance the impact
resistance different types of fibre reinforced concrete composites were considered.
1
Mindess and Bentur compared the fracture toughness of steel fibre reinforced concrete
(SFRC), glass fibre reinforced concrete (GFRC) and plain concrete using photographic recording.
The results indicated that the cracking process under impact loading was not substantially different
2, 3
from that occurred under static loading. Banthia
studied the bond between matrix and different
4
deformed steel fibre. Ong et al. studied three different types of fibre reinforced concrete plates:
straight polyolefin plate, polyvinyl alcohol plate and hooked-end steel fibre plate. The
characteristics of energy absorption were investigated by conducting drop-weight impact tests.
The results showed that hooked-end steel fibre reinforced concrete plate has the highest energy
5
absorption compared with that of plate with other two fibres. Wang et al. studied explosive impact
of SFRC structures. The result showed that the content of steel fibre is the main factor affecting
SFRC structure under the explosion-induced blast loading.
6
Tang and Saadatmanesh studied concrete reinforced by carbon and Kevlar laminates, and
showed that under impact loading carbon fibre reinforced polymer strengthened concrete
____________________________
*
PhD candidate
237
Wenjie Wang and Nawawi Chouw

7
absorbed less energy than that laminated by Kevlar fibre reinforced polymer. Reed et al. applied
carbon fibre reinforced polymer to strengthen pre-stressed concrete bridge girders and found that
it can increase the capacity of specimen but cannot prevent bond failures.
8
Polypropylene fibre performed well in controlling shrinkage induced cracking of concrete ,
hence it is a popular as concrete reinforcement. The dynamic properties of polyolefin fibre
9
10
reinforced concrete composites were conducted by Yan et al. Bindiganavile and Banthia studied
bond-slip response and flexural toughness of polymer fibre-reinforced concrete composites under
impact loading. Damage occurred in the form of fibrillation and longitudinal splitting of polymer
11
fibre. Nili and Afroughsabet studied the effect of polypropylene fibre on the impact resistance of
fibre-concrete composites. The results showed that by adding polypropylene fibre ductile failure
will likely take place and absorption of energy can be considerately improved.
Natural fibres have become increasingly popular due to their environmental and economical
aspects. Many studies on natural fibre reinforced concrete have been performed under static
loadings, such as the effect of fibre length on mechanical properties of coconut fibre reinforced
12
concrete . As for the impact resistance of natural fibre reinforced concrete, only a few studies
have been conducted. Impact properties of short discrete jute fibre reinforced concrete (JFRCC)
13
were studied by Zhou et al. . Fibre pull-out failure was observed. Besides, the impact resistance
14
of JFRCC reduced with age. Wang et al. performed impact experiments on bamboo fibre
15
reinforced concrete slab. Ramakrishna and Sundararajan investigated the influence of four
different natural fibre, i.e. coir, sisal, jute and hibiscus cannebinus reinforced cement mortar slabs
under impact loading. The results confirmed that coconut fibre performed best in resisting impact
among these natural fibres. However, only a few studies have been reported on the impact
behaviour of coconut fibre reinforced concrete (CFRC) composite. The purpose of this study is to
present the load transmitting behaviour of CFRC composites with fibre of different lengths under
drop weight impact loading.
2
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
2.1 Specimens preparation

CFRC cylinders of 100 mm diameter and 200 mm length were considered. The concrete
specimens were designed by with a 28-day compressive strength of 30 MPa. The mix ratio by
weight was 1 : 0.63 : 2.2 : 3.91 for cement : water : sand : gravel, respectively. The influence of
three different fibre lengths, i.e. 25 mm, 50 mm and 75 mm, was investigated. The considered fibre
content by weight was 1.5% of the cement.
2.2 Testing procedure
The impact test was carried out using a drop-weight system, as shown in Figure 1. The
drop-weight consisted of steel plates with a weight of 40 kg. The impact height was 300 mm. Three
samples were considered in each test, and the average values were used in the analysis.
A load cell was mounted at the base of each cylinder and two strain gauges were attached
close to the base of the cylinder (Figure 2). The load cell was used to measure the force
transmitted from the impact location to the base of the cylinder. During the test, the specimen was
placed on a steel plate of a same load-cell size, which was fixed to the load cell.
238
Figure 1: Drop-weight set up
Strain gauge
Load cell
Figure 2: CFRC specimen and measurement

3
3.1 Transmitted force

The maximum value of the force time history recorded by the load cell is used to determine the
maximum transmitted force for estimating the impact resistance. A large maximum transmitted force
indicates a high impact resistance of CFRC cylinder. With an increase of damage, i.e. less resistance,
less force will be transmitted. Table 1 summarized the results of the CFRC specimens considered. The
average transmitted force measured by the load cell was 94.72 kN, 98 kN and 108.56 kN for
specimens with 25 mm, 50 mm and 75 mm long fibres, respectively. This indicates that the length of
coir greatly affected the impact behaviour of CFRC structures. The impact resistance of CFRC
increases with fibre length. Figures 3, 4 and 5 display the time histories of forces transmitted by the
specimens with different fibre lengths. In all cases, the maximum force is reached between 1 ms and 2
ms. The impact duration is about 4 ms under 300 mm of drop-weight impact. This indicates that the
fibre length did not affect the impact duration.
239
The relationship between the length of coconut fibre and the maximum force transmitted is given in
Figure 6. For the cases considered, the maximum transmitted force increased significantly with fibre
length.
Table 1: Results of CFRC under impact
Impact height (mm)/impact mass (kg)
Maximum force transmitted (kN)
300/40
300/40
300/40
94.72
98.00
108.56
Transmitted force (kN)
100
80
60
40
20
0
0
Time (ms)
Figure 3: Force time history of 25 mm CFRC
120
Fibre length
(mm)
25
50
75
100
80
60
40
20
0
0
2
3
Time (ms)
240
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
0
2
3
Time (ms)
Maximum transmitted force

(kN)
110
105
100
95
90
0
20
40
60
80
Coconut fibre length (mm)

Figure 6: Relationship between fibre length and maximum force transmitted
3.2 Damage observed
Figure 7 shows the CFRC cylinders with 25 mm fibre length following the impact. For 25 mm of
CFRC specimens, the cracks occurred close to the impact position. In contrast, no obvious damage is
observed in the 50 mm and 75 mm of CFRC specimens, as shown in Figure 8. This reflects the higher
resistance of the 50 mm and 75 mm long CFRC specimens compared with that of the 25 mm
specimens. This phenomenon
n can be explained by the bridging effect of the coconut fibre. Longer fibre
increases the bridging effect, which can enhance the tensile property. Consequently,
Consequently longer fibre
reinforced concrete specimen shows a better performance in distributing stress in the specimens
during impact which led to less damage.
damage
241
Figure 7: CFRC specimen with fibre of 25 mm after impact
50 mm CFRC
75 mm CFRC
Figure 8: CFRC specimens with fibre of 50 mm and 75 mm after impact

4
CONCLUSIONS
The effect of the length of coconut fibre on CFRC structures under impact loading was
investigated experimentally. The investigation revealed that:
The impact resistance of CFRC increases with the fibre length. The maximum impact force
transmitted by CFRC specimens with 25 mm, 50 mm and 75 mm fibre was about 94.72 kN, 98 kN
and 108.56 kN, respectively.
With regard to the damage observation, CFRC specimen with 25 mm fibre produced cracks
under impact loading, while the specimens with 50 mm and 75 mm fibre did not show obvious
damage. This indicates that a longer fibre can improve the impact strength of CFRC composites.
A number of parameters were not yet considered. To obtain a general conclusion further
investigations are necessary.
242
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank all people for their supports throughout the research. The first
author also wishes to thank China Scholarship Council for supporting her PhD study at the
University of Auckland.
REFERENCES
[1]
S. Mindess and A. Bentur. A preliminary study of the fracture of concrete beams under impact
loading using high speed photography. Cement and Concrete Research (1985), 15(3), 474-484.
[2] N. Banthia. A study of some factors affecting the fibre-matrix bond in steel fibre reinforced
concrete, Can. J. Civ. Eng. (1990), 17, 610-620.
[3] N. Banthia, S. Mindess and and J.F. Trottier. Impact resistance of steel fibre reinforced concrete.
ACI Materials Journal (1999), 93(5), 472-479.
[4] K.C.G. Ong, M. Basheerkhan and P. Paramasivam. Resistance of fibre concrete slabs to low
velocity projectile impact. Cement & Concrete Composites (1999), 21(5), 391-401.
[5] H. Wang, Y. Zhou and X. Tang. Study on destructive effect of SFRC under strong impact load.
Advanced Materials Research (2013), 765-767 (5), 3204-3208.
[6] T. Tang and H. Saadatmanesh. Analytical and experimental studies of fibre-reinforced
polymer-strengthened concrete beams under impact loading. ACI Structural Journal (2012), 37,
139-149.
[7] C.E. Reed and R.J. Peterman. Evaluation of prestressed concrete girders strengthened with
carbon fibre reinforced polymer sheets. Journal of Bridge Engineering (2004), 9 (2), 185-192.
[8] A.M. Alhozaimy, P. Soroushiad and F. Mirza. Mechanical properties of polypropylene fibre
reinforced concrete and the effects of pozzolanic materials. Cement & Concrete Composites
(1996), 18 (2), 85-92.
[9] L. Yan, C.H. Jenkins and R.L. Pendleton. Polyolefin fibre-reinforced concrete composites Part I:
damping and frequency characteristics. Cement and Concrete Research (2000), 30 (2), 391-401.
[10] V. Bindiganavile and N. Banthia. Polymer and steel fibre-reinforced cementitious composites
under impact loading-part 1: bond-slip response. ACI Materials Journal (2001), 98(1), 1016.
[11] M. Nili and V. Afroughsabet. The effect of silica fume and polypropylene fibres on the impact
resistance and mechanical properties of concrete. Construction and Building Materials (2010),
24(6), 927-933.
[12] M. Ali, A. Liu, H. Sou and N. Chouw. Mechanical and dynamic properties of coconut fibre
reinforced concrete. Construction and Building Materials (2012), 30, 814-825.
[13] X. Zhou, S.H. Ghaffar, W. Dong, O. Oladiran and M. Fan. Fracture and impact properties of short
discrete jute fibre-reinforced cementitious composites. Materials and Design (2013), 49 (2), 35-47.
[14] X. Wang, C. Zhang, Z. Huang and G. Chen. Impact experimental research on hybird bamboo fibre
and steel fibre reinforced concrete. Applied Mechanics and Materials (2013), 357-360,
1049-1052.
[15] G. Ramakrishna and T. Sundararajan. Impact strength of a few natural fibre reinforced cement
mortar slabs: a comparative study, Cement & Concrete Composites (2005), 27(5), 547-553.
243
244
PSH14
Special Session on
SHM Techniques for Protection of Structures against Hazard
th
A FAST STRUCTURAL DAMAGE IDENTIFICATION METHOD

BASED ON VIRTUAL DISTORTION METHOD-FREQUENCY
DOMAIN
Qingxia Zhang*, ukasz Jankowski and Zhongdong Duan
*
College of Civil and Architecture Engineering

Dalian Nationalities University, Dalian, 116650, P. R. of China
e-mail: <zhangqingxia_hit@hotmail.com>
Keywords: Structural Health Monitoring, damage identification, Virtual Distortion Method
(VDM), frequency domain, frequency response function
Abstract. A damage identification method is proposed using Virtual Distortion

Method (VDM) in frequency domain. VDM belongs to fast structural reanalysis
method, which introduces virtual distortions to simulate structural damages.
Response in time domain as well as its expression can be transformed into
frequency domain via Fourier Transform. In this way, firstly frequency response of
damaged structure is constructed using VDM, and then frequency responses of
damaged structure to given damage extents are computed quickly without
reanalysis of the whole structure. Then power spectrum of the corresponding
frequency response is calculated by its conjugate multiplication which is
compared with the power spectrum of measured structural random response. At
last damage extents are taken as the optimization variables, and modal
assurance criterion (MAC) is taken to build as objective function between the two
kinds of power spectrum of frequency responses. A numerical truss model is used
to verify the presented idea.
1
INTRODUCTION
Structural health monitoring is a hot research topic, where damage identification plays an
important role on structural safety evaluation and maintaining its integrity. Damage identification
[1,2].
methods have been investigated for decades
However it is difficult to perform the damage
identification accurately and efficiently for large complex structures like buildings in civil
engineering.
There are two main categories on structural damage identification methods: high frequency
local nondestructive testing methods and low frequency global SHM methods. Here the discussed
[3]
methods belongs to the latter which uses structural vibration information. In Doeling et al. 1996 ,
methods based on dynamic signatures, like natural frequency, mode shape etc. are discussed.
Damages are optimized and identified by comparing the difference between the signatures of the
intact structures and the damaged structure. However structural frequencies and modes cant be
identified easily for two close modes. The indirectly measured frequency response function (FRF)
can be used directly for structural parameter identification or model identification.
Methods in frequency domain take advantage of its robustness to noise pollution and its
flexible application of structural responses like random responses and free responses which are
______________________________
Smart-Tech Centre, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland
Harbin Institute of Technology Shenzhen Graduate School, P.R.of China

245
Qingxia Zhang, ukasz Jankowski and Zhongdong Duan
easy to be obtained in practice, especially for large complex structures. However some modal
parameters are insensitivity to large structure and there exists avoid less modal truncation. And it
takes amounts of work on optimizing the accurate results. Then the computation efficiency is
limited by the estimation of the structural modes and eigenvalue decomposition.
This paper presents a fast structural damage identification method in frequency domain using
[4]
the reanalysis concept of Virtual distortion method (VDM) where certain virtual distortions are
introduced to simulate structural damages. The computation efficiency is improved by quickly
constructing the frequency response of damaged structure using VDM. Then power spectrum of
the corresponding frequency response is calculated by its conjugate multiplication. At last modal
assurance criterion (MAC) is taken to build objective function between the power spectrum of
frequency response to given damages and measured responses.
2
VIRTUAL DISTORTION METHOD IN FREQUENCY DOMAIN
For VDM in time domain, it was studied that the dynamic responses of damaged or modified
structure y ( t ) can be expressed equally by linear combination of the responses of intact
structure y L ( t ) and that caused by certain virtual distortions added on the intact structure as
[5]
following ,
y (t ) = y L (t ) + Dij (t ) ij0 ( )
i, j
(1)
where y L ( t ) is the response to the same excitation applied on the intact structure. Dij (t ) is the
relative impulse response function, which is the response to the jth unit impulse distortion applied
on the ith element. ij0 ( t ) is the jth virtual distortion of the ith element.
Preform Fourier Transform on equation (1), and there is
y ( ) = y
( ) + D ( ) k ( )
0
ij
(2)
ij
i, j
In this way structural responses y ( t ) in time domain is converted into responses in frequency
domain y ( ) , which is molded as the linear combination of responses of the intact structure in
frequency domain and that caused by virtual distortions in frequency domain.
Virtual distortion are introduced to simulate structural damages and thus the values depends
on the damage extents. Assume damage extent i is the ration of ith intact element stiffness to its
damaged element stiffness. Then the relation among virtual distortion ij0 ( t ) , damage extents i
and actual distortion ij ( t ) of the ith damaged element is as following :

[5]
ij0 ( t ) = (1 i ) ij ( t )
(3)
Perform Fourier Transform on equation (3), there is
ij0 ( ) = (1 i ) ij ( )
(4)
Take ij ( ) is the actual distortion in frequency domain, and thus it has similar expression to
the response y ( ) ,
ij ( ) = ijL ( ) + Dijkl ( ) kl0 ( )

k ,l
(5)
Combine equation (4) and equation(5), there is
(1 i ) ijL ( ) = kl0 ( ) (1 i )
Dijkl ( ) kl0 ( )
k ,l
246
(6)
It can be reduced that equation (6) is a linear equation. ijL ( ) is the jth actual distortion of the
ith element of the intact structure, which can be obtained in advance, therefore given damage
extents i , kl0 ( ) can be got by solving the linear equation (6). Then substitute kl0 ( ) into
y ( ) can be obtained. The corresponding
equation (2), damaged structural response

computation efficiency is high.
3
CONSTRUCTION OF STRUCTURAL FREQUENCY RESPONSE USING VDM
If the excitation applied on the structure is a unit impulse, then the corresponding structural
response in frequency domain is structural frequency response function. Similar to equation(2),
frequency response function (FRF) of the damaged structure at the th measurement to
excitation applied on the jth degree of freedom (Dof) h j ( ) can be express as
h j ( ) = h j ( ) +
L
D ( ) k ( )
0
ij
(7)
ij
i, j
In equation (7), h j ( ) is the frequency response function(FRF) of the intact structure at the
L
th measurement to excitation applied on the jth degree of freedom (Dof). Then given damage
extents, assuming the related frequency response functions of the intact structure h j ( ) , Dijkl ( )
L
and D ij ( ) are measured or computed in advance which are independent of the damage extents,
then the frequency response function (FRF) of the damaged structure h j ( ) to given damage
extents can be computed quickly via equation (6) and (7).
4
DAMAGE IDNETIFICAITON
The fast construction of frequency response function (FRF) of damaged structure provides an
advantage of identifying structural damages using classical methods based on frequency
response function. Here random responses of damaged structure are measred and used. Denote by
M
( t ) the
measured random responses of damaged structure. Denote by S ( ) the response

M
power spectrum of y
( t ) , then there is
( ) = E yM ( t ) yM ( t + ) e j d
(8)
Compute the power spectrum of the frequency response h ( , ) of the damaged structure
using the following expression
S ( , ) =
H
2
h
( , )
(9)
Then damage extent which nimimizing the following objective function built using modal
assurance criterion are the optimal damage extents,
f
() =
1 MAC (S , S
( ))
(10)
where
S = {SM ( 1 ) , SM (2 ) , SM ( 3 ) ,L} , S ( ) = {SH (1 , ) , SH ( 2 , ) , SH ( 3 , ) ,L} , and

M
i is the identified ith frequency of damaged structure.

5
NUMERICAL EXAMPLE
In order to verify the proposed method, a supported plane truss is shown in Figure 1 consisted
3
of 31 bars. The length is 4m with height of 0.3m. The material density is 7800kg/m , and the
young's modulus is 2.0Gpa. The weight of each node is 10kg.
247

F1
F2
a1
F3
a2
a3
a4
a5
a6
a7
Figure 1. Model of the supported plane truss
Assume six bottom chord bars, which are No.1~ No.6 are possible damaged, while the rest
bars are intact. The corresponding damage extents are [1 0.6 1 0.7 1 1]. In order to identify the
truss damages, seven accelerometers are placed on bottom nodes shown in Figure 1 to measure
the vertical random accelerations of the truss. In addition, three andom excitations are applied
respectively on nodes shown in Figure 1, named as f1~f3. Figure 2 shows the first excitation f1,
and the corresponding response of Sensor 3 is shown in Figure considering 5% Gaussian noise
pollution to simulate the actual measurement.
3
f1 [N]
-5
10
t (s)
12
14
16
18
20
Figure 2: Random excitation f1
0.15
0.1
a [m/s 2]
0.05
0
-0.05
-0.1
-0.15
-0.2
10
t (s)
12
14
16
18
20
Figure 3: Acceleration response of Sensor 4 to excitation f1 considering 5% noise
Table 1. listed and compared the first 5 order frequencies of the intact and damaged structure.
248
order
1
2
3
4
5
intact
22.345
74.622
96.586
161.724
239.446
damaged
21.220
71.538
95.737
158.640
235.342
Table 1: The 5 order frequencies of itact and damaged structure(Hz)

In order to verify the accuracy of the constructed frequency responses of damaged structure
via VDM, Figure 4 (PSD) compares the power spectrum density (PSD) of measured random
response, and the PSD of frequency responses of the damaged structure constructed via VDM. It
can be seen that they have high relativity, and the frequency of the peak points are very close to
those of the actual damaged structural frequencies, which proves the accuracy the construction
of frequency responses via VDM in frequency.
150
PSD
VDM
d
amplitude
100
50
50
100
150
200
250
[Hz]
Figure 4: Power specturm of measured response and constructed frequency response of

damaged structure
At last, structural damages are optimized via objective function (10). The identified results are
shown in Figure 5. Compared with the actual damage, it shows that the damage extents can be
identified precisely with the 5% noise pollution.
1.2
damage extent
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
actual
identified
1
element
Figure 5: Comparison of the identified damage results and actual damages

6
CONCLUSIONS
A damage identification method is presented in this paper based on Virtual Distortion Method
in frequency domain. A supported plane truss is used and verifies the effectiveness of the
method. Some main conclusions are obtained as following:
249
(1) Structural random responses is measured and used for damage identification, which is
practical for large complex structures.
(2) During optimization, the relative frequency responses of damaged structure are
constructed efficiently using Virtual Distortion Method in frequency domain, and it avoids the
whole structural reanalysis to given damage extents.
(3) Damage extents are taken as optimization variables and optimized by the MAC between
power spectrum of measured responses and that of computed frequency responses of damaged
structure to given damage extents. In numerical example, both damage extents and locations are
identified precisely even under 5% noise pollution.
REFERENCES
[1] C. R.Farrar, and K. Worden, An introduction to structural health monitoring, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A,
365, 303315 (2006).
[2] L.R.Zhou, G.R.Yan, L.Wang, J.P.Ou, Review of Benchmark Studies and Guidelines for Structural
Health Monitoring, Advances in Structural Engineering, 16(7):1187-1206(2013)
[3] S. W. Doebling, C. R. Farrar, M. B. Prime, D.W.Shevitz, Damage identification and health
monitoring of structural and mechanical system from changes in their characteristics: a literature
review, New Mexico: Los Alamos National Laboratory (1996).
[4] J. Holnicki-Szulc, (Ed.). Smart Technologies for Safety Engineering, John Wiley & Sons,
Chichester (2008)
[5] R.E. Roberson, R. Schwertassek, Dynamics of multibody systems, Springer-Verlag, Berlin,
Germany (1988).
250
PSH14
Special Session on
Structural Protection against Fire Hazards
th
FIRE-RESISTANCE DESIGN STRATEGIES FOR LARGE-VOLUME

SPACE WITH STEEL SPATIAL STRUCTURE EXPOSED TO
LOCALIZED FIRES
Yong Du*
*College of Civil Engineering, Nanjing Tech University
Nanjing 210009, China
e-mail: <yongdu_mail@njtech.edu.cn>
Keywords: Steel structural fire-resistance, large-volume space, spatial structure,

localized fire, loading capacity method, critical temperature method
Abstract. A large-volume space is always employed by airport terminals, station

buildings, conference center buildings, museums, sports stadium and workshops.
It is always with a long span and high ceiling and constructed by various steel
spatial structures. According to the architecture design, there would be no fire
restriction curtain to prevent traveling fire and ceiling jet in a large-volume space.
The particular temperature distribution in large-volume space subjected to
localized fires is so different from that in compartment fires. Then, the steel
spatial structural fire safety design described as passive protection becomes
important while a fire gets out of control by active fire protections. Structural fireresistance Codes are different around the world, but the objectives are similar. A
series of large-volume space fire-resistance cases give an introduction to overall
the loading-bearing capacity methods and critical temperature methods operated
in China code to assess the fire-resistance of steel spatial structures exposed to
the localized fire. Furthermore, fire-resistance ration is the property of a building
which is constructed under the environment temperature, and there should be
some measures to improve the loading ability of the structural element exposed to
a fire except inclosing fire protection material. To obtain inherent capacity from
approved calculation methods is the main aim of the fire-resistance design for
steel spatial structures with large-volume space, which also encourages further
research.
1
INTRODUCTION
For large compartments such as terminal buildings, atriums, warehouses, Stadiums or

conference centers are always covered by various steel spatial structures. Most of the timetemperature curves presented on post-flashover fires relate to small rooms. There are a few
curves to describe the smoke distribution based on test data for fires in compartments with larger
floor areas or taller ceilings. In general it is deduced that the localized fire in large-volume has
much less impact on the building structure than a small compartment fire. So the structural fire
safety design can be made in post-flashover fires instead of localized fire conservatively.
However, an abundance of database shows that there is different elevated temperature history
and distribution between fires in large volume space and in small volume compartment. It is
graphically shown in figure 1 that the temperature decreases from the vertical plume centerline to
251
Yong Du
the point in the horizontal plane. Comparison of temperature histories reveals that the hot smoke
peak temperature in ceiling right above fire is lower than ISO834 curve sometimes (see figure 2).
Do localized fires without flashover have much less impact on steel spatial structures than small
compartment fires with flashover?
Plume centerline
Temperature()
190
Peak temperature
180
The peak temperature history
170
1200
160
()
ISO 834
150
900
130
-16
-12
re -8-4
a
le
ng
th
0
4
8
-8
(m 12 -16 -12
) 16
-4
12 16
( m)
wid th
Ar ea
0
temperature
140
600
300
0
Figure 1: Smoke temperature

transient distribution in the horizontal
plane above fire resource
1800
3600
5400
tim e (s)
7200
Figure 2: The peak temperature

history versus ISO834 curve
Figure 3: Terminal building after fire

in Brussels
Figure 4: Workshop after fire in

Shanghai
Figure 5: Aircraft warehouse in fire in

the USA
Figure 6: Airport facilities in fire in

Canada
A series of fire hazard illustrates the importance of structural stability for fire safety in steel
spatial structures (see figure3~ figure 6). A compelling result can be gotten after analysis of the
behavior of a grid steel roof covered a large space building under ISO834 curve versus a
localized fire condition. The finite element model was developed using commercial software
ANSYS for analysis the behavior of the regular pyramidic space truss (see figure.7). The results
of a fully non-linear thermal analysis (see figure.8) show that the displacements in the middle of
the grid structure increase rapidly while the global structure losing load-bearing capacity.
252
Yong Du
displacement (m)
0.00
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
temperature ()
-0.02
-0.04
-0.06
-0.08
-0.10
-0.12
Natural fire
ISO834
-0.14
-0.16
Figure 7: Deformation of FE model regular for

pyramidic space truss in large space fire
Figure 8: The displacement curve
However, the structure failed at 340 in the natural fire, and remained load-bearing capacity
before 570 exposed to ISO834 fire. Why did the localized fire with lower temperature cause
structure failure? In large-volume space, the localized fire with non-uniform smoke temperature
distribution induces the non-uniform temperature elevated in steel structure. Among the elements,
the cooler parts can provide restraints for the thermal elongation in heated area and lead to
thermal internal force. In the meantime the additional thermal stresses increase the overall
compress stress in the chords and induce buckling probably. Following the first chords failure,
subsequent redistribution of loading and material properties decaying with elevated temperature
is sufficient to cause the structure to collapse. The non-uniform distribution of temperature in
large space fires decays the fire resistance of steel spatial structures. Hence, there are some
different structural responses between localized fires and standard fires.
2
ALTERNATIVE STRATEGIES FOR STRUCTURAL FIRE-RESISTANCE

[1]
The China code CECS200:2006 has recommended provisions for steel structures fire safety
design by calculation. In principle, fire loading can be treated as any other form of loads. The
structural behavior in fire in all but the simplest case is much more complex than normal
temperature for the material characteristics varied with temperature. There are alternative
strategies for steel spatial structure fire safety.
3
CRITICAL TEMPERATURE METHOD
The main aim of the critical temperature method is to check the maximum temperature in steel
structure below the critical temperature which would induce structure failure in fire limit state. The
basic steps for this object as follows:
(I) Effects of actions shall be determined from accidental combination rule given as
S m = 0T ( S Gk + S Tk + f S Qk )
(1)
S m = 0T ( S Gk + S Tk + q S Qk + 0.4 S Wk )
(2)
where, S m is the design value of the accidental actions; SGK , STk , S Qk , SWk is the characteristic
value of permanent actions, thermal actions in fire, occupational variable actions and wind action
respectively; f , q is the frequent and the quasi-permanent coefficient of the occupational
variable actions respectively; 0T is the safety coefficient of structures in fire. The more serious
action between Equation (1) and Equation (2) will be employed.
(II) According to the effects derived from step (), the critical temperature, Td , at which
members would buckle, could be determined.
(III) The fire duration has been given by the Code of Design on Building Fire Protection and
Prevention (GB500162006) in China. If the maximum temperature, T m , in members caused by
design fire is below the critical temperature throughout the given duration, the fire-resistance of
steel members will be satisfied without fire protection. Otherwise the fire protective material
should be involved as follows.
(IV) Design fire protective measures, and calculate the shape factor of members, which is
influence on temperature history in members.
253
Yong Du
(V) The thickness of fire protective materials, d i , can be resulted from
d i = Ri i
(3)
where, i is the equivalent thermal conductivity coefficient, Ri is the equivalent thermal

resistance which is depended on the shape of steel members and fire protective material types.
4
LOADING-BEARING CAPACITY METHOD
The main aim of the loading-bearing capacity method is to check fire-resistance of members
below the critical temperature which would induce structure failure in fire limit stat. The basic
steps for this object as follows:
(I) Design fire protective measures and assume thickness of fire protective material (without
fire protective material is permitted).
(II) Calculate the maximum temperature, Tm , in members throughout the duration of the fire,
t m , which is given by the code in China. Fire scenario should be designed.

(III) Give the mechanical property of materials at elevated temperature by the code in China.
(IV) Calculate the more serious effect of actions according to the combination rule given as
Equation (1) and Equation (2).
(V) Check the more serious effects of actions which should be below the loading-bearing of
steel members at the maximum temperature, Tm .
(VI) If the effect of actions is below the loading-bearing of steel members at the maximum
temperature properly, the fire protective measure is suitable. Otherwise, return to step (I) revise
the thickness of the fire protective material once more.
5
STRUCTURAL FIRE SAFETY DESIGN CASES
Performance-based fire safety design is a multi-disciplinary field, which requires the

integration of many different fields of engineering. Codes are difference around world, but the
objectives are similar, that is to protect life and property from the effects of fire. The
recommendations illustrated above have been applied to a series of structural fire safety case in
China. It is intended that the fire-resistance of large-volume space with steel spatial structure
carried out in accordance with these recommendations will achieve at the level of safety required
by regulations in codes while allowing some economies in civil construction costs and
conveniences.
5.1 Conference Centers
The possibility of a localized fire in conference centre is in the atrium with several level height
or conference room with large-volume. In figure 9, there is an international conference centre in
[5]
Hangzhou, whose steel truss fire-resistance design has been produced by Tongji University .
Figure 9: International Conference Center

in Hangzhou
Figure 10: Southern Railway Station in

Shanghai
254
Yong Du
5.2 Terminal Buildings

The possibility of a localized fire in terminal building is in the luggage taking compartment or
boarding hall. In figure 10, the load-bearing capacity of the steel truss covered railway boarding
[6]
hall exposed to localized fire has been checked by Tongji University . In figure 11 and figure 12,
the fire-resistance of steel spatial structure covered the airport terminals in Shanghai and
[7] [8]
Kunming have been checked by the Arup
.
Figure 12: Kunming Airport Terminal in

Yunnan
Figure 11: Pudong Airport Terminal in

Shanghai
5.3 Stadium
The possibility of a localized fire in sports stadium is in the top level of the audience seats,
which is near the steel columns and the steel roof. In figure 13 and figure 14, the lattice columns
supported the sports stadiums roof have been checked by the China Academy of Building
[9] [10]
Research
.
Figure 14: Shenyang Olympic Sports Center
Figure 13: National Olympic Sports Center

in Beijing
5.4 World Culture Heritage Protection
Steel truss
Fire scenario B
Fire scenario A
Figure 15: World culture heritage

protection in Nanjing
Figure 16: Fire scenarios
255
Yong Du
Minlou is the biggest unit among the world cultural heritage Mingxiao mausoleum erected in
A.D. 1405 in Nanjing, China. In A.D. 1853, the timber roof of Minlou collapsed in the fire. The
strength of the brick masonry has been reduced heavily without roof cover. National
Administration of Cultural Heritage approved the emergency measure of rebuilding a roof to
prevent the survival brick wall from environment damage, and Nanjing University of Technology
[11]
operated . The performance-based structural fire safety design showed that the space truss
above the building can maintain its load-bearing capacity within 1.5h under fire protection. Steel
structural fire safety design ensures the protection measurements for world heritage efficiently.
6
FURTHER RESEARCH
Ideally, the heating effect of fire would be based on the amount of combustible material, the
available air supply and the geometry of the building. Although many researchers are studying
fire-resistance of steel spatial structures, and much has already been learned, there is, as yet, no
universally suitable method to evaluate the effects of a real fire in a manner that practicing
structural engineers can readily use. The structural responses in the cases above have been
simulated by numerical method. Each conclusion is unique and cannot be available for other
projects. There is no uniform rule to measure the spatial structure load-bearing capacity
subjected to localized fires.
6.1 Localized Fire
The large-volume space is always with large floor or high elevation, and the fire involving only
a limited area in the compartment, which is named localized fire. The thermal actions are given to
the surface of the members by radiation, convection and conduction. Temperature-time curves
[2]
[3]
are represented of actions of localized fires in Eurocode 1-part 1.2 and NFPA 92B . In China, a
temperature-time curve has been developed to describe the transient non-uniform temperature
[12]
distribution , T ( x, z , t ) , for localized fires as follows
T ( x, z, t ) = Tg ( 0) + Tgmax f ( t ) ksm
where, Tg ( 0 ) is the ambient temperature; T
max
g
(4)
is the maximum temperature given by equation (5);
f ( t ) is the function of time for temperature history given by Equation (6); ksm is the regressing
function of distance given by Equation (7), x, from the vertical axis to the point in the horizontal
plane.
Tgmax = ( 20Q + 80) ( 0.4Q + 3) H + ( 52Q + 598) 102 Asp
(5)
where, Q is the heat release rate; Asp is the larger floor area; H is the height of the ceiling.
f ( t ) = 1 0.8e( t ) 0.2e( 0.1 t )
(6)
where, is regression parameter given dependent on the fire growth types and fitting of
simulation results listed in table 1(dimensionless), t is the time from fire ignition (s).
Slow
0.001
Fire growth type

Medium
Fast
0.002
0.003
Ulter fast
0.004
TABLE 1: Factor with fire growth types
ksm = + (1 ) e( D 2 x ) 7 , if x D 2 , then x = D 2
D = 2 Aq
256
(7)
(8)
Yong Du
where, D is the effective diameter, Aq is the area of the fire, is the shape factor given
dependent on the floor area and ceiling height, listed in table 2.
Asp / m
H/ m
12
500
1000
3000
6000
0.60
0.50
0.40
0.25
0.65
0.55
0.45
0.30
0.70
0.60
0.50
0.40
15
20
0.80
0.70
0.55
0.45
0.85
0.75
0.60
0.50
TABLE 2: Factor with dimensions of large-volume buildings

However, the functions mentioned above take no account of the flame radiation and fire
moving, which would induce higher temperature in localized part of structures. Although
Computational Fluid Dynamic models could give the net heat flux considering convection and
radiation, it is difficult for civil engineers to capture the temperature distribution in localized fires
by numerical simulation. Then, the temperature-time curve should be developed to consider the
flame radiation and fire moving in typical large-volume buildings.
6.2 Temperature Calculation for Steel Spatial Structures
For Ref.4 propose, in localized fire if the distance from the flame to the surface of steel
members is far enough, heat transfer between the flame and the steel member may be
disregarded. Otherwise the radiant heat must be considered in the heat equilibrium equation
based on the lumped differential formulation given by
Tsf
+ qrad
= qcov
t
(9)
where, t is the time interval (recommended t is not more than 5 seconds); Tsf is the increment
of temperature in members at each time interval, t; qcov is the convective heat flow per unit area;
qrad is the radiant heat flux at a point on a receiving surface.
The temperature in members can be resulted from Equation (9) with step by step method if the
fire temperature boundary conditions are given. Step by step method is difficult to operate without
EXCELL software. An empirical equation dependent on fire temperature history, the shape of
members and the thermal property of protective material should be developed to get the elevated
temperature in members with hand calculation.
6.3 Simple Calculation Method
For some typical spatial structures, i.e. regular grid structures portal frames with long span,
beam string structures, regular grid structures, the critical temperature of key members or failure
route in global structure should be developed by parameter analysis method, whose database is
on a series of numerical tests of spatial structure models exposed to localized fires, and checked
by specimen testing. According to the critical temperature method mentioned above, if the
elevated temperature in members with protection or unprotected has been gotten by hand
method, fire-resistance capacity can be checked by the critical temperature of key members or
global structures. Then, a very simple calculation method could be used for estimating typical
spatial structural fire-resistance independent of knowledge of fluid dynamics, combustion and
heat transfer.
6.4 Advanced Calculation Method
Hand calculation methods arent suitable to structural thermal analysis. Computer-based finite
element methods are employed which include the non-linear material properties temperature
dependent and the action of thermal expansion. So the effects of action under combine rules
should be calculated by numerical method for complex or irregular structures. Calculate the
thermal-mechanical response of global structure and check the loading capacity of each member
at each temperature step ( t = 5 ). When members or structures failed, the critical temperature
could be gotten. Computer-based structural analysis method is used by calculation the
257
Yong Du
performance of elements or global structure exposed to fire, for which fire scenario should be
designed and temperature distribute could be simulated by FDS software. Many structural
elements in global structure may be of different sizes, shapes, internal force states and with
different joints. Then the failure criteria of stability and integrity should be determined in fire limit
state, which would be derived from analysis of spatial structural failure mechanism.
7
CONCLUSIONS
A large-volume space fire named localized fire is different from a compartment fire, and there
is unable to predict the overall response of steel spatial structures. A series of large-volume
space fire-resistance cases give an introduction to illustrate the loading-bearing capacity methods
and critical temperature methods operated in China code to assess the fire-resistance of steel
spatial structures exposed to localized fire. Furthermore, fire-resistance ration is the property of a
building which is constructed under the environment temperature, and there should be some
measures to improve the loading ability of the structural element exposed to a fire except
inclosing fire protection material. To obtain inherent capacity from approved calculation methods
simply and precisely is the main aim of the fire-resistance design for steel spatial structures with
large-volume space, which also encourages further research in fire temperature distribute,
elevated temperature in members and structural collapsed criterion caused by failure of key
members.
REFERENCES
[1]
National Institute of Standards for Engineering, Technical code for fire safety of steel structures
in buildings, CECS 2002006, China.
[2]
prEN 1991-1-2, (10 January 2002).Eurocode 1 Actions on Structures. Part 1-2: General
Actions Actions on structures exposed to fire, Final Draft Stage 49, European Committee for
Standardization, Brussels(1992).
[3] NFPA 92B, Standard for smoke management systems in malls, atria, and large spaces(2005).
[4] Du Yong, Li Guo-qiang. Effects of Flame Radiation on Temperature Elevation of Steel Members
in Large Space Buildings Fire. Applications of Structural Fire Engineering, Proceedings of
International Conference, Prague(2009).
[5] Li Guo-qiang, Du Yong, Wang Yin-zhi, Jiang Shou-chao. Evaluation and Design on FireResistance of Steel Structures for Hangzhou International Conference Center. Progress in Steel
Building Structures 8:1, 14-22(2006).
[6] Li Guo-qiang, Guo Shi-xiong, Jiang Shou-chao, Du Yong. Analysis of the Fire Safety of the Steel
Roof Construction of Shanghai South Railway Station. Progress in Steel Building Structures 7:2,
31-36(2005).
[7] Huang Xiao-jia. Brief on Design of Terminal Cargo Fire Protection in Shanghai Pudong
International Airport. Fire Science and Technology, 23:2, 148-152(2004).
[8] Zhang Chao, Yin Ying-zhi, Luo Ming-chun. Study and Design on Fire Resistance of Grid
Structures of the Roof for New Kunming Airport. Progress in Steel Building Structures 11:5, 5662(2009).
[9] Peng Hua, Zhang Xiang-yang, Liu Wen-li.. National Stadium Fire Risk Evaluation System and Its
Application. Building Science 25:7, 61-64(2009).
[10] Wang Hai-tao, Peng Qian-li, Zhang Yu. Construction Technology for Steel Structure in Shenyang
Olympic Sports Center Stadium. Construction Technology, 37:5, 33-36(2008).
[11] Du Yong. Application of Structural Fire Engineering Design in World Culture Heritage Protection.
Proceedings of the National Annual Conference of Steel Structures, Beijing, China(2010).
[12] Du Yong, G.Q. Li. A new temperaturetime curve for fire-resistance analysis of structures. Fire
Safety Journal, 54:11,113120 (2012)
258
th
PROGRESSIVE COLLAPSE MECHANISMS OF STEEL FRAMES

UNDER VARIOUS FIRE SCENARIOS
Jian Jiang*, Guo-Qiang Li and Asif Usmani
*College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
e-mail: <jiangjian_0131@163.com>
Keywords: OpenSees; progressive collapse; steel frame; fire scenario; bracing system
Abstract. This paper investigates progressive collapse mechanisms of steel

frames subjected to various fire scenarios. The OpenSees framework, an opensource object-oriented software developed at UC Berkeley, has been recently
extended to deal with structural behavior under fire conditions by authors. This
paper summaries the key work done for this extension and focuses on the
application of the developed OpenSees to study the effect of different bracing
systems on the fire-induced progressive collapse resistance of steel-framed
structures. The study considers different fire scenarios such as single and multicompartment fire on the ground floor and third floor. Four collapse mechanisms of
steel frames in fire are found through parametric studies. These are general
collapse characterized by the collapse of the heated bay followed by lateral drift
of adjacent cool bays, global collapse of the whole frame due to the buckling of
ground floor columns, local and global lateral drift modes of collapse caused by
catenary action developed in the heated beams under large deflections. All the
collapse mechanisms are triggered by the buckling of the heated columns. The
thermal expansion of heated beams at early heating stage and their catenary
action at high temperature have great influences on the collapse mechanisms. It
is found that the horizontally distributed multi-compartment fire is the most
dangerous fire scenario to cause progressive collapse of structures. The
application of bracing systems can effectively enhance the resistance of steel
frames against progressive collapse. A combination of vertical and horizontal
arrangement of bracing systems is recommended for the practical design.
1
INTRODUCTION
Steel structures have many advantages such as lightweight, high strength, appealing
architecture, ease of erection, and recyclable use of materials. These advantages make them
particularly suitable for application in high-rise and very tall buildings in China and elsewhere in
the world. However, steel structures are not inherently fire resistant because much of the strength
of steel is lost when the steel temperature reaches 600oC or above during a fire. Due to the high______________________________
School of Engineering, the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JF, United Kingdom
259
Jian Jiang, Guo-Qiang Li and Asif Usmani
rise and often landmark nature of such buildings, the probability of them being subjected to long
sustaining fire is high. When such an incident occurs, despite fire protection, the risk of some
members losing their local load-bearing capacity is very high due to a multiple of feasible reasons
such as more severe fire exposure than designed, loss of fire protection due to impact (the case
of World Trade Centre) or lack of durability. If the structure were to have low resistance against
progressive collapse after local failure of some components, consequent catastrophic progressive
collapse could take place, causing tremendous tragedy as a result of loss of lives and properties
and immeasurable societal impact.
Since the collapse of the Word Trade Tower (WTC) under terrorist attack on September 11,
2001, there has been considerable interest in understanding the collapse of tall buildings in fire.
[1-3]
Usmani et al.
carried out a 2D numerical modelling of the WTC tower subjected to fire alone
regardless of the damage caused by the terrorist attack. A possible progressive collapse mechanism
[4]
for tall frames such as the WTC twin towers was proposed. Ali et al. studied the collapse mode and
[5]
lateral displacement of single-storey steel-framed buildings exposed to fire. Fang et al. proposed
multi-level system models for structures exposed to fire and two robustness assessment approaches
namely temperature-dependent and temperature-independent approaches, respectively. Quiel and
[6]
Marjanishvili used a multi-hazard approach to evaluate the performance a damaged structure
[7]
subjected to a subsequent fire. Fang et al. conducted a realistic modeling of a multi-storey car park
[8]
under a vehicle fire scenario. Lange et al. proposed two collapse mechanisms of tall buildings
[9]
subjected to fire on multiple floors. Sun et al. carried out static-dynamic analyses of progressive
collapse of steel structures under fire conditions using Vulcan. The same procedure was then used to
[10]
study the collapse mechanisms of bracing steel frames under fire conditions .
Many finite element program codes have been written to simulate the structural behaviour at
elevated temperature and the results are compared well with the test data from Cardington test.
[11]
[12]
[13]
These include specialist programs such as ADAPTIC , SAFIR , VULCAN
and commercial
package such as ABAQUS and DIANA. The specialist programs are cost-effective but lack
generality and versatility because they are always developed to focus on some special feature of
structural behaviour in fire. The commercial packages have a large library of finite elements and
excellent GUIs to enable efficient and detailed modelling of structural responses to fire. However,
they require substantial recurring investment for purchase and maintenance that often make them
unaffordable for researchers and deter new entrants to the field. OpenSees is an open-source
[14]
object-oriented software framework developed at UC Berekeley . OpenSees has so far been
focused on providing an advanced computational tool for analyzing the non-linear response of
structural frames subjected to seismic excitations. Given that OpenSees is open source and has
been available for best part of this decade it has spawned a rapidly growing community of users
as well as developers.
The framework OpenSees has been recently developed for thermo-mechanical analysis of
structures. The class hierarchy and validation of the extended OpenSees can be found in
[15-17]
references by the authors
. This paper presents its utilization to investigate the progressive
collapse mechanism of steel frames under various fire scenarios. The scenarios include single
and multi-compartment fire conditions. The fire locations vary in the horizontal direction(i.e. in the
central and edge bay) and vertical direction (i.e. on the ground and middle floor). Parametric
studies are carried out by performing dynamic analysis in OpenSees to investigate the influence
of the fire scenarios on the collapse mechanisms of steel frames. The influence of the lateral and
vertical restraints on the resistance of structures against progressive collapse is also investigated.
2
DETAILS OF STEEL FRAMES STUDIED
The main objective of this paper is to investigate the progressive collapse mechanisms of steelframed structures under different fire scenarios. Hence, considering both computational efficiency and
structural representation, a 2D steel frame of seven bays and eight storey as shown in Figure 1 is
modeled. Since a fire is usually initiated and developed in a compartment, both the beams and
columns are heated together. Therefore, in this study, the authors decided to perform the analysis on
the steel frame subjected to fire which thermal expansion effects of beams are considered. Uniform
temperature distributions were assumed in all the heated columns and beams. Corotational
geometrical transformation in OpenSees was used to consider the geometric nonlinearity. A series of
cases have been conducted to deeply understand the collapse mechanisms of frames under
horizontal/vertical single and multi-compartment fire. A uniformly distributed load (UDL) of 40 kN/m
were applied. The beams and columns comprising the frame is UB 305x165x40 and UC 254x254x89.
260
Jian Jiang,
Jiang Guo-Qiang Li and Asif Usmani
In this study, an existing implicit dynamic procedure in OpenSees, i.e. Newmark method (
( =0.8
and =0.45), is used to conduct the progressive collapse analysis of steel frames under fire conditions.
The reason for selecting implicit over explicit analysis solution scheme is because an implicit analysis
solves the system of equations for each increment and
a
performs Newton-Raphson
Raphson iterations until it
reaches convergence while explicit analysis does not attempt to reach a converged solution for each
time step. For that reason an explicit analysis typically uses many more time steps than an implicit
[18]
one. Franssen and Gens have suggested that the numerical damping is accurate enough for most
"structures in fire" applications since there are no highly dynamic effects present despite fire's
transient nature. They proposed increasing the Newmark parameters ""
" " and ""
" when using the
Newmark integrator. A similar procedure is followed in this paper by adding numerical damping when
conducting dynamic analyses of structures in fire. This has been achieved in OpenSees by using the
[18]
Newmark integrator with the values
value suggested (0.8 and 0.45) .
Eight and twelve elements were employed for beams and columns, respectively. Temperature
dependent bilinear
ilinear plastic material was used. The strain hardening is assumed to facilitate the
convergence of the analysis. The modulus of elasticity and yield strength at ambient temperature are
taken as 200 GPa and 280MPa, respectively. The properties of the steel material at elevated
[19]
temperature were taken from Eurocode 3 .
(b)
(a)
Figure 1: Schematic of steel frame model in OpenSees: (a) single
single-compartment
compartment fire; (b) multimulti
compartment fire
3
EFFECT OF FIRE SCENARIOS

RIOS
3.1 Single-compartment fire

A single-compartment
compartment fire is studied in this section and it is located at the central bay and edge
bay on the ground floor, respectively. Figure
Fig
2 shows the collapse mode of steel frames under ground
floor fires. For a single-compartment
compartment fire, the failure mode is in the form of local downward collapse for
a central bay fire and global lateral drift of frames for a edge bay fire. The collapse due to a central
bay fire is caused by the buckling of the heated columns but confined in a limited scope (Figure
(Fig
2a).
The sway phenomenon of frames above the heated floors is driven by the tensile force generated in
the heated beam under large deflection. For edge bay fire as shown in Figure
Figure 2b, the whole frame
sways away and cause buckling of all the columns on the ground floor.
(a)
( b)
Figure 2: Collapse mode of frames under single-compartment
single compartment fire on the ground floor: (a)
Central bay-Fire
bay
1; (b) Edge bay-Fire 2
261
3.2 Horizontal multi-compartment fire

In this section, the collapse mode of steel frames subject to multi-compartment fires is studied. A
typical three-compartment fire is used and distributed horizontally. Figure 3 shows the collapse mode
of steel frames under the ground floor three-compartment fire at the central bay and edge bay,
respectively. Similar to the single-compartment fire, the progressive collapse of the frame exposed to
multi-compartment is caused by the buckling of the heated columns and limited to the bays in fire.
The global drift of frames is not obvious in the edge bay multi-compartment fire (Figure 3b) compared
with single-compartment fire as shown in Figure 2b. This means an extended area in fire will
transform the spread of failure from the horizontal direction to the vertical direction.
(b)
(a)
Figure 3: Collapse mode of frames under horizontal multi-compartment fire on the ground
floor: (a) Central bay-Fire 3; (b) Edge bay-Fire 3
3.3 Vertical multi-compartment fire
This section presents the collapse mode of steel frames subject to vertical multi-compartment fires.
Figure 4 shows the collapse mode of steel frames subjected to vertical three-compartment fires at
central bay and edge bay. Similar to the single-compartment and horizontal multi-compartment fire
discussed above, the buckling of the heated columns leads to a downward collapse of the heated bay.
It is worthy to note that the frame under vertical three-compartment fire at the edge bay (Figure 4b)
shows a more obvious global drift collapse compared with that under single and horizontal threecompartment fires. This indicates that a vertically distributed fire scenarios is more dangerous for a
steel frame with weak lateral resistance.
(b)
(a)
Figure 4: Collapse mode of frames under vertical multi-compartment fire on the ground floor:
(a) Central bay-Fire 4; (b) Edge bay-Fire 4
4 EFFECT OF RESTRAINTS
In a fire situation, the concept of bracing system can also be applied to the design against
progressive collapse of steel framed structures. Two types of bracing systems were taken in this study
as shown in Figure 5. These are a "hat truss" and a vertical bracing system. The configuration of
bracing systems is supposed to have great influence on its effectiveness against progressive collapse
of frames. To filter the effect of configuration of bracings as well as make simplicity but without losing
generality, in this paper, the hat bracing was reduced to a series of rigid beams cross the top storey of
262
Jian Jiang,
Jiang Guo-Qiang Li and Asif Usmani
the frame model, whilst the vertical bracing was represented by a series of lateral restraints on each
storey to restrain the horizontal movement of the frame.
The lateral restraints added on the frame can resist the sway of the frame but cause a more
severe failure model of global downward collapse (see Figure 6a).
). On the other hand, it is interesting
to note that the vertical restraint applied on the top of the
the frame under central by fire cause a drift of
the heated floor which leads to the buckling of the columns on the ground floor as shown in Figure 7a.
The drift of the heated floor is driven by the tensile force formed in the heated beams due to its the
catenary effect. Figure 8a shows the global downward collapse mode of frames with both lateral and
vertical restraints.
The collapse of frames is unable to be resisted by either lateral restraints or vertical restraints
applied alone as shown in Figure 6b and 7b.. The combination of the lateral and vertical restraints are
helpful for resisting the progressive collapse of structures as shown in Figure 8b..
Figure 5: Schematic of the steel frame in fire modelled in OpenSees
(a)
a)
(b)
Figure 6: Collapse mode of frame laterally restrained alone under vertical multi-compartment
multi
fire: (a) Central bay-Fire
bay
3; (b) Central bay-Fire 4
(a)
a)
(b)
Figure 7: Collapse mode of frame vertically restrained alone under vertical multi-compartment
multi
fire: (a) Central bay-Fire
bay
3; (b) Central bay-Fire 4
263
(a)
(b)
Figure 8: Collapse mode of frame laterally and vertically restrained under vertical multicompartment fire: (a) Central bay-Fire 3; (b) Central bay-Fire 4
5
CONCLUSIONS
This paper presents the collapse mechanisms of steel frames exposed to single and multicompartment fires. The conclusions can be drawn as follows:
(1) The collapse of steel frames in fire is triggered by the buckling of the heated columns followed
by sequent buckling of the columns at the same storey of the heated column or below. The collapse
mechanism of frames is in the form of lateral drift of the frame above heated floors for a edge bay fire
and downward collapse of frames along the heated bay for a central bay fire. The sway of frames is
driven by the tensile force generated in the heated floor due to the catenary action of beams under
large deflection.
(2) The spread of fire in the vertical direction has little effect on the collapse mode of structures. A
horizontal distributed fire scenario is prone to cause a global downward collapse of structures.
(3) Using vertical bracing can increase the lateral restraint against local or global drift in the frame
through the sequential force-redistribution on adjacent columns. When the bracings are arranged at
edge bays of frames, the load-transfer mechanism may spread the local damage to the neighboring
bays which will lead to a global downward collapse of steel frames through sequentially buckling the
columns on the ground floor. The vertical bracing system can slow down the collapse by sequentially
buckling the columns through load-redistribution in them one by one. However, its application alone in
the steel frame under fire conditions is unsafe.
(4) Alternatively, the hat bracing can effectively enhance the resistance of steel frames against
progressive collapse. This is done through uniform force-redistribution in columns. However, local
lateral drift of the heated floor occurs in the hat braced frame under multi-compartment fire on the
ground floor, which leads to a global collapse of the frame.
(5) The fire-induced progressive collapse of steel frames can be prevented using a combined
vertical and hat bracing system which is recommended in the practical design of structures in fire.
In a word, The load-redistribution capacity and lateral restraints provided by the frame itself or
external supports are two significant factors which affect the robustness of structures against
progressive collapse exposed to fire. In addition, the pull-in of columns is one of the main concerns
contributing to progressive collapse of the frame.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The work presented in this paper was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of
China with grant 51120185001 as well as China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2013M531216).
REFERENCES
[1] Usmani, A.S., Chung Y.C., and Torero J.L. "How did the WTC Towers Collapse: A New Theory",
Fire Safety Journal, Vol. 38, pp. 501-533, 2003.
[2] Usmani, A.S., Flint, G.R., Jowsey A., Lamont S., Lane B., and Torero J. "Modelling of the collapse
of large multi-storey Steel Frame Structures in Fire." Proceedings of the 4th International
Conference on Advances in Steel Structures, pp. 991-998, 2005.
[3] Usmani, A.S. "Stability of the Word Trade Center Twin Towers Structural Frame in Multiple Floor
Fires", Journal of Engineering Mechanics, Vol. 131, No. 6, pp. 654-657, 2005.
[4] Ali, H.M., Senseny P.E., and Alpert R.L. "Lateral displacement and collapse of single-storey steel
frames in uncontrolled fires", Engineering Structures, Vol. 26, pp. 593-607, 2004.
264
[5] Fang, C., Izzuddin, B.A., Elghazouli, A.Y. and D.A. Nethercot. "Robustness of steel-composite
building structures subject to localized fire", Fire Safety Journal, Vol. 46, pp. 348-363, 2011.
[6] Quiel, S.E. and Marjanishvili S.M. "Fire Resistance of a Damaged Steel Building Frame Designed
to Resist Progressive Collapse", Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities, Vol. 26, No. 4,
pp. 402-409, 2012.
[7] Fang, C., Izzuddin, B.A., Obiala R., Elghazouli, A.Y. and Nethercot D.A. "Robustness of Multistorey Car Parks under Vehicle Fire", Journal of Constructional Steel Research, Vol. 75, pp. 7284, 2012.
[8] Lange D., Roben, C. and Usmani, A.S. "Tall Building Collapse Mechanisms Initiated by Fire:
Mechanisms and Design Methodology", Engineering Structures, Vol. 36, pp. 90-103, 2012.
[9] Sun R.R., Huang Z.H. and Burgess I. "Progressive Collapse Analysis of Steel Structures under
Fire Conditions", Engineering Structures, Vol. 34, pp. 400-413, 2012.
[10] Sun R.R., Huang Z.H. and Burgess I. "The Collapse behaviour of Braced Steel Frames Exposed
to Fire", Journal of Constructional Steel Research, Vol. 72, pp. 130-142, 2012.
[11] Izzudin, B.A. "Quartic formulation for elastic beam-columns subject to thermal effects", Journal of
Engineering Mechanics, ASCE, Vol. 122, No. 9, pp. 861-871, 1996.
[12] Franssen, J.M., Kodur, V.K.R. and Mason, J. User's Manual for SAFIR2001, A computer program
for analysis of structures submitted to the fire, University of Liege, Belgium, 2000.
[13] Huang, Z.H., Burgess, I.W. and Plank, R.J. "Effective stiffness modeling of composite concrete
slabs in fire", Engineering Structures, Vol. 22, No. 9, pp. 1133-1144, 2000.
[14] McKenna, F. T. "Object-Oriented Finite Element Programming: Frameworks for Analysis,
Algorithms and Parallel Computing." PhD thesis, University of California, Berkeley, 1997.
[15] Jiang Jian. "Nonlinear Thermo-mechanical Analysis of Structures using OpenSees." PhD
Dissertation, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK, 2012.
[16] Jiang, J., Jiang L.M., Kotsovinos P., Zhang, Jian., Usmani A.S., McKenna, F. and Li G.Q.
"OpenSees Software Architecture for the Analysis of Structures in Fire", Journal of Computing in
Civil Engineering, (accepted).
[17] Jiang J. and Usmani A.S. "Modelling of Steel Frame Structures in Fire using OpenSees."
Computers & Structures, Vol. 118, pp. 90-99, 2013.
[18] Franssen, J.M. and Gens, F. "Dynamic analysis used to cope with partial and temporary failures",
Proceedings of SiF'04: Third International Structures in Fire Workshop, Ottawa, Canada, pp. 297310, 2004.
[19] ENV 1993-1-2. "Design of steel structures, Part 1.2: General Rules Structural Fire Design."
Eurocode 3 Part 1.2, 2005.
265
th
STRUT MODEL FOR BUCKLING ANALYSIS OF WEB-POSTS IN

STEEL BEAMS WITH CIRCULAR WEB OPENINGS IN A FIRE
Peijun Wang*, Xudong Wang and Mei Liu
*
Shandong University
19722 Jingshi Road, Jinan, Shandong 250061, China
e-mail: <pjwang@sdu.edu.cn> webpage: http://www.sdu.edu.cn
Keywords: Cellular steel beam; Web-post buckling; Strut model; Fire; Buckling
temperature.
Abstract. Buckling behaviors of web-posts in a cellular steel beam at elevated
temperatures were studied using the FEM and available analytical models. The buckling
temperatures obtained by the analytical models differed greatly to those obtained from
the FEM simulation. The effective width of the strut should take the width of the
compression stress band in the web-post. Numerical parametric studies showed that the
width of the compression stress band varied with the opening diameter, the opening
distance and the web thickness. A simplified method was proposed to calculate the strut
effective width. The accuracy of the strut model integrating the new effective width was
validated against the FEM simulations. The obtained buckling temperature of the webpost through the modified strut model agreed well with FEM simulation.
1
INTRODUCTION
The Cellular Steel Beam (CSB) can be made through cutting an H-section steel beam in a
zigzag pattern along the web and then re-welding the web-post together or through cutting
circular holes in the web directly. The obtained CSB has a higher strength to weight ratio and
allows service integration to be installed within the beam depth at the same time. For the
discontinuous in the web, local failures modes, such as the web-post buckling and the Vierendeel
[1]
bending failure at the perforated section, may happen in a CSB . In the fire situation, the design
of a CSB is getting more complex for the degrading of steel at high temperatures and the non[2-4].
uniform thermal strain across the section
Web-post buckling behaviors in CSBs had been investigated experimentally and numerically
recently. At ambient temperature, the buckling of the web-post is defined as when the out-of-plan
[5-6]
displacement in a web-post suddenly increases
. Usually, the CSB does not lose its load
bearing capacity when the web-post buckles. Hence, the ultimate load bearing capacity of the
[7]
CSB can be defined by the peak value of the load-deflection curve . Analytical models have
[8-13].
also been developed to simply estimate the buckling load of the web-post in a CSB
One failure criterion of a steel beam in a fire is that the deflection of the beam reaches its
deflection limit at fire situation. Though modifying the degrading function of the yield strength of
. [10]
steel at high temperatures, Bihina et al
calculated the critical temperature of a composite
[11]
cellular beam in a fire. Bitar et al.
proposed an empirical model to calculate the buckling
[12].
strength of a composite cellular beam based on the method presented in SCI publication 100
[13]
Lawson et al.
proposed a method to determine the maximum compressive stress in the webpost. Instead of checking the critical section in the web-post, the strut model treated the web-post
______________________________
Shandong University, China

267
Peijun Wang, Xudong Wang and Mei Liu
as a compression strut and checked its stability based on the column buckling curves in BS5950[14]
1
.
In this paper, three analytical models for assessing the web-post buckling behaviors at
ambient temperature were used to find the buckling strength and buckling temperature of the
web-post in the fire condition. A simplified method based on the strut model was proposed to
calculate the buckling temperature of a web-post in the CSB. The new effective width of the strut
took the width of the compression band in the web-post which was obtained through FEM
analysis. A simplified method to calculate the effective width of the strut was presented. The
buckling temperature of the web-post predicted by the proposed strut model was validated by the
FEM simulations.
2
FINITE ELEMENT MODEL
The finite element software ABAQUS was used to simulate buckling behaviors of the web-post
in a CSB at the ambient temperature and in the fire situation.
The studied CSB was made through cutting circular holes in the web of a steel beam with
section of UB45715252. In order to prevent the flexural torsional buckling failure of the CSB,
lateral displacements at the middle span of the CSB were prevented. Web stiffeners were added
at the supports and the mid-span of the CSB where the concentrated force was applied to
prevent the local buckling of the web. Initial out-of-plane imperfection of the web-post took the
first buckling mode obtained from the buckling analysis of ABAQUS. The maximum of the initialout-of-plane imperfection was 1mm. The CSB was meshed by the S4R element in ABAQUS, a 4node reduced integration shell element, as shown in Fig. 1. The steel was grade S355 steel. The
Yongs modulus of steel was taken as 200GPa and the Poissons ratio as 0.3. Details of
[6].
mechanical properties of steel and concrete in the tested beams were reported in reference
Figure 1: Finite element model of a CSB

The FEM model was calibrated against experimental results reported by Tsavdaridis and
[6]
D'Mello . Comparison of load-deflection curves and failure modes of the web-post obtained from
the proposed FEM model and the test were shown in Fig. 2(a) and 2(b).
The ultimate load of the CSB obtained from the FEM simulation was greater than that from the
[6]
test , which might be caused by the assumption in the magnitude of initial out-of-plan
[6]
imperfection of the web-post. In the test carried out by Tsavdaridis and D'mello , no measured
[5]
initial imperfection was reported. Redwood and Demirdjian
recorded a measured maximum
imperfection of the web in their tests which was about 1mm (26.3 times of tw/200). Undoubtedly,
the web-post with a greater initial geometric imperfection has a smaller ultimate load. However, at
present there were no researches that presented a larger initial imperfection than 1mm. In the
following parametric study, the initial imperfection was taken as 1mm. FEM simulation results
[6]
reported by Tsavdaridis and DMello
were also presented in Fig. 2(a). The simulated ultimate
[6]
load of Tsavdaridis and D'mello was greater than that obtained from the FEM model presented
[7]
here, for Tsavdaridis and D'mello
assumed a much smaller imperfection of tw/200 (0.038mm)
in their model.
The studied CSB was failed by the web-post buckling, which agreed well with the test results,
as shown in Fig. 2(b). The out-of-plane displacements in the upper and lower part of the webpost were in the opposite direction and the web-post buckled in an S-shape mode along the
section height.
268
Peijun Wang,
Wang Xudong Wang and Mei Liu
(a) Comparison of load-displacement

load
curves
(b) Comparison of the buckling modes

Figure 2: Comparison of the load-deflection
load deflection curves and the failure modes
3. PARAMETER STUDY
Effects of the web-post
post geometry on the buckling behaviors
behaviors and buckling temperatures of the
web-post
post in a CSB in a fire were studied using the verified thermal-mechanical
thermal mechanical coupled model.
The studied CSB had the section of UB45715252. The applied concentrated load at the middle
span was 50% of the ultimate load
load obtained from FEM simulation at ambient temperature.
The opening diameter was 315mm and the corresponding opening to depth ratio, d0/h, was
0.7. d0 was the diameter of the circular opening; h was the section height of the cellular steel
beam. The changing
ng parameters were the web thickness, tw, and the opening distance, S.
Values of the web thickness and the opening distance studied were:
-the
the web thickness: 3.9mm, 5.0mm, 6.0mm, 7.6mm, and 10.5mm. The corresponding opening
diameter to thickness ratio, d0/tw,
tw, were: 80.8, 63, 52.5, 41.4, and 30.
-the
the opening distance: 378.0mm, 409.5mm, 441.0mm, 472.5mm, 504.0mm, 535.5mm, and
567.0mm. The corresponding opening distance to diameter ratio, S/d0, were: 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5,
1.6, 1.7, and 1.8.
3.1 Buckling of the web-post
post at ambient temperature
The CSB might be failed by the buckling in the web-post
web post or Vierendeel mechanism plastic
failure at the perforated section at the ambient temperature. Which failure mode will occur
depends on the d0/tw and S/d0 of the web-post.
web
. The shear strength of the web-post
web
with different
d0/tw and S/d0 were shown in Fig. 3.. The points covered by a solid circle in Fig. 3 represented
the web-post
post failed by Vierendeel mechanism plastic failure at the perforated section. That was,
for the CSB with a stocker web-post,
web post, the plastic failure at the perforated section was the reason
[15].
that caused the failure of the CSB
When the CSB was failed by the web-post
web post buckling, the stress in the web-post
web
reached the
yield stress of steel, as shown in Fig. 4.. There was only one plastic hinge at the perforated
section, which means that the Vierendeel mechanism had not been fully developed when the
web-post
post buckled. On the other hand, when the CSB was failed by the Vierendeel mechanism
plastic failure, steel in the flanges and the web at the perforated section were all yield. Four
plastic hinges were fully developed at the perforated section and the CSB was failed by the
Vierendeel mechanism failure. The stress in web-post
web post might be lower than the yield stress of
steel.
269
Peijun Wang,
Wang Xudong Wang and Mei Liu
Figure 3: Ultimate strength of the CSBs by FEM simulations
(a) Stress distribution in the web-post

web post
(b) Deformation of the web-post

web
Figure 4: Stress distribution and deformation of the CSB with S/d0 =1.3, d0/tw =41.4
3.2 Buckling temperature
ure of the web-post
web
in a fire
The buckling temperature of the web-post
web post was defined as at which its lateral displacement of
the web-post
post suddenly increased. For the web-posts
web posts with different d0/tw, the development of the
lateral displacement with the temperature
tempera
elevation was shown in Fig. 5.. The definition of the
buckling temperature was also shown in Fig. 5.. Buckling temperatures of the web-post,
web
Tcr,FEM,
with different were d0/tw and S/d0 were listed in Table 1.. With the increase in S/d0 or d0/tw, the
web-post
post was getting stockier and the buckling temperature increased. For example, for the CSB
o
o
with d0/tw of 80.8, the buckling temperature increased from 285 C to 345 C when the S/d0
increased from 1.2 to 1.8. For the web-post
web post with d0/tw of 30, the CSB was failed
fa
by Vierendeel
mechanism failure when S/d0 increased to the range of 1.6 to 1.8.
Figure
ure 5: Lateral displacement of the web-posts
The failure temperature of the CSB, Tf, was defined as at which the middle span deflection
reached l/30, as shown in Fig. 6.. The failure temperatures of the CSBs with different d0/tw and
o
o
o
S/d0 were listed in Table 2.. They varied from 600 C to 650 C with the difference of 50 C only.
For the web thickness and the arrangement of the openings had very little influences on the
bending
ding stiffness of the CSB, the development of the middle span deflection with the elevation of
temperature was nearly the same. That is why the difference in failure temperature of the studied
CSBs was very small.
270
The changing of failure modes with the increase in S/d0 was shown in Fig. 7. The failure
modes of the same CSB may be different in the fire and at ambient temperature. In the fire
situation, only the CSB with d0/tw of 30 and S/d0 in the range of 1.6 to 1.8 were failed by
Vierendeel mechanism failure, as shown in Fig. 7 and listed in Table 1. However, at ambient
temperature, the CSB with d0/tw of 30 and S/d0 in the range of 1.3 to 1.8 were all failed by
Vierendeel mechanism failure. In the fire situation, no CSBs were failed by Vierendeel
mechanism failure when d0/tw was 41.4. At ambient temperature, the CSBs with S/d0 in the
range of 1.5 to 1.8 were failed by Vierendeel mechanism failure when d0/tw was 41.4. The failure
modes of the CSB under fire situation should be re-assessed. It will lead to unsafe design if we
simply adopted the design method for ambient temperature to the fire safety design of a web-post.
S/d0 d0/tw=80.8 d0/tw=63 d0/tw=52.5 d0/tw=41.4 d0/tw=30
1.2
285
453
526
551
568
1.3
348
473
540
578
588
1.4
369
491
540
578
598
1.5
371
508
553
588
615
1.6
374
524
565
597
VM
1.7
375
538
576
606
VM
1.8
345
508
540
607
VM
VM: represents the CSB failed by Vierendeel mechanism plastic bending failure.
Table 1: Buckling temperatures of the web-posts, Tcr,FEM (oC)
Figure 6: Middle span deflection of the CSBs
S/d0
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
1.7
1.8
d0/tw=80.8
601
599
603
604
609
617
621
d0/tw=63
639
631
607
608
614
624
624
d0/tw=52.5
648
628
621
626
625
630
624
d0/tw=41.4
649
629
623
624
629
636
630
d0/tw=30
631
629
629
629
626
628
634
Table 2: Failure temperatures of the CSBs, Tf (oC)
271
Figure 7: Changing of failure modes of the CSBs in a fire

4. PRACTICAL METHOD FOR CALCULATING THE BUCKLING TEMPERATURE OF A WEBPOST IN FIRE
The buckling temperature of the web-post in a CSB can be determined through
w, fi w, fi,Rd
(1)
where w,fi is the maximum compression stress in the web-posts; and w,fi,Rd is buckling
resistance of the web-posts in the fire situation.
4.1 Strut model for calculating the compression stress in the web-post
[6]
The strut model considered compressive and tensile forces acting across the web-post on
opposite diagonals. A diagonal strut under compression was designed to calculate the
compressive stresses of the web-post, as shown in Fig. 8. For simplification, the vertical shear
force in the upper T section was used to calculate the compressive stress acting on the strut. The
effective width of the strut, be, was taken as a half of the total width of the web-post:
be = S0 / 2
(2)
The compressive stress in the strut was:
Vv 2 Vv
=
betw S0tw
(3)
The length of the strut was given by
le = 0.5 S 0 2 + d 0 2
272
(4)
(a) Strut in wide web-post
(b) Strut in middle width web-post
(c) Strut in narrow web-post
Figure 8: Strut model for predicating the compression stress in the web-post
4.2 Compression of the stresses obtained by the strut model
[6]
Compressive stresses in the web-post calculated by the strut model

were listed in Table 3,
respectively. The applied load ratio was 0.5.
The opening distance will greatly affect the compression stresses in the web-post. With the
increase in S/d0, the compression stress in the web-post decreases. However, the compression
stresses predicated by different models differed greatly. For example, for the web-posts had
d0/tw of 80.8, when S/d0 increased from 1.2 to 1.8, the compression stresses calculated by the
Bitars model decreased from 418Mpa to 133Mpa, as listed in Table 4. The stresses calculated
by the Lawsons model and strut model were much smaller. They decreased from 276Mpa to
79Mpa calculated by the Lawsons model and from 138Mpa to 42Mpa calculated by the strut
model, as listed in Table 3.
S/do
Compressive stress in the strut (MPa)

do/tw=80.8 do/tw=63 do/tw=52.5 do/tw=41.4
do/tw=30
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
1.7
1.8
138
98
77
64
55
48
42
166
127
104
87
74
62
52
134
110
94
81
71
61
52
136
113
98
86
76
66
58
147
123
106
93
81
70
60
Table 3: Compressive stresses in the strut calculated by the strut model

4.3 Buckling resistance of the web-post in a fire
According to the strut model, the width and the length of the compression strut were
calculated by Eq. (2) and (4). The buckling resistance of the strut in a fire, w,fi,Rd, was
[14]
calculated based on BS5950-1
considering the degrading of steel at high temperatures. A
Perry formula was used to calculate the buckling resistance of the strut:
f E , f y ,
+ ( 2 f E , f y , )
and
0.5
(5)
f y , + ( + 1) f E ,
2
(6)
where fE, was the Euler bucking stress of the strut.
fE, =
2 E
2
(7)
273
was the slenderness of the web-post
=
le
le 12
tw
(8)
was the length of the strut and calculated by Eq. (4). The Perry factor was given by:
= 0.001 ( 0 )
(9)
where
2 E
0 = 0.2
f
y ,
0.5
(10)
was the Robertson factor that was determined considering the section type and taken as 8.0
for a Class 4 cross-section.
4.4 Buckling resistance of the web-post calculated based on BS5950-1
[14]
The buckling resistance of the strut based on BS5950-1

considering the strength and
Youngs modulus reduction of steel in a fire was listed in Table 4. Temperatures at which the
buckling resistance in Table 4 were calculated were listed in Table 1.
S/do
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
1.7
1.8
Buckling resistance predicated by BS5950-1

at the temperature given in Table 1 (in Mpa)
do/tw=80.8 do/tw=63 do/tw=52.5 do/tw=41.4
do/tw=30
63
56
53
48
44
42
39
131
105
102
90
VM
VM
VM
78
73
67
58
50
43
46
82
75
71
64
55
47
54
104
83
80
70
61
55
51
VM: represents the CSB failed by the Vierendeel mechanism plastic bending failure
Table 4: Buckling resistance predicated by BS 5950-1
With the increase of the temperature, the buckling resistance of the web-post reduces. The
buckling temperature is the temperature at which the buckling resistance equals to the
compression stress in the web-post, as defined by Eq. (1). Through comparing the compression
stresses predicated by the strut model that were listed in Table 3 and the buckling resistance that
were listed in Table 4, we can find that, if the buckling temperatures took those listed in Table 1,
the buckling resistance predicated by BS5950-1 were a little smaller than the compression stress.
The temperatures given in Table 1 were the buckling temperature obtained through the FEM
simulation. That was, BS5950-1 might underestimate the buckling temperature of the web-post in
a fire.
4.5 Critical temperatures of the web-post obtained from analytical models
The critical temperature of the web-post can be obtained by the following steps:
(1) Using the strut model to determine the compressive stresses in the web-post under a given
load, as listed in Table 3;
(2) Assuming the buckling temperature of web-post;
(3) Following the description in BS5950-1 and considering the degrading of steel at high
temperatures to determine the buckling resistance at the assumed temperature;
(4) If the buckling resistance calculated in step (3) equals to the compression stress calculated
in step (1), the temperature assumed in step (2) is the buckling temperature of the web-post.
274
Otherwise, make a new assumption of the buckling temperature and re-calculate the buckling
resistance of the web-post;
The buckling temperatures calculated following the above procedures were listed in Table 5.
in Table 5 was the error between the buckling temperatures calculated through the analytical
model and that from FEM simulation.
T T
= cr,str cr,FEM 100%
Tcr,FEM
(11)
where Tcr,str was the buckling temperature calculated using the strut model; Tcr,FEM was the
temperature obtained through FEM simulation.
The strut model will underestimate the buckling temperature of the web-post, as listed in Table
5. For the thin web-post, the temperature difference was more than 90%. The strut model has to
be modified to improve its accuracy in predicating the buckling temperature of a web-post in a fire.
S/d0
d0/tw=80.8
o
d0/tw=63
d0/tw=52.5
Tcr,str ( C) (%)
(%)
1.2
20*
-92.98 20*
-95.58 177
-66.35 452
-17.97 526
-7.39
1.3
20*
-94.25 20*
-95.77 379
-29.81 511
-11.59 573
-2.55
0.4
20*
-94.58 194
-60.49 442
-18.15 532
-7.96
597
-0.17
0.5
20*
-94.61 293
-42.32 479
-13.38 548
-6.8
620
0.81
1.6
177
-52.67 365
-30.34 504
-10.8
561
-6.03
1.7
237
-36.8
-21.93 516
-10.42 573
-5.45
1.8
275
-20.29 467
-8.07
-2.22
-3.79
528
(%)
Tcr,str ( C)
d0/tw=30
Tcr,str ( C)
420
Tcr,str ( C)
d0/tw=41.4
584
(%)
Tcr,str ( C)
(%)
* represents the web-post buckles at ambient temperature.

Table 5: Buckling temperature of the web-post calculated using the strut model
4.6 Modified strut model for calculating the buckling temperature of a web-post in fire
Three parameters might affect the bucking resistance of the strut at ambient temperature and
in a fire situation: (1) the length of strut, l; (2) the buckling length factor, ; (3) the effective width,
be. The buckling length of the strut was calculated by Eq. (4). The length of strut took the
diagonal length of the web-post. The buckling factor, , took the value of 0.5 for there were two
half wave lengths along the strut. For the restraints to the strut provided by the flange and the
effect of the tension membrane action provide by the tension stress were ignored, the buckling
stress of the web-post was underestimated by the strut model, especially for a thin web-post [17].
Traditionally, the effective width of the compression strut took a half of the width of the web-post
[6, 16], which was not coincidence with the FEM simulation results. A new effective width of strut
is proposed in this paper based on the width of the compression stress band in the web-post.
4.6.1 Effective width of the compression strut
The width and direction of the compression strut can be defined by those of the compression
principal stress band. For example, for the CSB with S/d0=1.5 and d0/tw=41.4, distribution of the
compressive principal stresses in the web-post at buckling was shown in Fig. 9. The band width
of the compression principal stress was affected by the opening diameter, the opening distance
and the web thickness, as listed in Table 6. be, FEM was the measured effective width of the
compression strut from the FEM simulation. The effective strut width nearly equal to the web-post
width for the CSB with a thin web and narrow web-post. For the web-post with S/d0 of 1.2 and
d0/tw of 80.0, the actual web-post width was 63mm. The effective width calculated by Eq. (2) was
only 31.5mm; however, the measured effective width in the FEM simulation was 60.16mm. With
the increase in the web thickness or the opening distance, the measured effective width was
close to the effective width calculated by Eq. (2) which was a half of the web-post width.
275
Figure 9: Direction and width of the compression principal stresses band in the
web-post at buckling at ambient temperature
d0/tw=52.5
d0/tw=41.4
d0/tw=30
b
b
be,m/be e,FEM
be,m/be e,FEM
be,m/be be,FEM (mm) be,m/be
(mm)
(mm)
1.2
d0/tw=80.8
d0/tw=63
S0
be
b
(mm) (mm) be,FEM
be,m/be e,FEM
(mm)
(mm)
63
31.5 60.16
1.91 59.22
1.88
47.56
1.51
51.97
1.65
39.69
1.26
1.3
94.5
47.3
80.79
1.71
75.12
1.59
72.76
1.54
82.21
1.74
66.62
1.41
1.4
126
63.0
88.83
1.41
79.38
1.26
85.68
1.36
93.24
1.48
85.05
1.35
1.5
157.5 78.8
103.16
1.31
102.37
1.30
105.52
1.34
116.55
1.48
96.86
1.23
1.6
1.7
189
94.5 116.23
220.5 110.3 124.58
1.23
128.52
1.36
122.85
1.30
138.92
1.47
1.13
147.73
1.34
142.22
1.29
148.84
1.35
1.8
252
1.13
128.52
1.02
147.42
1.17
142.38
1.13
S/d0
126.0 142.38
Table 6: Measured effective width of the strut form FEM analysis and comparison with be
The effective width of the strut can be expressed by a function of S0, d0 and tw as:
be ,m =
S0
2
(12)
d
= a 0 + a1 0
tw
(13)
d
a 0 = b 0 + b1 0
tw
(14)
2
S
S
+ c2
d0
d0
(15)
The coefficients in Eq. (13) ~ (15) can be obtained through curve fitting of the FEM analysis
results in Table 6, as listed in Table 7. The comparison of the effective width calculated by Eq.
(12) and the FEM simulation were listed in Table 8. in Table 8 was the error of the calculated
effective width to that obtained through FEM simulation, which was calculated by
a 1 = c 0 + c1
b e ,m b e ,F E M
b e ,F E M
100%
(16)
For most cases, was less than 5%, which showed the correctness of the proposed equations.
a0=0.983227
a1=-00562
b0=0.623962
b1=0.487153
c0=0.072041
c1=-0.07283
c2=0.016533
Table 7: Values of the coefficients
276
31.5
47.3
d0/tw=80.8
be,m
(%)
(mm)
60.16
0.00
77.57
-3.99
d0/tw=63
be,m
(%)
(mm)
53.86
-9.04
74.73
-0.52
d0/tw=52.5
be,m
(%)
(mm)
51.97
9.27
72.84
0.11
d0/tw=41.4
be,m
(%)
(mm)
49.77
-4.24
70.47
-14.28
d0/tw=30
be,m
(%)
(mm)
47.88
20.63
68.58
2.94
126.0
157.5
63.0
78.8
93.87
107.16
5.67
3.88
91.98
107.16
15.87
4.68
90.72
106.38
5.88
0.81
89.46
106.38
-4.05
-8.73
88.20
106.38
1.6
1.7
189.0
220.5
94.5
110.3
118.12
129.05
1.63
3.59
120.01
132.36
-6.62
-10.41
120.96
135.66
-1.54
-4.61
121.90
137.87
-12.24
-7.37
1.8
252.0
126.0
138.60
-2.65
144.90
12.75
148.68
0.85
153.72
7.96
S/d0
S0
(mm)
be
(mm)
1.2
1.3
63.0
94.5
1.4
1.5
3.70
9.83
Table 8: Effective width calculate by Eq.(2) and comparison with FEM results
4.6.2 Critical temperatures of the web-posts predicted by the modified strut model
The buckling temperatures of the web-posts predicted by the modified strut model can be
obtained by the following steps:
(1) Using the modified strut model to determine the compressive stresses in the web-posts
under a given load, as listed in Table 9;
(2) Assuming the buckling temperature of web-post;
(3) Following the description in BS5950-1 and considering the degrading of steel at high
temperature to determine the buckling resistance at the assumed temperature;
(4) If the buckling resistance calculated in step (3) equals to the compression stress calculated
in step (1), the temperature assumed in step (2) is the buckling temperature of the web-post.
Otherwise, make a new assumption and re-calculate the buckling resistance of the web-post;
The comparison of the buckling temperature obtained from the modified strut model and the
FEM simulation were listed in Table 10. is the error of the calculated buckling temperature to
that obtained through FEM simulation
T T
= cr,A cr,FEM 100%
Tcr,FEM
(17)
where Tcr,A is the temperature obtained through the modified strut model.
For most cases, is less than 5%, as listed in Table 10, which shows the applicability of the
strut model in predicating the buckling temperature of the web-post in a cellular steel beam in a
fire.
S/d0
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
1.7
1.8
Compressive stress in the strut (MPa)

do/tw=80.8 do/tw=63 do/tw=52.5 do/tw=41.4 do/tw=30
72.251
57.310
54.610
48.855
44.715
42.478
37.168
71.277
69.182
74.603
62.308
52.206
45.522
50.980
90.066
73.377
72.059
64.179
58.462
51.163
49.573
89.091
70.690
71.622
62.838
55.102
51.852
53.097
131.746
90.071
77.037
70.732
Table 9: Compression stresses in the web-post obtained through the modified strut model
5. CONCLUSION
Buckling behaviors of the web-post in a CSB in a fire were investigated through using a
thermal-mechanical coupled finite element model. The Bitars model, the Lawsons model and the
strut model were used to calculate the compression stresses in the web-post under a given load.
The Bitars model and the Lawsons model gave an extraordinary high compression stress when
the CSB had a narrow web-post and thin web thickness. The compression stress given by the
277
strut model was at a reasonable value but its correctness was still need to be improved. The
buckling temperature of the web-post will be underestimated if the traditional strut model was
used to predication the buckling temperature of the web-post.
A simplified method to calculate the effective width of the strut was proposed. The width of the
strut was obtained through measuring the width of the compression principle stress band. The
buckling temperature obtained through the modified strut model agreed well with the FEM
analysis.
S/d0
d0/tw=80.8
o
Tcr,A( C) (%)
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
1.7
111
297
382
405
402
384
d0/tw=63
o
Tcr,A( C) (%)
61.05 449
0.88
14.66 493
-4.23
-3.52 503
-2.44
-9.16 505
0.59
-7.49 506
3.44
-2.40 509
5.39
1.8
364
-5.51
516
d0/tw=52.5
o
Tcr,A( C) (%)
529
-0.57
544
-0.74
550
-1.85
552
0.18
553
2.12
566
1.74
-1.57 558
-3.33
d0/tw=41.4
o
Tcr,A( C) (%)
569
-3.27
582
-0.69
589
-1.9
593
-0.85
597
0.00
602
0.66
611
d0/tw=30
o
Tcr,A( C) (%)
568
-5.11
588
-7.48
598
-8.70
615
-7.64
-0.66
Table 10: Buckling temperatures obtained from the modified strut mode and comparison with
FEM results
REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
[11]
[12]
[13]
[14]
[15]
[16]
[17]
Kerdal A, Nethercot DA. Failure modes for castellated beams. Journal of Constructional Steel
Research 1984; 4: 295315.
CTICM. Espace technologiquelorme des merisiersimmeuble. Apollo 91193, Saint Aubin Paris;
1962.
Nadjai A, Vassart O, Ali F, Talamona D, Allam A, Hawes M. Performance of cellular composite
floor beams at elevated temperatures. Fire Safety Journal, 2007,42(67): 48997.
Nadjai A, Ali F, Choi SK. Simple calculation method of composite cellular beams at elevated
temperatures. Fifth International Conference on Structures in Fire (SiF08), 2008.
Redwood RG, Demirdjian S. Castellated beam web buckling in Shear. Journal of Structural
Engineering, ASCE, 1998, 124(8): 1202-1207.
Tsavdaridis KD, D'Mello C. Web buckling study of the behavior and strength of perforated steel
beams with different novel web opening shapes. Journal of Constructional Steel Research,
2011, 67:1605-1620.
Wang PJ, Wang XD, Ma N. Vertical shear buckling capacity of web-posts in castellated steel
beams with fillet corner hexagonal web openings. Engineering Structures, 2014, 75(15): 315326.
Stability of beam-columns above the elastic limit, Proc. ASCE , Separate 692, 81, (1954),
Reprint No. 103 (55-3).
Blodgett OW. Design of Welded Structures. The Jarnes F. Lincoln Arc Welding Foundation,
1963. Publication 100, 1990.
Bihina G, Zhao B, Bouchair A. Behavior of composite steel-concrete cellular beams in fire.
Engineering Structures 2013; 56:2217-2228.
Bitar D, Demarco T, Martin PO. Steel and non-composite cellular beams novel approach for
design based on experimental studies and numerical investigations. Brochure. Eurosteel, 2005.
Ward JK. Design of composite and non-composite cellular beams. Steel Construction Institute
Lawsona RM, Limb J, Hicksb SJ, Simmsb WI. Design of composite asymmetric cellular beams
and beams with large web openings. Journal of Constructional Steel Research, 2006, 62: 614
629.
BS5950-1:2000, structural use of steelworks inbuilding. UKBritish Standard Institution; 2000.
Wang PJ, Ma QJ. Investigation on Vierendeel mechanism failure of castellated steel beams
with fillet corner web openings. Engineering Structures, 2014, 74 (1): 44-51.
Tsavdaridis KD, D'Mello C. Optimization of novel elliptically-based web opening shapes of
perforated steel beams. Journal of Constructional Steel Research, 2012, 76(1):39-53.
Durif S, Bouchar A. Behavior of cellular beams with sinusoidal openings. Procedia
Engineering. 2012, 40(1): 108113.
278
PSH14
Technical Papers
th
PROTECTION AND STRENGTHENING OF ENVIRONMENTALLY

DETERIORATED CONCRETE BRIDGES
Riyad Aboutaha* and Ossama Salem
*Syracuse University
151 Link Hall, Syracuse, NY 13203, USA
e-mail: <rsabouta@syr.edu> webpage: http://www.syr.edu
Keywords: Corrosion, polymer composites, CFRP, concrete bridges, rehabilitation
Abstract. In severe environments, corrosion of steel reinforcing bars (rebars) in

concrete highway bridges is considered the primary limit state. Corrosion of rebars
results in reduction of steel section, loss of bond between rebars and concrete, spall
of concrete cover in the vicinity of the corroded bars. The cost of maintenance of
deteriorated concrete bridges in the USA mounts in billions of dollars. Carbon fiber
reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites have proven to be the material of choice for
repair and strengthening of existing concrete structures. However, the CFRP
composite is not a corrosion protection system. A successful retrofit and protection
system for a deteriorated concrete bridge in severe environments must incorporate
corrosion protection system, e.g. sacrificial anodes, corrosion inhibiting paints, etc.
This paper presents the various types of retrofit systems for corroded concrete
bridges. These systems include but not limited to the use of CFRP composites for
both; delayed maintenance and repair, corrosion protection systems, and increase
load carrying capacity of deteriorated bridges.
1
INTRODUCTION
Environmental deterioration issues are the main focus of considerable concern in the construction
market. Increasing numbers of structures are experiencing significant amounts of deterioration prior
to reaching their full design service life. This premature deterioration considered a problem in terms
of the structural integrity and public safety. In addition, deterioration of a structure has a considerable
magnitude of associated costs.
In many cases, the root of a deterioration problem is caused by corrosion of steel reinforcement in
concrete structures. Concrete normally acts to provide a high degree of protection against corrosion
of the embedded reinforcement. The concrete inherently provides a highly alkaline environment to
the steel. This protects or passivates the steel against corrosion. However, corrosion will result in
those cases that typically experience poor concrete quality, inadequate design or construction, and
harsh environmental conditions.
Carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites have proven to be the material of choice for
repair and strengthening of existing concrete structures. However, the CFRP composite is not a
corrosion protection system. A successful retrofit and protection system for a deteriorated concrete
bridge in severe environments must incorporate corrosion protection system, e.g. sacrificial anodes,
corrosion inhibiting paints, etc.
______________________________
Syracuse University, USA

279
Riyad Aboutaha and Ossama Salem
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERIORATION OF CONCRETE BRIDGES
Corrosion of steel bars results in loss of steel section, spalling of the concrete cover, and loos
of bond between the steel bars and the surrounding concrete. Figure 1 Shows internal stresses
causing spalling of concrete cover due to corrosion of steel bars. In the field, concrete structures
are also subject to carbonation, freeze-thaw, and other deterioration mechanisms depending on
their surrounding environments.
Figure 1: Spalling of Concrete Cover due to Corrosion of Steel bars
In heavily reinforced concrete structures, e.g. bridge piers, corrosion of steel bars results in
delamination of the concrete cover over a large surface area. Figure 2 shows examples of
environmentally deteriorated concrete bridges.
Figure 2: Environmentally Deteriorated Concrete Bridge Piers
Environmental deterioration of a concrete bridge decreases its service life. In addition, it may
also lead to a more critical condition; structural deficiency. Figure 3 shows corrosion of a
concrete bridge cap beam, where the corrosion of the main steel bars has led to a structural
flexural deficiency. Similarly, corrosion of transverse reinforcing bars may also lead to premature
shear failure.
Delayed maintenance of highway bridges has led to extensive deterioration of many concrete
bridges. The safety level of many of the deteriorated bridge has reached to a critical level.
Immediate attention to the structural integrity and safety is required. However, any rehabilitation
project must start with thorough assessment and evaluation to produce a cost-effective
strengthening system.
280
Figure 3: Corrosion of Pier Cap Beam Leading to a Structural Deficiency

3
PROTECTION AND STRENGTHENING OF DETERIORATED CONCRETE BRIDGES
In order to protect and strengthen a deteriorated concrete bridge, the cause of the deterioration
should be investigated. In case of corrosion of steel bars, a corrosion protection system should be
adopted. As corrosion of steel bars results in loss of steel section, new form of external reinforcement
are used to restore the strength of deteriorated bridges. In recent two decades, the carbon fiber
reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite has the material of choice due to its corrosion resistance, light
weight, and ease of application. Due to their high tensile strength, CFRP composites used in
structural rehabilitation are added as external tensile reinforcement. CFRP composites increase
strength, and when well detailed, they enhance ductility of deteriorated concrete bridges. CFRP
composites are not corrosion protection system, therefore, a corrosion protect system should be
employed along with CFRP composites to prevent further corrosion of steel bars in strengthened
concrete bridge, e.g. sacrificial anodes, as shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4: Sacrificial Anodes, Galvashield XP, (Courtesy of Vector Construction Group)
3.1 Ductility of CFRP strengthened Flexural Members

Flexural strengthening of concrete girders involves bonding CFRP sheet/strips to the tension
side of the member. Experimental tests have shown that addition of longitudinal CFRP
reinforcement increases the flexural strength of girders, however, with limited ductility. In order to
overcome the limited ductility problem, diagonal CFRP anchors could be added to anchor the
281
longitudinal CFRP sheet to the concrete girder, as shown in Figure 5(b). Figure 5(c) shows the
flexural response of CFRP strengthened beam with and without diagonal anchors. CFRP
diagonal anchors prevent premature brittle failure of CGRP strengthened concrete beams.
Figure 5: Response of CFRP Strengthened Beams with and without Diagonal Anchors
For box girder bridges, where the box girders are stacked next to each other, the use of CFRP
diagonal anchors becomes impractical. In such cases, metallic anchors could be utilized, as
shown in Figure 6.
Strengthening of concrete pier cap beam requires the restoration of the beam section to its
original dimensions along with the use of corrosion protection system. Following these measures,
a CFRP strengthening system could be installed, as shown in Figure 7.
282
Figure 6: Details of a Metallic Anchor on CFRP Strengthened Beam
Figure 7: Details of CFRP Strengthened Concrete Bridge cap Beam
3.2 CFRP Strengthening of Deteriorated Concrete Bridge Columns

Efficiency of CFRP system for strengthening concrete bridge columns depends on the details
of the column. For circular columns CFRP system could increase the axial strength, flexural
ductility, and shear strength. On the other hand, for rectangular columns, CFRP system could
increase shear strength, however, their effectiveness in increasing the flexural ductility and axial
strength is very limited. Figure 8 shows stress-strain curves for confined and un-confined
concretes. These curves are applicable for circular section columns.
Strengthening of concrete column depends on the level of deterioration. For severely
deteriorated column, where the steel bars have lost large percentage of their cross-sectional
area, along with major loss of bond between the steel bars and the surrounding concrete, the
addition of new steel bars is required, followed by strengthening with a CFRP composite system.
Figure 9 shows the details of a severely deteriorated circular reinforced concrete column.
283
Figure 8: Stress-Strain Curves for Confined and Un-confined Concrete
Figure 9: Structural rehabilitation of severely deteriorated circular concrete column.

1
-Major loss of steel bars
284
Strengthening of circular deteriorated concrete column with CFRP systems is done by

transverse wrapping of the column. This is true regardless of the purpose of the strengthening
system: increasing axial and/or shear strength, improving flexural ductility, or enhancing
confinement. In order to ensure continuity of forces in CFRP sheets, a minimum overlap length is
required, as shown in Figure 10.
Figure 10: Details of CFRP Strengthened Reinforced Concrete Column
CONCLUSIONS
Based on this investigation, the following conclusions could be drawn:
a) Corrosion of steel bars is the primary limit state for concrete bridges in severe
environments.
b) Thorough evaluation and assessment of deteriorated bridges is required to design a costeffective strengthening system.
c) CFRP composites do not corrode; however, they are corrosion protection system.
Therefore, in order to prevent further corrosion, a corrosion protection system should be
adopted along with any strengthening system.
d) CFRP composites are cost-effective strengthening systems due to their ease of application
and low maintenance cost.
e) Continuity of the load-path and forces in the CFRP system is essential for its successful
application. Structural engineers should pay attention to detailing as much as design of the
amount of the CFRP system.
REFERENCES
[1]
R. Aboutaha, Guide for Maintenance and Rehabilitation of Concrete Bridge Components with
FRP Composites Research into Practice, Research Report, Syracuse University, Syracuse,
NY, USA, (2004).
285
th
NUMERICAL EVALUATION OF THE PERFORMANCE OF

ONE-WAY AXIALLY LOADED MASONRY WALLS
UNDER BLAST LOADS
Sayed A. Alhayawei*, Mohamed A. N. Abdel-Mooty* and Mohamed E. Issa*
*
Structural Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, Egypt

e-mail: <mamooty@aucegypt.edu>
Keywords: Blast load, masonry wall, axial load, nonlinear numerical modelling, dynamic,
ANSYS
Abstract. Nonlinear dynamic numerical modelling and analysis of masonry

panels subjected to blast loads is presented in this paper. Masonry panels of
dimension 4.0x1.0 m and different thicknesses and supported on two sides are
subjected to blast loads produced by the detonation of high explosive charges.
The modelling and analysis was conducted using ANSYS AUTODYN solver. The
accuracy of the model is verified against experimental results of blast load tests
on reinforced concrete horizontal slabs subjected to the detonation of high
explosive charges above them. The model was capable of simulating the
observed damage and displacement with reasonable accuracy. The verified
model is used for extensive parametric study to examine the effect of different
parameters on the performance of masonry walls under blast loads. The
parameters considered in this study include the effect of wall thickness, axial
gravity load, discharge stand-off distance, and boundary condition on the
behaviour of masonry wall under blast load. The performance was evaluated in
terms of maximum displacement, extent of damage and energy absorbed.
1
INTRODUCTION
Blast load effect on buildings and building components has received considerable attention in
[1, 2]
recent years
. This is mainly due to the increase in blast events resulting from different
accidents and terrorism activities targeting important structures in different parts of the world.
This paper is concerned with the effect of dynamic loading produced by the detonation of high
explosives on masonry panels representing wall elements. Studies have shown that blast loads
with short duration and high magnitude influence the response of the structure and modify the
[35]
[6, 7],
[8, 9]
[10]
material behaviour
. Results of experimental research on steel
concrete
and FRP
panels subjected to blast loads are reported in the literature. Beams, slabs and shells under blast
loads are mostly studied with limit analysis theory, which assumes rigid-plastic behaviour for the
material.
With the rapid development of computer hardware over the last few decades, it has become
possible to make detailed numerical simulations of blast loads on personal computers,
significantly increasing the availability of these methods. In this paper the parametric study is
conducted using ANSYS AUTODYN Solver provided by Workbench explicit dynamic modules in
ANSYS V14.5.
287
Sayed A. Alhayawei, Mohamed A. N. Abdel-Mooty and Mohamed E. Issa
NUMERICAL MODEL VERIFICATION
The numerical model developed in this paper is verified against the experimental results of
published research on the response of reinforced concrete panels to blast loading by Razaqpur et
al [11]. The control specimen of the experimental program is modelled and its nonlinear blast
response is simulated and compared to the test results.
[11]
Razaqpur et al
conducted an experimental program consist of Eight 1000100070 mm
panels made of reinforced concrete. Five of the panels were used as control while the remaining
four were retrofitted with adhesively bonded 500 mm wide GFRP laminate strips on both faces,
one in each direction parallel to the panel edges. The panels were subjected to blast loads
generated by the detonation of either 22.4 kg or 33.4 kg ANFO explosive charge located at a 3 m
standoff distance. Blast wave characteristics, including incident and reflected pressures and
impulses, as well as panel central deflection and strain in steel and on concrete/FRP surfaces
[11]
were recorded
. The concrete panels were doubly reinforced with welded steel mesh of
designation MW25.8, which has bar cross-sectional area of 25.8 mm2, mass per unit area of 2.91
kg/m2 and center-to-center spacing of 152 mm in each direction. The bar yield stress and
ultimate strength are 480 MPa and 600 MPa, respectively. The concrete had an average 28 days
compressive strength of 40 MPa, with its average strength at the age of testing the panels being
42 MPa.
ANSYS V.14.5 Explicit dynamics system is used for simulating of the response of the control
specimen to blast. The model is used to evaluate the central deflection, the strain in the
reinforcing steel, the strain in the surface of the concrete panel, the kinetic energy, the internal
energy, and the total work. The mathematical model is composed of three parts. The first part is
the concrete body that has a 1000100070 mm dimensions as per the experimental specimen
[11]
CS2
. The second and third parts are the reinforcing steel, which has bar cross-sectional area
of 25.8 mm2 as and as illustrated in Figure 1.
Solid element was used to simulate both the concrete body and the reinforcing steel bars. The
characteristics of the solid element are governed by the mesh type and characteristics. The mesh
physics preference is set to explicit with coarse relevance centre and triangle surface which leads
to tetrahedrons element as shown in Figure 1. For the simulation of the concrete panel the
CONC-40MPA material is used. Furthermore the STEEL 4340 is assigned to simulate the steel
reinforcing bars. To imitate the same boundary condition the mathematical model is assigned to
have fixed supports all over the panel edges. The assigned load is chosen to be pressure type
and equal to 5.059 MPa in time duration equal to 7.710-4 sec.
Welded wire mesh (152x152 MW)
Figure 1: Numerical model geometry and mesh details.
288
The test results of the control specimen were correlated with the results of the mathematical
model. The maximum central deflection of the modelled control specimen was numerically
evaluated as 16 mm, as shown in Figure 2, which correlates well with the observed deflection of
13.12 mm during the experimental test. The numerical model was also able to predict the failure
mode and damage pattern as well as the different response parameters with reasonable
accuracy.
Figure 2: Total deformation of the RC panel

Specimen
No.
001
002
003
004
005
006
007
008
009
010
011
012
013
014
015
016
017
018
019
020
021
022
023
024
Reflected peak
pressure
(MPa)
12
23.5
Wall
thickness
(mm)
250
400
600
250
400
600
250
400
600
250
400
600
250
400
600
250
400
600
250
400
600
250
400
600
Axial load
(KN)
Upper and
lower support
condition
Fixed
Hinged
Fixed
86.25
Hinged
Fixed
Hinged
Fixed
86.25
Hinged
Table 1: Parametric study specimens details.

3
PARAMETRIC STUDY THROUGH NUMERICAL SIMULATION
The developed and verified numerical model is utilized in further parametric study using numerical
simulation. Axially loaded masonry wall subjected to blast load is considered in this study. The
parameters considered in this research are the masonry wall thickness, axial gravity load on the wall,
boundary conditions, and stand-off distance.
A total of 24 load bearing masonry wall models 40001000 mm, representing 1.0 m strip of 4.0 m
high wall, with three deferent thicknesses 250 mm, 400 mm, and 600 mm, are considered. Two
289
different stand-off distances are used in this study 3 m and 4 m, resulting in 23.5 MPa and 12 MPa
reflected peak pressure, respectively. These reflected peak pressures are produced using 100 Kg of
TNT charge. Two cases of boundary conditions are examined in this study. The first case is fixedfixed at both the upper and lower ends of the wall, while the second is hinged-hinged. In order to
examine the effect of axial load due to gravity, the walls are analyzed considering and ignoring the
existence of axial load. The axial gravity load considered in this study is calculated assuming that the
wall is supporting three floors with slab thicknesses equal to 160 mm and span equals to 5 m. The
Details of the models considered in this parametric study are summarized in Table 1.
Solid element is used to simulate the masonry body. The configurations of the solid element are
governed by the mesh type and characteristics. The mesh physics preference is set to explicit with
fine relevance centre and triangle surface mesher which leads to hexahedral element as used in the
verification process and shown in Figure 3. For the simulation of the masonry wall the following
3
material properties were used: density, 1800 Kg/m ; compressive strength, 17.2 MPa; tensile
strength, 1.72 MPa; shear strength, 3.1 MPa; failure strain, 0.0025: and shear modulus = 1500 MPa.
The parametric study examines the effect of the different parameters mentioned above on the
response measures represented by failure mode, maximum deformation, strain in masonry body,
internal energy of masonry body, and plastic work-done by the masonry body.
To simulate the one way behaviour of the masonry wall, the in plane displacement of the wall sides
was forbidden. The assigned blast load is assumed to be uniform pressure of 12 MPa decreasing to
-4
zero in duration equal to 8.310 seconds representing a 100 Kg TNT charge at distance of 4 m and
-4
23.5 MPa decreasing to zero in duration equal to 6.410 seconds representing a 100 Kg TNT
charge at distance of 3 m.
Figure 3: Numerical model geometry and mesh details of masonry walls.

4
RESULTS OF PARAMETRIC STUDY
The failure in masonry wall is represented by the percentage of nodes with strain level
exceeding the maximum assigned strain.
4.1 Effect of masonry wall thickness
Walls 001, 002, and 003 are similar in height, boundary conditions, and reflected peak
pressure, but different in wall thickness which is 250 mm for wall 001, 400 mm for wall 002.and
600 mm for wall 003. Wall 001 had maximum central out-of-plane deformation equal to 41 mm
which is greater by 165.9% than wall 002 with 15.4 mm maximum central deformation and greater
by 461.64% than wall 003 with 7.299 mm as a maximum central deformation. Similar effect of
wall thickness on the maximum response was observed for all models as presented in Figure 4.
Moreover, all masonry walls studied in this paper had a percentage of failure equal to 100% as
shown in Figure 5 and Figure 6.
290
Maximum Central Deformation (mm)

70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Thickness = 250
mm
Wall 023
Wall 021
Wall 019
Wall 017
Wall 015
Wall 013
Wall 011
Wall 009
Wall 007
Wall 005
Wall 003
Wall 001
Figure 4: Effect of masonry wall thickness on maximum central deflection.
Maximum Strain (mm/mm)

0.6
Thickness = 250 mm
Thickness = 400 mm
Thickness = 600 mm
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
Wall 023
Wall 021
Wall 019
Wall 017
Wall 015
Wall 013
Wall 011
Wall 009
Wall 007
Wall 005
Wall 003
Wall 001
Figure 5: Effect of masonry wall thickness on maximum strain.
Figure 6: Maximum strain of masonry walls with different thicknesses.
291
4.2 Effect of reflected peak pressure (stand-off distance)

Walls 001 and 013 have the same characteristics and conditions except the reflected peak
pressure which is equal to 12 MPa (stand-off distance R = 4 m) for wall 001 and equal to 23.5
MPa (stand-off distance R = 3 m) for wall 013. Wall 001 experienced maximum central
deformation of 41 mm which is less by 31.5% than that of Wall 013 which was 62.8 mm as shown
in Figure 7. Although both walls experience the same percentage of failure, Wall 013 had much
higher level of strain than Wall 001 as shown in Figure 8. Furthermore the masonry body of wall
013 exhibited higher internal energy (9.22107 MJ) than wall 001 (2.21107 MJ). All other
considered wall panels showed similar behaviour when examining the effect of the level of
reflected peak pressure, or stand-off distance R, on the maximum central deflection, percentage
of failure, strain, and internal energy as shown in Figures 7-9.

70
Pr = 12 MPa (R = 4
m)
Pr 23.5 MPa (R = 3
m)
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Figure 7: Effect of reflected peak pressure on maximum central deflection.

0.6
Pr = 12 MPa (R = 4 m)
Pr 23.5 MPa (R = 3 m)
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Figure 8: Effect of reflected peak pressure on maximum strain.
292
Internal Energy (mJ)

1.00E+08
Pr = 12 MPa (R = 4
m)
Pr 23.5 MPa (R = 3
m)
8.00E+07
6.00E+07
4.00E+07
2.00E+07
0.00E+00
Wall 012
Wall 011
Wall 010
Wall 009
Wall 008
Wall 007
Wall 006
Wall 005
Wall 004
Wall 003
Wall 002
Wall 001
Figure 9: Effect of reflected peak pressure on absorbed internal energy or the masonry walls.
4.3 Effect of axial load on the masonry wall
Both Wall 001 and Wall 007 have similar characteristics except for the axial load where it was
ignored for Wall 001 and considered as 68.25 KN for Wall 007. Wall 001 experienced maximum
central deformation of 41 mm which is similar to Wall 007 which was 40.9 mm as shown in Figure
10. Although both walls have the same percentage of failure, Wall 007 experienced higher level
of strain than wall 001 by 106.33% as shown in Figure 11. Furthermore the masonry body of wall
001 exhibited higher internal energy and higher plastic work (2.21107 MJ and 1.25107,
respectively) than wall 007 (1.49107 MJ and 8.46106, respectively) by 48.322% and 47.75%,
respectively. All other considered panels showed similar behaviour when examining the effect
axial gravity load on the maximum central deflection, percentage of failure, strain, internal energy,
and plastic work as shown in Figures 10-13.
80
60
40
20
0
Axial Load = 0 KN
Axial Load = 86.25
KN
Wall 018
Wall 017
Wall 016
Wall 015
Wall 014
Wall 013
Wall 006
Wall 005
Wall 004
Wall 003
Wall 002
Wall 001
Figure 10: Effect of axial load on maximum central deflection.
0.6
0.4
Axial Load = 0 KN
Axial Load = 86.25
KN
0.2
0
Wall 018
Wall 017
Wall 016
Wall 015
Wall 014
Wall 013
Wall 006
Wall 005
Wall 004
Wall 003
Wall 002
Wall 001
Figure 11: Effect of axial load on maximum strain.
293

Axial Load = 0 KN
Axial Load = 86.25
KN
1.00E+08
8.00E+07
6.00E+07
4.00E+07
2.00E+07
0.00E+00
Wall 018
Wall 017
Wall 016
Wall 015
Wall 014
Wall 013
Wall 006
Wall 005
Wall 004
Wall 003
Wall 002
Wall 001
Figure 12: Effect of axial load on internal energy.
Plastic Work (mJ)

1.00E+08
Axial Load = 0 KN
Axial Load = 86.25 KN
5.00E+07
0.00E+00
Wall 018
Wall 017
Wall 016
Wall 015
Wall 014
Wall 013
Wall 006
Wall 005
Wall 004
Wall 003
Wall 002
Wall 001
Figure 13: Effect of axial load on plastic work.

4.4 Effect of masonry wall boundary conditions
Wall 001 and wall 004 are similar except for wall support type which is fixed-fixed for Wall 001
and hinged-hinged for Wall 004. Maximum central deflection of Wall 001 (41 mm) is similar to wall
004 (40.8 mm). Wall 001 experienced similar level of strain (0.081816) to wall 004 (0.076998)
with the same percentage of failure. However, the masonry body of Wall 001 exhibited slightly
higher internal energy and plastic work (2.21107 MJ and 1.25107, respectively) than Wall 004
(2.01107 MJ and 1.06107, respectively) by 10% and 18%, respectively. The effects of
boundary condition on the blast performance of the considered walls are shown in Figures 14-17.

Fixed Supports Case
Hinged Support Case
80
60
40
20
0
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Wall
Figure 14: Effect of boundary conditions on maximum deflection.
294

0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
Fixed Supports
Case
Hinged Support
Case
Wall 024
Wall 021
Wall 023
Wall 020
Wall 022
Wall 019
Wall 018
Wall 015
Wall 017
Wall 014
Wall 016
Wall 013
Wall 012
Wall 009
Wall 011
Wall 008
Wall 010
Wall 007
Wall 006
Wall 003
Wall 005
Wall 002
Wall 004
Wall 001
Figure 15: Effect of boundary conditions on strain response of the tested walls.

1.00E+08
8.00E+07
6.00E+07
4.00E+07
2.00E+07
0.00E+00
Fixed Supports Case

Hinged Support
Case
Wall 021
Wall 020
Wall 019
Wall 015
Wall 014
Wall 013
Wall 009
Wall 008
Wall 007
Wall 003
Wall 002
Wall 001
Figure 16: Effect of boundary conditions on internal energy of tested walls.
Plastic Work (mJ)

1.00E+08
8.00E+07
6.00E+07
4.00E+07
2.00E+07
0.00E+00
Fixed Supports
Case
Hinged Support
Case
Wall 021
Wall 020
Wall 019
Wall 015
Wall 014
Wall 013
Wall 009
Wall 008
Wall 007
Wall 003
Wall 002
Wall 001
Figure 17: Effect of boundary conditions on plastic work of masonry walls.

5
CONCLUSIONS
Nonlinear dynamic analysis of one-way masonry wall (40001000 mm) with different wall
thicknesses under the effect of blast load is considered in this paper. The validity of the
developed model was verified against experimental results. The developed model was further
used for detailed parametric study. A total of 24 models were consider to examine the effect of
wall thickness, reflected peak pressure (stand-off distance), axial gravity load, and boundary
conditions on the behaviour of the masonry wall under the effect of simulated blast load.
All considered unreinforced masonry walls could not withstand the blast loads without damage
due to their weak shear strength. However, masonry walls with higher thickness tend to have
lower maximum central deformation and lower strain levels. Increasing the masonry wall
thickness from 250 mm to 600 mm decreases the maximum central deformation by 83% and the
strain by 68%. The reflected peak pressure has significant effect on the behaviour of masonry
walls. Increasing the reflected peak pressure from 12 MPa to 23.5 MPa increases the maximum
central deformation by 55% and the strain by 142%. Axial gravity load of the masonry wall have
295
negligible effect on the maximum central deformation. However, increasing the axial load form 0
KN to 86.25 KN increases the strain by 30%. While the type of wall supports (Fixed or hinged)
has no significant effect on the maximum central deformation due to the high load and weak
strength of unreinforced masonry wall, it affects the level of strain response of the masonry wall.
Higher strain levels and internal strain energy are observed in walls with axial loads.
REFERENCES
[1] Elliot, C.L., Mays, G.C., and Smith, P.D. The protection of buildings against terrorism and
disorder. Proc Inst Civil Eng: Struct Build; 94:28797, 1992.
[2] Committee on Feasibility of Applying Blast-Mitigating Technologies and Design Methodologies
from Military Facilities to Civilian Buildings. Protecting buildings from bomb damage. Washington:
National Academy Press; 1995.
[3] Malvar, L.J., Crawford, J.E., Wesevich, J.W., and Simons, D. A plasticity concrete material model
for DYNA3D. Int J Impact Eng; (910):84773, 1997.
[4] Dube, J.F. and Pijudier-Cabot G. Rate-dependent damage model for concrete in dynamics. J Eng
Mech ASCE, 122(10):93947, 1996.
[5] Sercombe J, Ulm F, and Toutlemonde, J. Viscous hardening plasticity for concrete in high rate
dynamics. J Eng Mech ASCE 1998; 124(9):10507.
[6] Jacinto, A., Ambrosini, R.D., and Danesi, R.F. Experimental and computational analysis of plates
under air blast loading. Int J Impact Eng, 25(10):92747, 2001.
[7] Jacinto, A., Ambrosini, R.D., and Danesi, R.F.. Dynamic response of plates subjected to blast
loading. Proc Inst Civil Eng: Struct Build, SB152(3):26973, 2002.
[8] Yi, P. Explosionseinwirkungen auf Stahlbetonplatten. Zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades
eines Doktor-Ingenieurs der Fakultat fur Bauingenieur- und Vermessungswessen der Universitat
Fridericiana zu Karlsruhe (TH), 1991.
[9] Mays GC, Hetherington JG, Rose TA. Response to blast loading of concrete wall panels with
openings. ASCE J Struct Eng 1999; 125(12):144850.
[10] Lok TS, Xiao JR. Steel-fibre-reinforced concrete panels exposed to air blast loading. Proc Inst
Civil Eng Struct Build 1999; 134:31931.
[11] Razaqpur AG, Tolba A, Contestabile E. Blast loading response of reinforced concrete panels
reinforced with externally bonded GFRP laminates. Elsevier, Composite, Part B38; 535546,
2007.
296
th
THEORETICAL STUDY OF FOAM INSULATED CONCRETE

SANDWICH PANEL BEHAVIOUR FOR EXTREME LOAD EVENTS
Department of Civil Engineering, Auburn University
Auburn, Alabama 36849, USA
e-mail: <fzb0011@auburn.edu>, <jim.davidson@auburn.edu>
Keywords: Blast, Precast Concrete, Sandwich Panel Design, Theoretical Analysis,

Experimental Study
Abstract. One of the recent building construction technological advancements is

the use of foam insulated concrete sandwich panels (ICSP) for exterior wall
systems, which offer significant improvements in both construction cost and
thermal efficiency. ICSPs are typically comprised of a layer of polymeric insulating
foam that is sandwiched between two relatively thin (less than 8 cm) concrete
wythes, with a connector provided between the wythes to transfer shear. ICSPs
can be cast at the jobsite using conventional rebar in the concrete wythes and
then tilted into place, or can be manufactured at a precast plant using
prestressing strands. There has recently been great interest in using ICSPs for
applications where the building must be designed for extreme load events, such
as blast, but one of the impediments for using ICSPs for such applications is that
the complex behaviour of ICSPs to transverse loading depends greatly upon the
shear flow characteristics that occur between the faces, and is not well defined.
Therefore, this study was undertaken to develop a theoretical basis for concrete
sandwich panel behaviour, including the complexities associated with
prestressing, shear connector and foam rigidities, and relative translation
between the two concrete wythes. In order to reach these goals, governing
equations for sandwich panel behaviour are presented and solved for specific
boundary conditions. Results from the theoretical derivation are then compared to
full-scale static experiments that involve a wide range of sandwich beam
configurations. Finally, discussion of the resistance mechanisms of sandwich
structures, the theories presented by others, and assessments of currently used
design approach is thoroughly discussed.
1 APPLICATIONS OF SANDWICH PANELS IN PROTECTIVE INDUSTRY
Nowadays protective structures have gained popularity due to various rising threats.
Meanwhile, energy conservation legislation has been adopted to encourage energy efficiency in
buildings. Therefore many designers in protective structures industries struggle to balance their
design between having enough load capacity, especially blast load resistance, energy efficiency
and project budget. Insulated concrete sandwich panels are an excellent candidate for resolving
these issues. Sandwich panels have been proven to be an excellent structural component in
terms of thermal efficiency, but whether sandwich panels could be designed to resist blast load
297
has yet to be carefully studied.

[1]
UFC 3-340-02 , provides guidance on many aspects of design for blast resistance of
conventional reinforced concrete design, as well as some guidance for the use of sand filled
composite concrete for protection applications. The load resistance mechanics of sandwich
panels however is very different from conventionally reinforced concrete panels. For example,
conventionally reinforced concrete beams exhibit hardening after yielding as illustrated in Figure
[1]
1. UFC 3-340-02 defines the idealized resistance-deflection curve of a reinforced concrete
beam as shown in Figure 2 for design.
YIELD
FAILURE OF COMPRESSION CONCRETE
RESISTANCE
BEGINNING OF
STRAIN HARDENING
fdu
fdy
DEFLECTION
X ( =2) X ( =6)
X ( =12)
NO SHEAR
REINF.
TYPE A
SINGLE LEG STIRRUPS
TYPE B OR TYPE C SINGLE
LEG STIRRUPS OR LACING
Figure 1: Typical Resistance-Deflection Curve for Flexural Response of Reinforced Concrete

(Adapted From UFC3-340-02).
ACTUAL RESISTANCE
DEFLECTION FUNCTION
IDEALIZED RESISTANCE
DEFLECTION FUNCTION
CONCRETE CRUSHES,
LOSS OF FLEXURAL
RESISTANCE
ru
XE
X ( =2)
X ( =12)
Figure 2: Idealized Resistance-Deflection Curve for Large Deflections of Conventionally Reinforced

Beam (Adapted From UFC3-340-02).
However, ICSPs have demonstrated softening behaviours associated with the transfer of
[2]-[8]
. Therefore, a number of reinforced concrete assumptions
shear between the concrete wythes
along with design approaches are not valid if sandwich panels have inadequate ductility.
298
Concrete sandwich panels used for building construction are generally categorized as noncomposite, fully composite or partially composite for design purposes. Regardless of their
[9][10][11]
designation, all ICSPs are actually partially composite, and current design references
demonstrate a lack accurate definition of partially composite sandwich panel mechanics. For
[9]
example, in the PCI guide , the design of partially composite panels is described to be based on
previous experience from similar and existing structures with no specific methodology or
examples attached. Therefore the research represented by this paper addresses the issue of a
theoretically pure definition of small displacement flexural resistance of insulated concrete
sandwich panels used for building construction. Later phases of the research will address the
post-yield large displacement behaviour.
2 ANALYSIS MODEL OF BLAST EVENT
In the analysis model, external load and structural resistance are key components. In the
[1][12]
majority of blast design guides
, far field blast load is depicted as time varying uniformly
distributed pressure along exterior walls of buildings, as illustrated in Figure 3. Therefore the
validity of sandwich panels application to protective industry depends on the resistancedeflection curve under uniform pressure. In order to study sandwich panels resistance-deflection
properties under blast load, the distributed pressure is chosen as external load and sandwich
panels are simplified as equivalent sandwich beams. The resistance-deflection curve can typically
be decomposed into three sections: linear elastic, post-yield nonlinear, and post-peak resistance
softening. This research will focus on the linear elastic portion.
INCIDENT WAVE
a =ANGLE OF INCIDENCE
REFLECTED WAVE
PATH OF TRIPLE POINT
SLANT DISTANCE, R
MACH FRONT
H
HT
SHELTER
GROUND
SURFACE
GROUND
ZERO
RG
Figure 3: Air Burst Environment (Adapted from UFC3-340-02).

3 GOVERNING EQUATION FOR ICSP BEHAVIOUR
Sandwich beam theories have been developed by others for metal-honeycomb type laminated
[13][14]
plates and concrete-steel composite bridge beams
. They could be applied to ICSPs but
those theories are not conditioned well or make inaccurate assumptions when applied to ICSPs.
[15]
However, Granholm
derived a series of differential equations for nailed timber structures and
[16][17]
Holmberg
developed that approach further by supplementing comprehensive solutions to
account for various loading conditions. Granholm and Holmbergs methodology is well suited for
to ICSP analysis. The set of governing equations is derived by forming equilibrium relationships
between the axial force in each concrete wythe and the middle layer shear force, and the external
bending moment and internal overall resistant moment.
3.1 Axial forces equilibrium
The strain in the faces is equal to half of the first derivative of axial displacement, and then the
normal stress is equal to the moduli multiplied by strain:
299
= Ef
2'
(1)
Where 2 = slip between wythes due to axial displacement and Ef = moduli of elasticity of
wythe. Notice that the middle layer shear force causes the change in axial force in the two
concrete wythes. Therefore if a differential length of dx is considered, the axial force equilibrium is
achieved as shown in Figure 4:
dx
A
E
bdx
N+N'dx
d
r
r
A
N+N'dx
E I
bdx
Figure 4: Equilibrium of Shear
bdx = N 'dx
(2)
b = ( A )
(3)
'
Where = shear stress in the middle layer, N = resultant axial force in wythe, b = wythe width,
and A = cross section area of wythe. After substituting equation (1) into equation (3), the shear
stress is obtained as:
Ef A
2b
2 ''
(4)
The shear stress in the middle layer could also be determined by tie shear stiffness and
corresponding relative slip as:
K =
(5)
Where K = shear stiffness of middle layer. Substituting equation (4) into equation (5):
K =
Ef A
2b
2 ''
(6)
As shown in Figure 5, 2 can be expressed as:
2 = 2ry '
(7)
Where = 1 + 2 = total slip between wythes, y = deflection, and r = distance from neutral
axis of wythe to the overall neutral axis.
300
y'
y'
2r
Figure 5: Relative Slip between Wythes
Substituting equation (7) into equation (6) yields:
2bK
'' = 2ry '''
Ef A
After rearranging terms and using
(8)
2 Kb
, the first governing equations is determined as:
Ef A
'' 2 = 2ry '''
(9)
3.2 Bending moment equilibrium

Considering the distance of the pair of opposite resultant axial force in each concrete wythe as
2r, the moment equilibrium can be established as:
M ex = M in + M ex + 2rN
(10)
Where Mex = external bending moment, Min = internal bending moment of interior wythe, and
M = internal bending moment of exterior wythe. Using the assumption that the two wythes have
the same deflection and using equation (1), equation (10) can be rewritten as:
ex
'
M ex = E f ( 2 I sgl ) y '' + 2r AE f 2
2
(11)
Where Isgl = moment of inertia of each wythe. Substituting equation (7) into equation (11)
yields:
M ex = E f ( 2 I sgl ) y + 2rAE f
''
( 2ry )
'
''
(12)
Equation (12) can be rewritten as:
M ex = ( 2 I sgl ) + ( 2r ) rA E f y '' + rAE f '

By using I total = 2 I sgl
(13)
2r 2 A
+ 2 r A and =
, the second governing equation can now be
I total
2
determined from equation (13) as:
y ''
2
2r
' =
M ex
E f I total
Equations (9) and (14) are combined to form the coupled set of governing equations:
301
(14)
'' 2 = 2ry '''
2
M ex
'' '
y
2r
E f I total
4 EXPERIMENT SETUP
[2]-[8]
Some of the data from experiments conducted by Naito

were used for validation.
Displacements were measured as a distributed load that was applied by a load tree apparatus
that simulated the uniform pressure typically developed by far field blasts. The test apparatus is
shown in Figure 6. This paper will demonstrate validation using specimen TS2, which is
symmetrical and conventionally reinforced sandwich beam with dimensions defined in Figure 7.
Figure 6: Loading Structure
Figure 7: TS2 Specimen Detail (Unit: mm)

5 SOLUTION OF DEFLECTION AND SLIP
Deflection can be solved with boundary conditions representing a simply supported beam and
uniformly distributed pressure along its span as:
302

2
4
5 qbl 4 24 x 16 x
y=
1 +
384 E f I total
5 l
5 l
1 qbl
+
16 E f I total
x
2 cosh
2
2 2
1
2x
1 + 1
l l

cosh l
2 l
(15)
1 qrbl 2 1 2
4 E f I total l 2 l
sinh x 2 x

cosh l l
(16)
The first term in equation (15) represents the flexural component of deflection and the second
term in (15) represents the shear deflection component.
6 MID-SPAN DEFLECTION VALIDATION
12
12
10
10
8
Load (kPa)
Load (kPa)
The test data shown in Figure 8 demonstrates reasonable agreement with theoretical solution
in terms of deflection. Also, it can be seen from the deflection-load plots that, even in small
displacements elastic range, some specimens exhibit a slight nonlinear behaviour. This is likely
due to imperfect manufacture processes; for instance, some connectors are not properly
embedded and the existence of rather randomly distributed bond between insulation foam and
concrete faces. As the load increases, some of the bonds and internal connections changes as
well. As long as the random factors stay in close and acceptable vicinity, the results are
considered satisfactory.
Theoretical Solu. w/ Foam

Full Composite
Non-composite
TS2 Specimen A
4
5
6
Deflection (mm)

Full Composite
Non-composite
TS2 Specimen B
10
303
4
5
6
Deflection (mm)
10
12
12
10
10
8
Load (kPa)
Load (kPa)

Full Composite
Non-composite
TS2 Specimen C
4
5
6
Deflection (mm)

Full Composite
Non-composite
TS2 Average
10
4
5
6
Deflection (mm)
10
Figure 8: Resistance-Deflection Comparisons for Three Samples of TS2

7 DESIGN CONSIDERATION
As mentioned earlier, currently used concrete sandwich panel design approach does not
incorporate all of the mechanical factors that contribute to sandwich panel behaviour. The
following will demonstrate the issue using composite ratio.
7.1 Composite ratio concept
[10]
The concept of composite ratio is used by Pessiki , and is widely used among engineers
[9]
involved in the concrete sandwich panel industry. The PCI design guide implied the applicability
of this method through discussion of partially composite sandwich panels. This is because the
composite ratio is very practical and useful in designing, but the way it is currently being applied
is not mechanically accurate. The approach is illustrated as following:
I exp = 5wl 4 ( 384Ec )
(17)
Where Iexp = experimentally obtained moment of inertia of sandwich panels, w = uniformly

distributed load of unit width, l = span of sandwich panel, = deflection, and Ec = modulus of
elasticity of concrete.
I exp I nc
I c I nc
(100 )
(18)
Where k = composite ratio, Inc = theoretical moment of inertia for non-composite sandwich panels,
and Ic = theoretical moment of inertia for fully composite sandwich panels.
= M ex y I exp
(19)
Where Mex = external bending moment, and y = distance from neutral axis to the fiber where the
stress is of interest.
In practice, the shear tie manufacturer provides the composite ratio information based on the
amount of shear ties required per sandwich panel unit area. Since Inc and Ic are known for specific
sandwich wythes, designers can accordingly use equation (18) to calculate the Iexp, and then
apply equation (19) to calculate the stress at the top and bottom fibers. The problem is that the
use of equation (17) for deflection related calculation may not be accurate due to neglecting
shear deformation, which is defined by equation (15). Secondly, moment of inertia should not
change from stand point that the way it is defined as well. Consequently, this design methodology
does not really capture the true characteristic of sandwich behaviours.
7.2 Improved methodology
Considering that the industry is accustomed to the design approach described above and that
manufactures have plenty of composite ratio information the following suggested methodology
will use a modified composite ratio approach. All calculation assumptions and procedures should
304
stay unchanged except the way stress is calculated:
= M ex y AU I eq
(20)
r + d 2 , r = distance from overall neutral axis

wythe thickness, and Ieq = Iexp = ( I c I nc ) + I nc .
Where yAU =
to wythes local neutral axis, d =
y AU, Ieq are defined based on a semi-theoretical approach to ensure that, when the composite
ratio is zero, the two wythes act independently and the stress should be calculated based on
individual wythe and when the composite ratio is one, the two wythes act together and the stress
should be calculated based upon the full cross section. Ieq is the variable equivalent to the
moment of inertia of partially composite sandwich panel for design purpose. Unlike Ieq, the actual
sandwich panels moment of inertia does not vary for different composite ratio. yAU is the variable
being modified to make sure consistency of stress calculation.
7.3 Comparison and validation
TS2 under external uniformly distributed pressure of 10.35 kPa is taken as an example for
comparison. Its top and bottom fiber stresses along span are plotted in Figure 9. For various
stiffnesses, the top and bottom fiber stresses of midspan are plotted in Figure 10.
4
x 10
x 10
Exact Top
Exact Bottom
PCI Top
PCI Bottom
Proposed Top
Proposed Bottom
1.5
0.8
0.6
0.5
Exact Top
Exact Bottom
PCI Top
PCI Bottom
Proposed Top
Proposed Bottom
0.2
0
-0.2
Stress (kPa)
Stress (kPa)
0.4
-0.5
-0.4
-1
-0.6
-0.8
-1.5
-1
-1500
-1000
-500
0
500
Coordiantes (mm)
1000
1500
Figure 9: Stress Comparison along Span
6
8
10
12
14
Stiffness (Stiffness of TS2 as Unit)
16
18
20
Figure 10: Stress Comparison of Midspan for

Different Stiffness
[9]
[10]
As shown in Figure 10 and Figure 10, the approach suggested by PCI or Pessiki
over
estimates the stress by approximately 200% when the stiffness is very small. As stiffness
increases, it will eventually converge to exact solution. This is because the method is only
accurate for fully composite sandwich panels or conventional beam, whereas, the proposed
method yields almost exactly the theoretically pure results while being easy and concise to apply.
8 CONCLUSIONS
There is great interest in the use of foam insulated concrete sandwich panels for blast design
applications. This study represents a first step towards providing a theoretical definition of flexural
resistance provided by concrete sandwich panels, and demonstrates the very different behaviour
between sandwich panels and conventional reinforced concrete beams because of shear
deformation that occurs through the insulation layer. Their behaviours depend heavily on the
properties of shear ties and insulation layer, including the bond between insulation and concrete
wythes, and stiffness of shear ties and insulation materials. It was demonstrated that the
developed method successfully captures the initial stiffness of sandwich structures with good
accuracy, which is critical to defining the resistance of sandwich panel for the design for extreme
loading. Continued phases of the research will involve extending the theoretical approach for
predicting post elastic nonlinear behaviour of ICSPs.
305
REFERENCES
[1] UFC. "Structures to resist the effects of accidental explosions."
[2] Cramsey, Nicholas, and Clay Naito. "Analytical assessment of blast resistance of precast,
prestressed concrete components." PCI journal 52.6 (2007): 67-84.
[3] Naito, Clay J., et al. Evaluation of shear tie connectors for use in insulated concrete sandwich
panels. Lehigh University Bethlehem Pa Dept of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2009.
[4] Naito, Clay, Mark Beacraft, and John Hoemann. "Design limits for precast concrete sandwich
walls subjected to external explosions." Proc., 2010 Structures Congress. Reston, VA: ASCE,
2010.
[5] Naito, Clay, Robert Dinan, and Bryan Bewick. "Use of Precast Concrete Walls for Blast Protection
of Steel Stud Construction." Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities 25.5 (2011): 454463.
[6] Naito, Clay J., et al. Precast/Prestressed Concrete Experiments Performance on Non-Load
Bearing Sandwich Wall Panels. Black and Veatch Overland Park KS, 2011.
[7] Naito, C., Hoemann, J., Beacraft, M., and Bewick, B.. Performance and Characterization of
Shear Ties for Use in Insulated Precast Concrete Sandwich Wall Panels. Journal of Structural
Engineering 138.1(2012): 5261.
[8] Naito, C., et al. Blast Performance of Single-Span Precast Concrete Sandwich Wall Panels.
Journal of Structural Engineering (2014)
[9] PCI Committee on Precast Sandwich Wall Panels, State of the Art of Precast/Prestressed
Concrete Sandwich Wall Panels, Second Edition.
[10] Pessiki, Stephen, and Alexandar Mlynarczyk. "Experimental Evaluation of the Composite
Behaviour of Precast Concrete Sandwich Wall Panels." PCI journal48.2 (2003): 54-71.
[11] ACI Committee 318. 2005. Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete (ACI 318-05) and
Commentary (ACI 318R-05). Farmington Hills, MI: American Concrete Institute (ACI).
[12] Williamson, Eric B. Blast-resistant highway bridges: Design and detailing guidelines. Vol. 645.
Transportation Research Board, 2010.
[13] Allen, Howard G. "Analysis and design of structural sandwich panels." (1969): 1-46.
[14] Newmark, Nathan M., Chester P. Siess, and Ivan M Viest. "Tests and analysis of composite
beams with incomplete interaction." Proc. Soc. Exp. Stress Anal 9.1 (1951): 75-92.
[15] Granholm, H. "On composite beams and columns with particular regard to nailed timber
structures." Chalmer Technical University (1949).
[16] Ake Holmberg, and Erik Plem. Behaviour of load-bearing sandwich-type structures. Statens
institut fr byggnadsforskning, 1965.
[17] Holmberg, Ake and Plem. Sandwichelement I provning och tillampning. Nordisk betong. Vol. 4
(1960): 277-304.
306
th
FULL 3D NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF A MOUNTAIN TUNNEL

UNDER SEISMIC LOADINGS
Juntao Chen a*, Haitao Yu b,c and Yong Yuand
a
Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University,

Keywords: Wenchuan earthquake; mountain tunnel; input scenarios; numerical simulation
Abstract: As the most significant part of traffic system, tunnel was widely supposed
to have higher seismic stability. However, according to the post-disaster
investigations in the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, there are more than ten mountain
tunnels in service near the epicenter suffered from small to heavy damages. The
Longxi tunnel was the most typical one. Different kinds of damage from concrete
lining crack to integral collapse were observed in this tunnel. Therefore, this paper
aims at clarifying the seismic response of mountain tunnel under different input
scenarios. In this study, the three-dimensional numerical model is adopted to
conduct analysis on seismic response of tunnel structures and three input scenarios
are considered. The results indicates that horizontal motions are the main reason to
the tunnel damages and the horizontal motion along tunnel axis has large effect on
tunnel stress and the plastic zone of the surrounding rock, while the vertical motion
has less effect on the seismic response of tunnel.
1 INTRODUCTION
Mountain tunnels are the most important part of the transportation in the western China. Historically,
underground facilities have experienced a lower rate of damage than surface structures, thus,
underground structures such as tunnels were supposed to be stable under seismic load.
Nevertheless, so many tunnels and some other underground structures have suffered from
significant damage in the last few years. For instance, the 1995 Kobe, Japan earthquake, the 1999
Chi-Chi, Taiwan earthquake and the 1999 Kocaeli, Turkey earthquake(Hashash et al., 2001).
According to the recent studies and observations of failures of underground structures, researchers
relate the seismic response of these structures during earthquake to various parameters.
Based on statistical studies following general conclusion in this regard are drawn (Dowding and
Rozen, 1978; Owen and Scholl, 1981; Wang, 1993; Hashash et al., 2001). Such as, depth of tunnel
below the ground surface, type of soil or rock surrounding tunnel, maximum ground acceleration,
intensity of earthquake, distance to earthquake epicenter and type of tunnel lining.
In 2008, so many tunnels have suffered severe damages during the Wenchuan earthquake, such
____________________________
b
Key Laboratory of Geotechnical and Underground Engineering of Ministry of Education,
Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China
c
d
State Key Laboratory for Disaster Reduction in Civil Engineering,
307
Juntao Chen, Haitao Yu and Yong Yuan
as Longxi tunnel. As a result, it is important to do study on the mountain tunnel under earthquake,
and the results would be valuable for subsequent tunnel design. Lots effective methods are adopted
to study on the behaviour of tunnels during earthquake, and one of the most useful way is numerical
simulation. So that, with the numerical simulation, this paper focuses on the response of Longxi
tunnel under different seismic loadings. The properties of the surrounding rock of Longxi tunnel are
included in Table 1.
Table 1. Engineering rock properties.
Rock Grade
Density
3
(kg/m )
Grade II
Grade III
Grade IV
1800
2100
2400
Dynamic Shear
Modulus
(GPa)
0.41
0.60
1.66
Poissons
Ratio
0.40
0.30
0.25
Internal
Friction
Angle ()
35
45
55
Cohesion
(MPa)
0.6
1.2
1.8
The tunnel was designed following the New Austrian Tunneling Method. The thickness of primary
and secondary liner of the tunnel is 0.22 m and 0.38 m respectively. The properties of the concrete
used for the lining and pavement are included in Table 2.
Table 2. Concrete properties

Density
3
(kg/m )
Primary Lining
Secondary Lining
Pavement
Elastic Modulus
(GPa)
2500
2500
2500
23
30
30
Poissons
Ratio
0.2
0.2
0.2
2 NUMERICAL MODEL
2.1 FEM model
A full three-dimensional analysis of the tunnel with input accelerations from the Wolong strong
motion station has been carried out to analyze the seismic response of tunnel section. Figure 1
shows the entire mesh and the tunnel section. The distance from the sides of the mesh to the tunnel
axial is 50 times of the tunnel diameter, which is far enough such that the presence of the boundaries
has no effect on the response of the tunnel (Yu et al. 2009).
Figure 1: Finite element model and the tunnel section

The ground motions imposed at the bottom of the model is shown in Figure 1. Three scenarios are
considered: only horizontal X motion is applied to the bottom of the discretization; both horizontal X
and Z motions are considered, i.e. no vertical accelerations; and complete three motions are
308
considered including vertical motion. The results could figure out whether the motion along tunnel
axis is important, which cannot be considered in a two-dimensional finite element model.
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Four different parts of the tunnel cross section, which are arch crown, spandrel, abutment,
basement of sidewall, are selected as control points of the analysis, as shown A-D in Figure 2. Of
which, A-D points are the symmetrical sections of structural internal force.
Figure 2: Schematic diagram of structural control section

3.1 The stress analysis of tunnel body section
To illustrate the seismic response and capacity of the tunnel lining at the fault, the cross section in
the middle of the tunnel is chosen to discuss the tunnel response. Figure 3 shows the maximum
principal stresses and minimum principal stresses in the tunnel section under three input scenarios.
Similar plots are obtained for this section. It is can be seen from those figures that the change trend
of the maximum principal stress and the minimum principal stress from the three input scenarios are
similar.
The dierences are due to the location in the cross section. It is worth noting that the largest value
of the maximal principal stress occurs at the tunnel spandrel in the figures. The extreme value is due
to the oval deformation of the tunnel arch block under the seismic shear effect. In addition, the
maximal tension stress shown in figure (b) and (c) are little larger than the value shown in figure (a).
However, the compression curves of different location on tunnel section in figure (a) are different to
those in the following two figures. It is can be seen that the compression condition of tunnel section is
changed owing to the additional motions. In other words, compared to the two-dimensional numerical
simulation the three-dimensional numerical modeling could get better results. It can be seen from
figure (b) and figure (c) that the results for the two input scenarios are similar, which indicates that the
influence of the vertical motion on seismic responses of the tunnel section is negligible.
309
Arch crown
Spandrel
Abutment
Sidewall Basement
Maximum principal stress(MPa)
Arch crown
Spandrel
Abutment
Sidewall Basement
Horizontal X motion only
2
0
Minimum principal stress(MPa)
Horizontal X motion only
-1
-2
-2
-4
-6
-8
-10
-12
-14
-16
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
10
15
Time(s)
20
25
30
35
40
45
Time(s)
(a)
4
Arch crown
Spandrel
Abutment
Sidewall Basement
-1
-2
0
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Arch crown
Spandrel
Abutment
Sidewall Basement
Two horizontal motions
Two horizontal motions
-2
-4
-6
-8
-10
-12
-14
-16
45
10
15
Time(s)
20
25
30
35
40
45
Time(s)
(b)
Arch crown
Spandrel
Abutment
Sidewall Basement
Complete three motions
Arch crown
Spandrel
Abutment
Sidewall Basement
Complete three motions
-1
-2
-4
-6
-8
-10
-12
-14
-16
-2
0
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Time(s)
Time(s)
(c)
Figure 3: Time history of maximum and minimum principal stresses of the tunnel section
3.1 The plastic zone of rock surrounding the tunnel
In order to give an insight into the stress mechanism of the tunnel/rock model subjected to the
earthquake, the expansion of the plastic zone in rock around the tunnel is acquired. Figure 4 shows
the developed plastic zone around the tunnel, under the three scenarios.
It is clear to see some similarities in the figures. At first, the plastic zone of the rock mainly occurred
around the arch crown and spandrel. Then with the increase of time, the rock around the tunnel arch
block and the sidewall basement was up to plastic yielding, and the area of the plastic zone
310
increased and expanded into the rock mass far from the tunnel. Similar plots are obtained for the
model subjected to both the horizontal motions and vertical motion, as shown in Figure 4(b) and 4(c).
As for the case with one horizontal motion, the plastic zone of the rock around the tunnel was larger
and especially, a wider plastic expansion occurred at the rock around the tunnel arch crown. The
differences
erences are due to the extra compression stress produced by the propagation of the motion along
tunnel axis and the vertical motion.
Moreover, it is important to note that the plastic zone of rock and value of plastic strain did not
change anymore after about 15s which is the time of peak acceleration . The area of plastic zone and
the values of plastic strain shown in figure 4(a) and 4(b) are larger than those in the figure 4(a).
4(a)
Time: 5 s
Time: 10 s
(a)
Time: 15.0 s
Time: 5 s
Time: 10 s
(b)
Time: 15.0 s
Time: 5 s
Time: 10 s
Time: 15.0 s
(c)
Figure 4: Developed plastic zone of rock around the tunnel body section
5 CONCLUSIONS
The Longxi mountain tunnel near the epicenter of the Wenchuan earthquake suffered a lot of
damages. Different levels of damage
dam
ranging from concrete lining crack to integral collapse were
observed. The tunnel was the most important passage for the post-earthquake
earthquake rescue.
Based on the purpose of analyzing the
the seismic response of mountain tunnel under different
motions, the three-dimensional
dimensional finite element model is built, which includes non-linear material
behaviour of surrounding rock and artificial boundary. Furthermore, three input acceleration
scenarios are considered including one horizontal motion perpendicular
ular to the axis of tunnel, two
horizontal motions without vertical motion and complete three motions applied on the bottom of the
311
discretization. This is done to individually investigate the effects of the longitudinal and vertical
accelerations on the response of the tunnel for design those are often neglected. According to the
analysis of principal stress and the plastic zone of this tunnel, it is safely to draw the conclusions as
follows:
The horizontal motion perpendicular to the axis of tunnel is the main reason of the large value of
maximal principal stress in the arch crown and the spandrel, and which would lead to the concrete
cracks due to oval deformation of tunnel section. Meanwhile, the longitudinal motion would result in
large tension along the tunnel axis. Furthermore, according to the analysis of principal stress and
plastic zone, the vertical motion has less effect on the seismic response of mountain tunnel.
The two horizontal motions are the primary cause of damage to the concrete linings of tunnel
section compared to the vertical motion. The numerical simulation based on the two-dimensional
model cannot be applied the longitudinal motion and unable to estimate the tension of lining along
the tunnel axis. Therefore, three- dimensional model is more reasonable.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
& 51478343). The authors acknowledge the support from the Fundamental Research Funds for the
Central Universities (2013KJ095), Shanghai Educational Development Foundation (13CG17), and
the National Key Technology R&D Program (2012BAK24B04).
REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
Dowding, C.H., Rozen, A. Damage to Rock Tunnels from Earthquake Shaking. Journal of
Geotechnical Engineering Division, 1978, ASCE104GT2: 175-191.
Fakhimi, A.A. Theory and Manual of CA2 Software. Center for Housing and Building Research
of Iran, 1997.
Owen, G.N., Scholl, R.E.. Earthquake Engineering of Large Underground Structures. Federal
Highway Administration, Washington, DC, 1981.
Wang, J.N.. Seismic Design of Tunnels: a State of the Art Approach, Monograph, Monograph 7.
Parsons, Brinckerho, Quade and Douglas Inc., New York, 1993.
Hashash, Y.M.A., Hook, J.J., Schmidt, B., Yao, J.I.. Seismic design and analysis of underground
structures. Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology, 2001, 16, 247293.
Yu, H.T., Yuan, Y., Chen, Z.Y., et al. Full 3D Numerical Simulation Method and Its Application to
Seismic Response Analysis of Water-Conveyance Tunnel. International Symposium on
Computational Structural Engineering, Shanghai, 2009, 349-358.
312
th
A STUDY ON BLAST RESISTANCE OF ARCHITECTURAL GLASS

CURTAIN WALL
Xing Chena, Suwen Chena,b and Guoqiang Lia,c
a
College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China

e-mail: <14cx@tongji.edu.cn>
Keywords: glass curtain wall, blast loading, numerical simulation, failure mode
Abstract. In this paper, a numerical study has been carried out for architectural
glass curtain wall subjected to blast loading employing ANSYS/LS-DYNA. Firstly,
a detailed numerical model for frame-supported laminated glass panels has been
built up and failure modes are then analyzed subjected to different explosions.
Afterwards, the blast resistant capacities of LG panels with different interlayer
materials, which are PVB and SGP, are compared. It shows that LG panel with
SGP interlayer has a better performance. At last, a simplified numerical method
that can obtain the P-I curve for single LG panel is proposed which can provide
reference for practical engineering blast resistant assessment and design.
1
INTRODUCTION
Glass curtain wall is widely used as external envelope for public and high-rise buildings. Along
with the occurrence of terrorist blasts and accidental explosions in recent years, blast-resistant
design of glass curtain wall has obtained attentions from engineers and researchers.
In order to achieve a detailed understanding of blast performance of various types of glass
curtain walls, domestic and foreign researchers have conducted a lot of researches and made
great progresses, most of which focus on the dynamic response analysis and blast resistant
[1][2][3]
design
, etc. Ways to investigate the blast resistance of glass curtain wall include theoretical
analysis, numerical analysis and blast test. Simplified SDOF method and classic small
deformation plate theory are used for theoretical analysis. For blast test methods, there are
distance test, shock tube test and explosion pot test. For numerical simulation, explicit dynamic
analysis is usually adopted using software such as ANSYS/LS-DYNAAUTODYNA.
In this paper, a numerical study has been carried out to investigate the failure modes of
laminated glass panel subjected to different explosions. Besides, the blast resistant capacities of
PVB LG panels and SGP LG panels are compared. A numerical method that can obtain the P-I
curve for single LG panel is proposed, which can offer reference for practical engineering blast
resistant design.
_______________________
b

Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China, e-mail: <swchen@tongji.edu.cn>
c
Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China, e-mail: <gqli@tongji.edu.cn>
313
Xing Chen, Suwen Chen and Guoqiang Li
FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS
The size of the laminated glass (LG) panel used in the study was 1,000mm x 1,000mm, and it
was gripped within an aluminum frame, with a 2mm thick cushion disposed between the frame
and the glass panel. The LG panel was composed of a 3.04mm thick SGP/PVB interlayer
sandwiched between two 10mm thick float glass panels. The width of aluminum frame was set to
30mm, and its thickness was 5mm. Figure 1 shows the geometry dimension of a single unit of
curtain wall. Nonlinear dynamic responses and failure modes of the LG panels subjected to
different explosions were analyzed.
1000
10
1000
3.04
10
30
30
Figure 1: Geometry Dimension
2.1 Mesh and boundary conditions

All of the materials considered in this simulation, such as glass panel, interlayer, cushion
(structural silicone sealant) and aluminum frame were modeled using the Solid164 element. The
grid size was set to 5mm x 5mm. Interlayer, cushion and aluminum frame were only meshed into
one layer while each glass panel was meshed into 3 layers along the thickness to consider
[4]
bending effect , as is shown in Figure 2. For the element amount was so lager that it would
increase the computing cost sharply if the whole panel was modeled, a 1/4 model instead of
[5]
whole model was established considering the symmetry . In this way, the computing time was
saved without sacrificing accuracy. Symmetry constraint was applied on the nodes lying in the
symmetric boundary in X and Y direction respectively.
Aluminum frame
Float glass
Interlayer
Silicone sealant
Figure 2: FE model
2.2 Material property

The material properties employed in FEA are listed in Table 1. Glass is a kind of brittle
material with high elastic modulus, therefore, the material type ELASTIC was used to model the
[4]
glass . Meanwhile, LS-DYNA key word MAT_ADD_EROSION was used to define a failure
criterion that the element would fail when its first principal(FP) stress reaches 30MPa, then the
314
element would be deleted. Besides, MAT_PLASTIC_KINEMATIC was used for interlayer

material, a multiple failure criterion was defined that, taking PVB interlayer as example, the
element would fail when either its first principal stress reaches 65.2MPa or its first principal strain
[6]
reaches 1.3 . On the other hand, as we focused on the dynamic behavior of laminated glass, the
failure of aluminum frame and cushion were not taken into consideration so that the computing
time was saved.
Material
Density
3
(Kg/m )
Elasticity
2
module (N/m )
Poissons
ratio
Material model
Failure criterion
Float glass
2.56e3
7.2e10
0.22
ELASTIC
30Mpa(FP stress)
PVB
1.1e3
3.19e6
0.495
PLASTIC KINEMATIC
SGP
0.95e3
3e8
0.49
PLASTIC KINEMATIC
Aluminum
frame
2.8e3
7e10
0.33
ELASTIC
Silicone
sealant
1e3
1e8
0.45
ELASTIC
65.2Mpa(FP stress)
1.3(FP strain)
90Mpa(FP Stress)
1.6(FP strain)
NoteFP stress means first principal stress; FP strain means first principal strain
Table 1: Material property
2.3 Explosive blast wave model

When the explosive shock wave arrives, the pressure rapidly rises to the peak positive pressure,
then it will gradually reduce until it reaches the peak negative pressure which means to be lower than
the ambient pressure, and finally it picks up to the ambient pressure slowly, as is shown in Figure 3. In
the blast resistant analysis and design of structure, negative pressure is usually ignored. Therefore,
the mainly considered physical parameters of the explosion shock wave are peak overpressure,
[7]
decay coefficient and positive phase duration .
Pressure
Explosive
p+
Incident angle
Simplified triangular decay

Panel surface
Exponential decay
p0
Ta
Normal
=0
Negative phase
Positive phase
Time
Figure 3: Simplified blast wave
Figure 4: Description of the ConWep
Due to the extremely short loading duration in an explosion, a simplified triangular decay blast load
[8]
is usually chosen instead of the exponential decay blast load . According to the equivalent positive
impulse principle, an equivalent positive overpressure duration Ta can be calculated, as is shown in
Figure 3. A uniform simplified triangular decay blast load has a good accuracy if the standoff distance
is much larger than the size of glass panel. However, the overpressure cant be assumed as uniformly
distributed when the explosive is close to the target. In such case, the *LOAD_BLAST model in LS315

[9]
DYNA is recommended . The ConWep function is used in the *LOAD BLAST model to simulate the
blast load, including key factors such as the shock-wave incidence angle, the relative position
between explosive and target and the equivalent TNT weight, as is shown in Figure 4. Equation 1~3
[10]
show the pressure state .
The incidence pressure
t
p1 = pi 1
td
t
exp
td
(1)
t
p2 = pr 1
td
t
exp
td
(2)
The reflect pressure
The loading pressure
p = p1 (1 + cos2 2cos ) + p2 cos2
(3)
Where pi is the maximum incidence pressure; pr is the maximum reflected pressure; and are
decay coefficients: td is positive phase duration.
2.4 Blast loading conditions
Analysis of blast resistant performance mainly considered the following three load conditions: 1)
10kg TNT(parcel, briefcase or body explosive) with a standoff distance of 5m; 2) 50kg
TNT(motorcycle borne explosive) with a standoff distance of 10m; 3) 300kg TNT (vehicle borne
explosive) with a standoff distance of 20m. The specimens were numbered in the form of A-B@C, as
are listed in Table 2, in which A is the interlayer material, B is the TNT equivalence; C is the standoff
distance. For an example, the case of PVB-10kg@5m means a frame-supported PVB LG panel
subjected to explosion with 10kg TNT at a standoff distance of 5m.
Case No.
Interlayer
material
Blast loading
Equivalent TNT weight(kg)
Standoff distance(m)
1. PVB-10kg@5m
PVB
10
2. PVB-50kg@10m
PVB
50
10
3. PVB-300kg@20m
PVB
300
20
4. SGP-10kg@5m
SGP
10
5. SGP-50kg@10m
SGP
50
10
6. SGP-300kg@20m
SGP
300
20
Table 2: Load conditions

3
NUMERICAL RESULTS
3.1 Failure mode

Figure 5 shows different failure modes of LG panels subjected to different explosions. If small
charge explosive explodes at close range, such as 50kg@10m, punching failure occurs. The
Interlayer fails at the border and the LG panel has a trend to detach from the frame. The highspeed flying panel will cause serious hazard so punching failure should be avoided by limiting the
standoff distance strictly. On the other hand, bending failure may occur if large charge explodes
at a long distance, such as 300kg@20m, in which case the overpressure decays sharply with the
distance and the positive phase duration is relatively longer. Comparing with punching failure,
bending failure is a relatively safer failure mode, which may result in relatively slower speed flying
panel.
316
Punching failure (PVB-50kg@10m)
Bending failure (SGP-300kg@20m)
Figure 5: Failure modes
3.2 Stress distribution

Explosion shock wave arrived at the center of the outer glass panel at first. Figure 6 shows the
stress distribution of the outer panel (SGP-10kg@5m), in which the blast loading process and the
propagation of stress wave can be observed.
t=5ms
t=6ms
t=8ms
Figure 6: Development of stress distribution on outer panel (SGP-10kg@5m)
3.3 Displacement response

Displacement time histories at the center of LG panels for different cases are shown in Figure
7, which indicates that LG panel with SGP interlayer has a better blast resistent performance.
Displacement(mm)
200
PVB-10kg@5m
SGP-10kg@5m
PVB-50kg@10m
SGP-50kg@10m
PVB-300kg@20m
SGP-300kg@20m
100
0
0
10
15
20
-100
-200
time(ms)
Figure 7: Time history of center displacement
317
25
30
3.4 Results Analysis

According to the damage extent of each case(Table 3), it can be indicated that the interlayer
plays a very important role in the blast resistance of glass curtain wall. The cracked glass panel
has been kept on the interlayer because of the binding effect, which prevents the fragments from
flying away. Besides, the plastic deformation and tearing of interlayer can dissipate the shock
energy, so even if overall detachment occurred under a severe explosion, the velocity of entire
panel would reduce a lot, thus reducing the subsequent damage.
Interlayer
material
PVB
SGP
Loading condition
Glass failure
Interlayer
failure
Overall
detachment
10kg@5m
50kg@10m
300kg@20m
10kg@5m
50kg@10m
300kg@20m
Note: Y indicates the occurance of corresponding failure, N indicates the opposite.

Table 3: LG panel performance
The mechanic property of SGP interlayer has an advantage over that of PVB interlayer,
reulting in a better blast resistant performance. The glass panels of LG with PVB interlayer work
more separately, while those of LG with SGP interlayer work more as a whole panel, thus the
blast resistant capacity and stiffness of panel are significantly improved.
Maximum displacement(mm)
Overall detach
200.00
PVB LG
SGP LG
100.00
0.00
10kg@5m
50kg@10m
300kg@20m
Loading condition
Table 4: Maximum center displacement of frame supported panel(mm)
CASE STUDY
A numerical method that can obtain the P-I curve for single LG panel is introduced in this
section. The obtained P-I curves were used together with the W-R curves to get the safety
318
Xing Chen,
C
Suwen Chen and Guoqiang Li
standoff distance of specific explosive charge and damage level, thus can provide reference for
practical engineering blast resistant design. The size of the LG panel used in the case study was
2,000mm x 4,500mm, the
he LG panel was composed of a 1.52mm thick SGP interlayer sandwiched
between two 12mm thick semi tempered glass panels. The boundary condition was the same as
the FE model in 2.1.
4.1 P-I curve
E
4
The P-I curve can be expressed as Equation
[11]
, in which
asymptote under a given failure level(Equation 5), while
icrk is the impulse value of impulse

pcrk is the overpressure value of
overpressure asymptote under the same failure level(Equation 6),, and shape of curve in the
dynamic zone is determined
d by C , as is shown in Figure 8. A series of numerical test points were
set in different zones of P-II curve,
curve, and the key parameters were determined by
b matching the
damage state of these test points with different damage levels. P-I
P I curves of different damage
level were obtained in the way.
P-I curve:
( P Pcrk )(i icrk ) = C
(4)
x = icrk
(5)
y = Pcrk
(6)
Impulse asymptote:
Overpressure asymptote:
1000000
Pcr test point
icr test point
P-I curve
100000
10000
Impulse asymptote:
asymptote
x=icr
P(KPa)
1000
100
10
Overpressure asymptote:
1
1
10
100
1000
y=pcr
10000 100000 1000000
i(KPa.msec)
Figure 8: Determination of P-I curve parameters
4.2 Damage level

In order to reflect the explosion threat reasonably and accurately, the damage extent of glass
[12]
curtain wall wass divided into 3 levels according to the damage characteristic and hazard level ,
319
Xing Chen,
C
as shown in Table 5, which can be selected in the blast resistant design of buildings with different
demand.
NO.
Hazard level
Perfomance under blast loads
No Break
II
Low Hazard
The glass is cracked,

cracked while interlayer isnt. The laminated glass
behave as a flexible membrane.
behaves
III
High Hazard
The interlayer fails and glass fragments splash
No crack on the
t glass
Table 5: Damage level

Perfomances of LG under explosion in numerical simulation were extracted and classified
according to different damage levels
level in Table 5. Therefore, the key parameters of P-I
P curve under
different damage levels can be obtained, as listed in Table 6. P-I curve represents the boundary of
different damage level, so the given three
th
damage levels are divided by two P-II curves, which can be
seen in Figure 9.
Damage level
Pcr (kPa)
icr (kPamsec)
P-I curve expression
15
150
4250
( P 15)(i 150) = 4250
II
100
1000
50000
( P 100)(i 1000) = 50000
Table 6: Parameters of P-I curve
100000
ANo damage
BGlass fails
CInterlayer fails
10000
P-I(I)
P-I(II)
P(KPa)
1000
Damage level IIIInterlayer
Interlayer fails
100
Damage level IIGlass fails
10
Damage level INo damage
1
10
100
1000
10000
i(KPa.msec)
100000
Figure
igure 9: P-I curve under different damage level
320
1000000
Xing Chen,
C
4.3 Safety standoff distance

According to different combinations
combination of equivalent TNT weight(W) and standoff distance(R), we
calculated different peak overpressure(P)
overpressure
and impulse(i) by A.T.blast.. In this way, the W-R
W
relationship was expressed by P-I
P coordinates. The intersections of P-I curve and W-R curver thus
represent the safety standoff distance (R*) under different explosion threatens and damage levels,
which can be applied to practical blast resistant design, as shown in Figure 10.
10000
P-I(I)
10kg
P-I(II)
30kg
100kg
P(KPa)
1000
100
500kg
1t
3t
10
100
10
1000
10000
i(KPa.msec)
Figure 10: Relationship P-I curve and W-R curve
The safety standoff distancess R* of different explosion threatens are shown in Figure 11. Take the
first column as an example, a 10kg TNT explosion must be kept at least 9m away from the LG panel
in order to meet the requirements of damage level I. In this way the safety standoff distance can not
only assess the blast resistance of LG panel, but also supply reference for practical engineering
blast resistant design.
155
Damage level I
Damage level II
18
102
32
5
10kg
30kg
Briefcase explosive
54
33
18
10
100kg
500kg
Motorcycle borne explosive
1t
3t
Vehicle borne explosive
Figure 11: Safety standoff distance R*
321
51
CONCLUSION
1) LG panel fails in different failure modes when it is subjected to different explosion. Small
charge exploding at a short distance mainly results in punching failure, which should be avoided
by strictly limiting the standoff distance. Large charge exploding at a long distance mainly leads
to bending failure, which is a relatively safe failure mode.
2) The blast resistant capacity of SGP LG has a significant advantage over that of PVB LG. So
it is highly recommended that important buildings with high blast resistant demand should adopt
SGP LG in order to achieve a better blast resistant capacity.
3) A numerical method that can obtain the P-I curve for single LG panel is proposed in this
study. The obtained P-I curves were used together with the W-R curves to get the safety standoff
distance of specific explosive charge and damage level, thus can offer reference for practical
engineering blast resistant design.
6
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This study is financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under the
grant No.51278365 and the State Key Laboratory for Disaster Reducion in Civil Engineering, Tongji
University under the grant No.SLDRCE 10-B-10.
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[5]. ZHU Chenguang. Study on the Failure Behavior of Point-supported Glass Curtain Wall Subjected
to Blast Loads[D], Tongji university master thesis(2013).
[6]. J. Belis, J. Depauw, D. Callewaert, D. Delinc, R. Van Impe. Failure mechanisms and residual
capacity of annealed glass/SGP laminated beams at room temperature, Engineering Failure
Analysis(2009).
[7]. Smith PD, Hetherington JG. Blast and ballistic loading of structures. Oxford, UK: ButterworthHeinemann(1994).
[8]. WEI Ya, CHEN Suwen. Simplified analysis of glass curtain wall subjected to explosion and
overview of blast resistant design method [J], Doors and Windows (2009).
[9]. WANG Zhongqi, GONG Guangdong, ZHANG Yanchun, BAI Chunhua, Simulation of the
Response of Glass Window Under Blast Load[J], Tianjin University and Springer-Verlag (2008).
[10]. Glenn Randers-Pehrson, Kenneth Bannister. Airblast Loading Model for DYNA3D[R]. Army
Research Laboratory(1997).
[11]. WANG Fang, FENG Shunshan, YU Weimin. Research on Overpressure and Impulse Criteria
and Its Iso-damage Curve[J]. Journal of Projectiles;Rockets;Missiles and Guidance(2003).
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th
EFFECT OF CHARGE SHAPE ON DAMAGE FROM POTENTIAL

EXPLOSIVE ATTACKS
J. Keith Clutter* and Michael W. Stahl
*
SciRisq, Inc.
2500 Summer St, Ste 3222, Houston, TX 77007, USA
e-mail: <keith.clutter@scirisq.com> webpage: http://www.scirisq.com
Keywords: Hazard assessment, explosives, blast loads
Abstract. The analysis of potential attacks using explosive devices is a common

task performed within the context of security engineering. To provide useful
assessments both the functioning of the explosive device and the response of items
such as structures must be accurately represented. Many times sophisticated
analysis tools such as finite element analysis (FEA) are used to determine potential
damage and refine designs. However, more times than not the definition of the blast
loading is based on over simplified analysis techniques. In fact the majority of these
techniques are based on a limited set of empirical data from spherical charges of
TNT. It is extremely rare that the actual explosive used is TNT or that the device of
interest will be a sphere. Test data shows the explosive material and shape of the
charge can have noted effect on the blast signature. The role of explosive type is
known in that it changes the amount of energy released and the rate at which the
release occurs. This study focuses on the role the shape of the explosive device has
on the severity of the explosive attack. Here first the effect of shape on blast output
as determined in tests is presented and used to highlight the role of shape in the
blast output. Next a tool that employs the latest in hydrocode methodology is used to
simulate the blast output from explosive devices similar in shape to devices actually
used in past attacks. Comparisons are made to the values as determined using the
simplified spherical TNT charge assumption. Charge shape is found to have a
tremendous influence on the blast overpressures and suggests such aspects
must be considered when performing explosion analysis.
1
INTRODUCTION
A common task performed as part of assessing vulnerabilities of facilities is to analyze the

potential of attacks using explosive devices. Due to the uncertainty of such potential events, many of
the parameters associated with the threat to be analyzed are not known. Therefore any adequate
analysis should capture the variation in vulnerability as these parameters change. At the least the one
performing the analysis should understand the role each parameter has in the attack outcome
therefore allowing them to make appropriate selection of inputs into the analysis. Here the role of
explosive shape is discussed.
*
SciRisq, Inc.
WS Atkins
323
Explosive attack scenarios can involve devices ranging in size from a small package up to a large
truck. The effect of shape discussed here is seen at all scales of threat size. However, here the focus
will be on the variation in shape expected when addressing vehicle scale threats. One of the
objectives of this paper is to highlight some inconsistencies between analyses performed using
various common tools and what will actually occur. Most common tools assume only a spherical
charge shape because of the basis of their algorithms.
There are various analysis tools used to perform vulnerability assessments of facilities with
regards to potential explosive attacks. They range in sophistication from simple tables to computer
based products. Several even use elaborate three-dimensional representations of the facility.
However, at the foundation of most of these models is a rather simple representation of the explosive
[1]
threat. They use a set of test data related to spherical and hemispherical TNT charges . This data
was consolidated some years ago from nine different tests and used to produce curves showing how
pressure, impulse and the other properties associated with a blast wave change with distance from
the charge. Error! Reference source not found. shows sample plots from this reference. Therefore
if the data from this reference is used in performing analysis of potential explosive attacks it is
inherently assumed that the charge is a sphere.
One may argue that assuming a sphere is consistent with the other assumptions one must make
about all aspects of the threat that may be used in a potential attack. It is true that specifics may not
be known. However, it is common place when preparing such analysis one spends time rationalizing
the size of charge that may be used based on past events or what can be physically carried in a
vehicle. Others even go as far as to speculate on the type of explosive that will likely be used based
on local intelligence related to what is available. This is done because the analyst knows that the size
and type of charge will affect the damage produced in the event. This paper emphasizes that these
same analysts should at the least appreciate the role charge shape has on the potential destruction
and select potential scenarios that are most probable.
When considering explosive attacks using vehicle borne improvised explosive devices (VBIEDs)
there are some fundamental shapes one would expect. These shapes are also verified by looking at
past events. Consider the past explosive attacks that used explosives listed in Table 1. Due to the
nature of the vehicles, the charge shape in past attacks has never been a sphere. Furthermore it is
unreasonable to think any future IEDs will be spherical in shape. The fact that most assessment tools
assume a spherical charge would be of little concern if there were not known shape effects in the
resulting blast output and therefore damage. This paper will highlight these effects and suggest what
shapes should be considered when performing vulnerability analysis.
Figure 1: Incident pressure and impulse data from Reference [1].
As would be expected the characteristics of the vehicle directly influence the shape of the charge.
For instance, consider if a tanker truck is used. Whether the explosive used is a bulk material such as
ANFO or if something like a military grade RDX based explosive were used, the final overall shape of
324
the charge would be similar to a long cylinder. Likewise if a dump truck were used whether the
explosive where poured directly into the hopper of the truck or was contained in barrels the overall
shape would be a rectangular cuboid. For scenarios involving a cargo truck it is most likely that the
explosives would be placed in smaller containers and sit within the bay of the truck. This means the
overall shape could be a variety of configurations. However, most likely it would be similar to a
rectangular cuboid like the example in Error! Reference source not found. from a test configuration
where about 2,000 lbs of ANFO was placed inside a truck. One can speculate that using drums the
bomber could produce various overall charge shapes by how they are orientated the drums. This
potential will be discussed in this paper.
An effective approach to understanding issues such as the topic of this paper is the use of
experimental test data. However due to the nature of the current issue there is limited data available.
This is due in part to the sensitive nature of the topic. It is also due to the fact that most experimental
programs related to explosives are associated with basic research and weapons development. These
data sets then are typically smaller in scale when compared to VBIEDs and do not cover issues such
as charge shape effects. There is some data available in open literature and this will be used here to
discuss the topic of shape effect. However, this limited data will be augmented using modeling results
that allow for specific shapes to be analyzed. The modeling tool to be used has been validated
[2,3]
against explosive test data .
Event
Date
Type of
Vehicle
Dump Truck
Explosive
Bishopsgate
14 April
1993
Oklahoma
City
19 April
1995
Cargo Truck
25 June
1996
Tanker
Truck
AN +
Nitromethane
w/Tovex busters
PE
Khobar
Towers
ANFO
Charge
Size (lbs)
2,200
4,000 6,500
3,000 8,000
Shape
Rectangular in
truck bed of dump
truck
13 Barrels
arranged in a J
pattern
Formed in shape
of the cylindrical
tank
Table 1: Sample of past explosive attacks
Figure 2: Example of explosives stored in individual drums and placed inside a cargo truck.
REVIEW OF EXPERIMENTAL DATA
There is limited experimental data covering the size and shapes seen in VBIEDs that clearly
[4]
shows the effect of charge shape . Most data has been collected from small devices and is limited to
cylindrical shapes taken from an earlier study using cast Pentolite charges (which have a TNT
[5]
equivalence of 1.27) . Some of the data is presented here to highlight the effect of charge shape as
captured in test data.
In the test various cylindrical and spherical charges were detonated and measurements of the
pressure time histories were recorded using the orientation shown in Error! Reference source not
found.. Also shown is the location of the pressure gauges relative to the charge. The triangle at the
180 point denotes the initiator. The spherical charges where initiated at the center of the charges
mass. To obtain measurements for all angles, multiple shots were required for each charge shape.
Here data for the length-to-diameter (L/D) case of 4/1 is compared to data for a spherical charge.
325
Table 2 shows a summary of the measured peak overpressures for the spherical charge cases where
7.8 lbs of Pentolite were used. Table 3 Table 2: Summary of peak overpressure (psi) for spherical
charges.
shows the data for the L/D = 4/1 cases using 8 lbs of Pentolite. This data as well as that for the other
L/C cases were used in Reference [4] to develop conversions that allow for one to determine an
equivalent spherical weight for a given L/C configuration and direction angle. This was done to allow
for the use of the spherical TNT curves produced in Reference [1]. Since the objective of the current
paper is to highlight shape effects the data will be presented in a variety of manners here. It will also
be used to further validate a computational model to be used to discuss even more dramatic shapes
beyond that of a cylinder. This is needed to highlight the effect of shapes that would be more probable
in a VBIED attack.
As evident in Error! Reference source not found. there is some variation in the overpressure
from shot to shot but the repeatability is adequate to produce a pressure versus distance function for
the spherical charge. Though measurements were made in only two directions 90 apart, it is clear
the overpressure decays the same in all directions from the spherical charge. This is not the case for
the cylindrical charge with an L/D = 4/1. Reviewing the data in Table 3 it is first evident that the load
history is quite different depending on direction. First of all, for the directions off the ends of the
charges ( < 45, > 135) there was a distinctive secondary peak in the measured pressure time
history. In some cases the magnitude of the overpressure was equal to or greater than that produced
by the initial pulse. Sample traces from the tests are shown in Error! Reference source not found.
and the importance of the secondary pulse is clear. Here the focus is on the peak overpressure
produced from the non-spherical charges and the phenomena causing the multiple pulses will be
investigated in a later section using modeling. However, it is important to note that the presence of a
more complex load history may be important when evaluating the vulnerability of some facilities.
(a)
(b)
Figure 3. (a) Definition of charge orientation (triangles are initiation point). (b) Orientation of gauges
relative to the charge location.
Shot
13
13
14
14
30
30
52
52
66
66
Distance (ft)
Gauge
Line
7
11
16
21
1
69.71
22.67
8.82
6.73
2
83.29
10.44
5.75
1
10.69*
24.41
9.68
6.29
2
98.72
19.79
10.20
6.18
1
52.80*
22.75
8.83
6.41
2
113.76*
20.71
10.38
6.01
1
61.49
21.05
9.53
6.09
2
64.82
19.62
9.76
4.18*
1
20.24
9.13
6.23
2
17.98
9.79
5.59
*Denotes questionable data per original reference
326
26
3.84
4.03
3.87
3.92
3.96
4.06
3.78
4.19
3.68
4.18
31
3.11
2.34
3.15
2.98
3.27
3.03
2.50
2.83
2.64
2.92
Table 2: Summary of peak overpressure (psi) for spherical charges.
Angle
Shot
Gauge
Line
11
0.0
46
88.91
15.07
50
96.81
14.53
0.0
26
1.73
S 6.12
2.01
S 6.74
31
1.17
S 4.33
1.40
S 4.99
12.12
4.13
3.08
S 11.12
10.75
22.5
49
1
4.13
3.36
S 12.41
9.98
22.5
58
2
4.58
3.29
S 12.60
45.0
42
2
19.05
11.33
7.21
4.78
3.76
45.0
47
1
22.37
11.30
7.88
4.94
3.95
67.5
43
2
24.11
11.58
5.78
3.94
2.82
67.5
48
1
24.12
10.12
6.25
3.75
3.06
90.0
45
2
32.82
12.06
6.69
4.08
3.00
46
1
36.77
10.97
7.16
4.09
3.22
50
2
30.07
12.21
6.26
4.17
3.03
51
1
34.75
10.82
6.68
4.20
3.23
59
1
33.72
11.03
6.71
4.09
2.87
112.5
44
1
24.01
10.50
6.36
3.91
3.25
49
2
20.44
11.83
6.55
4.15
3.08
58
1
21.16
10.22
6.43
4.00
2.97
135.0
42
1
20.19
9.42
6.55
4.44
3.47
47
2
18.48
11.32
5.66
4.74
3.35
8.47
157.5
43
1
23.60
7.68
5.78
3.98
3.30
S 14.57
48
2
17.46
14.72
9.34
5.49
4.39
3.25
9.49
3.87
2.58
180.0
45
1
35.63
5.9
4.21
S 8.05
S 11.09
S 9.04
10.52
4.20
2.17
51
2
27.98
6.46
3.84
S 6.89
S 11.48
S 7.25
13.99
8.85
4.18
2.48
59
2
6.06
3.79
S 26.68
S 6.87
S 10.37
S 8.23
* denotes questionable data per original reference, S denotes peak pressure of secondary shock
22.5
44
30.69
S 13.23
34.45
S 12.68
34.53
S 10.48
45.15
40.37
72.31
71.13
165.78
108.08
136.64
169.17
147.52
67.98
68.23
65.53
41.98
40.38
Distance (ft)
16
21
5.36
2.64
S 10.14
S 8.82
4.17
2.63
S 8.59
S 8.61
4.46
4.04
S 7.38
3.86
5.93
S 7.12
5.62
8.35
Table 3: Summary of peak overpressure (psi) for L/D = 4/1 cylindrical charges.
As a side note, Error! Reference source not found. shows the test data from the spherical
Pentolite test compared to the TNT data compiled by Kingery and Bulmash. The distance is scaled
using just the weight of the charge and no adjustment for the TNT equivalence for Pentolite has been
applied. Properly defining TNT equivalence is an important issue to be discussed in a different
publication.
To summarize the effect of charge shape on peak overpressure the data for both the primary and
secondary shocks are first averaged across the various tests (Error! Reference source not found.)
and then the maximum of both peaks is used. Those data points noted in Reference [5] as being
suspect were not included. This allows for the effect of angle from the non-spherical charge to be
compared to the baseline of the spherical case by comparing the data of Error! Reference source
not found.. There is clearly an effect due to the shape of the charge which would result in different
blast loadings on an asset depending on the orientation of the charge relative to the asset. The
location of the initiation point of the charge is also key as evident in Error! Reference source not
found.. Again the initiation point was at the 180 end of the charge. If there were no effects due to
initiation location then the curve for 0 and 180 would coincide as would the 45 and 135 curves.
327
Figure 4: Variation in blast overpressure with scaled distance for the spherical Pentolite charges. Also
[1]
shown is a comparison to the TNT data from Kingery and Bulmash .
Figure 5: Sample data from the test documented in Reference [5] showing the secondary pulse
measured at 0 and 22.5 off the end of the charge.
328
Figure 6: Variation of peak overpressure associated with primary and secondary shocks at 0 and
22.5 off the end of the charge.
The variation in the farfield compares both in magnitude and trend to that for the case of a
spherical charge except for the directions off the ends of the charge. There is more variation seen in
1/3
scaled distances less than about Z = 8 ft/lbs . Because the data is plotted using a logarithmic scale,
the difference may not be immediately visible but consider the case of a 2,000 pound charge which is
a typical size associated with a VBIED. Using the data from the Pentolite tests, at a distance 70 feet
away the load from a spherical charge would be 27.5 psig. However at the same distance 90 from a
cylindrical charge of the same weight the over pressure would be 48.6 psig, almost twice as high.
Figure 7: Variation in the overpressure in different directions from the non-spherical charge.
329
Figure 8: Effect of initiation position used in the non-spherical charge.

Error! Reference source not found. shows that there is also an effect due to the location of the
detonator used in the charge, most noticeably off the ends of the cylinder. This limited review of test
data for a single non-spherical charge shows that there is an effect of charge shape on the blast
produced from a charge. Furthermore the effect varies with distance from and angle relative to the
charge.
This experimental data shows that there are shape effects on the peak overpressure from a blast,
1/3
particularly for scale distances less than Z=10 ft/lbs . For the range of charge sizes used in the
representative events listed in Table 1, this would be out to distances of 140 to 200 feet. When
considering the fact that most streets in urban areas are on the order of 100 feet wide, terrorist bombs
1/3
would be initiated well within a Z=10 ft/lbs from structures. This along with the fact that the dynamics
of the waves are seen to be highly dependent on the shape of the charge hence the loading of
structures will clearly vary with the shape of the charge.
3
MODELING OF SHAPE EFFECTS
3.1 Simulation Scenarios

Since there is limited, detailed test data documenting the blast signature from actual improvised
devices, modeling tools can be used to better quantify the effect of the shape of devices on the
destructive force they produce. Here a modeling tool that has benchmarked against test data is used
to investigate how the shape of potential terrorist bombs will affect the loading on structures [2, 3].
Though most terrorist attacks involve none-ideal explosives such as ANFO, here TNT will be used
since the objective is to highlight the role charge shape has on the difference between the blast actual
devices will produces versus the theoretical TNT sphere.
One of the common containers used to contain explosives in past events is the typical 55 gallon
3
3
drum. These drums have a capacity of approximately 7.71 ft and since TNT density is 103 lbs/ft
3
(1.65 g/cm ) each drum would hold 794 lbs of explosive. If it is assumed that eight drums where used
that would be a total charge size of 6,353 lbs which is in the middle of the range of the charge sizes
listed in Table 1. This charge size will be used and three shapes will be modeled.
Error! Reference source not found. shows the configuration used in simulating the charge
located in 55 gallon drums. Planes of symmetry were used so only two of the drums are explicitly
modeled. Though the vehicle in which the charge would be contained is not included in the simulation,
the charges are located 3 feet off the bottom of the domain to mimic how the device would be
elevated off the ground. It is assumed that each barrel would have an initiator in the center of its
volume.
Error! Reference source not found. shows the charge shape assumed if the explosive were
placed in a bulk fashion in the back of a dump truck. Though smaller containers like the 55 gallon
drums could be used to hold explosives in the bed of a dump truck, there have been numerous events
around the world where a VBIED consisted of bulk explosive in a dump truck. This simulation also
330
used planes of symmetry and the charge was located 3 feet from the ground plane. It is assumed that
the initiator is at the center of the charge volume.
The final charge shape simulated was to represent if the charge was placed inside a tanker truck.
The volume of the tanker would be a horizontal cylinder and the charge could take a variety of
shapes. The terrorist may pack just the lower portion of the tank. However here the shape shown in
Error! Reference source not found. is used so it would represent the scenario where the full depth
of the tank is packed with explosive, but not the complete length. Here too the charge is assumed to
be 3 feet off the ground and symmetry planes are used to reduce the computational domain. It is
assumed that the initiator is at the center of the charge volume.
The results from the three different charges will be compared to a spherical TNT charge also
positioned 3 feet above the ground plane. The output from this charge will be simulated since the data
collected by Kingery-Bulmash is for a charge detonated on the surface.
Figure 9: Configuration used in simulation of eight 55 gallon drums.
Figure 10: Configuration used in simulation of a charge in a dump truck.
331
Figure 11: Configuration used in simulation of an explosive in a tanker.
3.2 Free Field Results for Various Charge Shapes

The various configurations were simulated and the blast overpressure was recorded at various
locations using virtual pressure probes. The recordings were made at the ground plane and recorded
using the X-Y orientation as noted in the figures above. Error! Reference source not found. shows
the pressure time histories recorded at 50 ft from the center of the charges in both the axial and
lateral directions. The peak overpressure is seen to vary based on the direction and the shape of the
1/3
charge. This is a scaled distance of approximately 2.7 ft/lbs . The effect of wave reflection is seen in
the secondary pulses. These same effects are seen at 100 ft from the charges which is a scaled
1/3
distance of 5.4 ft/lbs as evident in the data in Error! Reference source not found..
Error! Reference source not found. shows the data at 400 ft which is a scaled distance of 21.4
1/3
ft/lbs and the charge shape effect is seen to be diminished. Error! Reference source not found.
1/3
shows pressure time histories along a line 45 from the charges. The data at 70 ft (Z=3.8 ft/lbs )
1/3
away shows a dependence on the shape but at 141 ft (Z=7.5 ft/lbs ) the effect is not evident. The
configuration using 55 gallon drums is found to produce blast patterns very different from the typically
assumed spherical shape. Since in an attack scenario a collection of drums could be arranged in a
variety of ways, the effect of arrangement on the blast needs to be understood. Therefore additional
scenarios were simulated and presented in a following section.
332
Figure 12: Pressure histories from the various scenarios at 50 ft from center of the charges.
333
Figure 15: Pressure histories from the various scenarios along the 45 line from the center of the
charges.
3.3 Effect of 55 Gallon Drum Arrangement

The use of 55 gallon drums to contain explosive charges in the implementation of malicious
attacks is common. Based on the initial simulations it is clear that the shape of the charge will affect
the blast loading. It can be further concluded that such dependency is known by those who would
perpetuate a bombing attack and they would work to optimize the arrangement. Therefore the role of
charge arrangement when barrels are used is investigated here using the configurations in Error!
Reference source not found.. A plane of symmetry was used to reduce simulation time. The results
are compared to the rectangular arrangement shown in Error! Reference source not found. and a
spherical charge.
The configurations used here were to mimic what one may do if they were trying to focus the blast
from the explosion much like a shaped charge will do. It has been reported that in some past attacks
such arrangements have been used. In the data presentation, the +Y direction will be referred to as
the direction of focusing while the X direction will be the lateral direction.
Figure 16: Eight 55 gallon drums arranged in a V and U shape.

Figure 17 shows the pressure time history recorded at 50 and 100 feet from the charge in the
direction of the blast focusing. The peak overpressures are found to be considerably higher than if the
barrels were arranged in a simple rectangular arrangement or from a spherical charge. The
directionality of the effect is evident in the data at locations in the direction opposite to that of the
focusing (-Y locations in Figure 17) and laterally to the charge, shown in Figure 18. Figure 19 shows
that the blast produced in directions 45 from the charge are similar in shape for all charges at 50 feet
away but the magnitudes are different. However once you are 100 feet away they are essentially the
same. This was seen in the earlier results in Section Error! Reference source not found. as well.
The difference between the V and U arrangement of the barrels is not significant but it is clear the
arrangement of the charge if such containers are employed can dramatically affect the blast output,
334
both in terms of the peak overpressure and the shape of the load which changes the duration and
impulse of the loading. These are key parameters when considering the response of structures to
explosive attacks.
Figure 17: Pressure time histories from charges using 55 gallon drums in direction of focusing.
Figure 18: Pressure time histories in the direction lateral to the various charges using 55 gallon
drums.
335
Figure 19: Pressure time histories at locations along a 45 line from center of the charges.
CONCLUSIONS
Evaluating the response of structures to potential terrorist attacks is a necessary task within the
context of various design and assessment activities. Routinely sophisticated analysis tools are used
to calculate response aspects such as element deflection and failure which are highly dependent on
the nature of the blast loading. However typically the loading used in the analysis is simply taken from
empirical data for spherical charges. As shown here the blast loading in magnitude and
characteristics are very dependent on the shape of the charge. A charge of the same size but
arranged in a different manner can substantially alter the magnitude of the loading.
Some may suggest that since it is impossible to know exactly what charge shape a terrorist would
employ there is no reason to consider those effects. This argument rings hollow in that it could be
used to justify performing no analysis at all since you also do not know exactly what charge size or
explosive type they will employ. It is common for the charge size to be selected based on either a
design based threat specified by a regulatory agency or based on the known weight capabilities of
vehicles. Even with these constraints the results here show that a variety of threat shapes should be
considered to fully appreciate the spectrum of potential blast loadings that a structure could be
exposed to. This does require the use of a more sophisticated blast analysis tool than a simple one
based on spherical data. However the use of such a sophisticated blast analysis tool would be
consistent with the level of structural analysis that is performed.
REFERENCES
[1] Kingery, C.N. and Bulmash, G., Airblast Parameters from TNT Spherical Air Burst and
Hemispherical Surface Burst, ARBRL-TR-02555, April 1984.
[2] Clutter, J.K., Mathis, J.T., and Stahl, M.W., Modeling Environmental Effects in the Simulation of
Explosion Events, Int. Journal of Impact Engineering, Vol. 34, No. 5, May 2007, pp. 973-989.
[3] Clutter, J.K., and Stahl, M.W., Hydrocode Simulations of Air and Water Shocks for Facility
Vulnerability Assessments, Journal of Hazardous Material, Vol. 106, No. 1,2, Jan 2004, pp. 9-24.
[4] US Dept of Energy, A Manual for the Prediction of Blast and Fragment Loadings on Structures,
DOE/TIC-11268, July 1992.
[5] Plooster, M.N., Blast Effects from Cylindrical Explosive Charges: Experimental Measurements,
NWC TP 6382, ,Naval Weapons Center, China Lake, California, November 1982.
336
th
EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION OF THE PERFORMANCE OF RC

FRAMES IN RESISTING PROGRESSIVE COLLAPSE
Waleed El Sayed*, Mohamed A. N. Abdel-Mooty* and Mohamed E. Issa*
*
Structural Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, Egypt

e-mail: <mamooty@aucegypt.edu>
Keywords: Blast load, masonry wall, axial load, nonlinear numerical modelling, dynamic,
ANSYS
Abstract. This paper presents the experimental program performed to study the
progressive collapse resistance of moment resisting frame designed and detailed
in accordance with the Egyptian code provisions for seismic design. Half-scale
specimens of the first story were extracted from the frame structure prototype.
Each specimen represented a two-bay beam resulting from the removal of middle
supporting column of the lower floor. In all specimens, the exterior two short
columns were restrained against horizontal and vertical displacements and a
monotonic vertical load was applied on the middle column stub to simulate the
vertical load of the upper stories. Gradually increasing vertical load at the location
of the removed column is continuously applied and increased up to failure. The
cracking patterns, strains and the deformations at selected locations are recorded
for further analysis. Different reinforcement ratios and details are examined in this
study to evaluate its effect on the collapse resistance performance of the frame.
The nonlinear response of the frame to the removal of the column is evaluated
and the amount of energy absorbed during the course of deformation is
calculated.
1
INTRODUCTION
Progressive collapse occurs due to abnormal loading causing initial local damage which
consequently leads to the total collapse of the entire structure or large part of it. The goal of
designing structures to resist progressive collapse is to reduce the risk of mass casualties in the
event of abnormal load. General Services Administration (GSA) and Department of Defense
(DOD) developed guidelines to address the issue of progressive collapse in the case of an
[1, 2]
abnormal loading in the structure
.
GSA recommends the consideration of specific structural characteristics to enhance structural
resistance and to mitigate the potential of progressive collapse. Those include: redundancy,
proper detailing, the capacity to resist reversible loadings, and avoiding shear failure.
Redundancy increases the overall robustness of the structure and helps ensure availability of
alternate load paths in case of sudden failure of a structural element. Proper detailing of
connections achieves continuity of the primary structural members and ensure redundancy. The
ductile behavior of reinforced concrete elements, largely governed by detailing, is essential for
the adequate redistribution of loads. It is recommended that both the structural elements to be
designed to desist load reversals due to failure of a structural element. In order to insure ductile
behavior and proper redistribution of loads, it is essential to prevent the brittle shear failure and
337
Waleed El Sayed, Mohamed A. N. Abdel-Mooty and Mohamed E. Issa
that the ultimate strength is governed by the flexural capacity.

The study of the behavior of RC framed structures during progressive collapse has recently
[3-9]
[4]
been the subject of many research works . Yi et al carried out an experimental study on a
four-bay and three-story one-third scale model of reinforced concrete frame. They concluded that,
failure resulting from progressive collapse was ultimately controlled by the rupture of reinforcing
[5]
steel bars in the floor beams. Sasani and Sagiroglu demonstrated that the structural elements
designed to sever wind and seismic effects had larger capacities and they would have a higher
likelihood of confining the initial local damage and preventing progressive collapse. However, in
[6]
another study by Yu and Tan it was concluded that, seismic detailing has no obvious advantage
in developing catenary action since it focuses mainly on enhancing the shear resistance. Sasani
[7]
et al studied the removal of the load bearing element of a 10-story reinforced concrete structure
and found that the modulus rapture of concrete is an important parameter in limiting the attained
[8]
vertical displacement. Sasani and Sagiroglu performed experimental testing on a 6 story
reinforced concrete hotel. Two adjacent exterior columns, including a corner column, were
simultaneously removed. It was determined that bidirectional Vierendeel action played an
important role in redistributing loads and that moments in the beams near the removed columns
did change directions. The progressive collapse of a 20 story reinforced concrete hospital by
removal of internal column using explosives was experimentally studied by Sasani and
[9]
Sagiroglu . The study showed that the lower floors, nearest the removed column, experienced
larger changes in forces and deformations when compared to the higher floors. They claimed that
larger structures are not more susceptible to progressive collapse since the structural system has
high reserved capacity for redistributed loads.
This paper presents an experimental program developed to study the progressive collapse
resistance of moment resisting frame designed and detailed in accordance with the Egyptian
code provisions for seismic design. Half-scale specimens of the first story were extracted from
the frame structure prototype. Each specimen represented a two-bay beam resulting from the
removal of middle supporting column of the lower floor. Different concrete strength and different
reinforcement ratios and details are examined in this study to evaluate their effect on the collapse
resistance performance of the frame. The nonlinear response of the frame to the removal of the
column is evaluated and the amount of energy absorbed during the course of deformation is
calculated for the different configurations.
2
The experimental program is designed to study the progressive collapse resistance of moment
resisting frame designed and detailed in accordance with the Egyptian code provisions for
seismic design (ECP 203-2007). Twelve half-scale specimens of the first story were extracted
from the frame structure prototype, only five specimens are reported in this paper. Figure 1
shows the prototype frame and the extracted specimens. Each specimen represents a two-bay
beam after the removal of the middle supporting column at the lower floor.
The parameters studied in this experimental program are:
The effect of seismic design provisions and detailing of moment resisting frame structures
on resisting progressive collapse.
The effect of reinforcing steel properties on the beam behavior and mode of failure.
The effect of concrete compressive strength on progressive collapse resistance.
Elevation
Plan
Figure 1: Prototype building frame
338
Figure 2: Test specimen concrete dimensions (mm).
Figure 3: Reinforcement details and instrumentation of specimen S2
Figure 4: Specimen during test
Test
Specimen
Concrete
Strength
(MPa)
S1
39.3
S2
43.7
S7
41.0
S9
40.0
S11
84.1
Longitudinal bars
Top bars
(RFT %)
2 bars 10mm
(0.50%)
3 bars 10mm
(0.75%)
3 bars 10mm
(0.75%)
3 bars 13mm
(1.28%)
3 bars 10mm
(0.75%)
Bottom bars
(RFT %)
2 bars 10mm
(0.50%)
6 bars 10mm
(1.50%)
6 bars 10mm
(1.50%)
6 bars 13mm
(2.55%)
6 bars 10mm
(1.50%)
6 mm diam. ties
Spacing (mm)
Remarks
100
No seismic
provisions
50
Control Specimen
50
No lap Splice
50
Mild Steel
50
High strength
Concrete
Table 1: Test specimens properties

339
Nominal
diameter
(mm)
6
10
13
Grade
Type
240/350
360/520
240/350
Mild
High tensile
Mild
Actual
area
2
(mm )
28.3
78.5
132.8
Yield
strength
(MPa)
34850
55800
31870
Ultimate
strength
(MPa)
51010
70950
49070
Elongation
(%)
32.2
15
31.25
Table 2: Properties of reinforcing steel

The prototype building considered in this study is a seven story office building located in Cairo.
The typical story height is 3.0 m and the ground floor height is 4.0 m as shown in Figure 1. The
structural system of all floors is solid slabs and projected beams. The building was designed and
detailed in accordance with the Egyptian code provisions for seismic design [10]. The following
loads were considered for the design of prototype: (i) self-weigh of the floor with slab thickness
2
120 mm and beams in addition to super imposed dead loads for flooring equals to 1.50 KN/m ; (ii)
2
live loads 3.0 KN/m ; (iii) equivalent dead load for walls on the floor beams: 10.0 KN/m for the
exterior walls and 5.0 KN/m for the interior walls; (iv) earthquake lateral loads as per Egyptian
Code. The building is considered to be located in Cairo in seismic zone 3, with design ground
acceleration ag = 0.15g. A compressive strength of 350 MPa for concrete and a yielding strength
of 360MPa for the steel reinforcement were considered in the design of the members. The
section of the columns in the prototype structure was 400400 mm and the longitudinal
reinforcing ratio was = 1.0%. The cross section of the beams was 250500 mm in all stories and
longitudinal reinforcing ratio was 0.71% for the mid span bottom reinforcement and 0.89% for top
reinforcement at the negative moments locations.
In this research the test specimen represents a half scale model of two adjacent beam spans
resulting from the removal of middle supporting column of the first story in prototype building
Figure 2. All specimens had the same concrete dimensions and varied in, the reinforcement ratio,
reinforcement steel properties, reinforcement details and concrete compressive strength. Test
specimens were designated as S1, S2, S7, S9, and S11, as shown in Table 1. The specimen S1
is designed to vertical load only wih no specific seismic details as required by Egyptian Code.
The bottom Reinforcement stopped at the middle column faces with no transverse reinforcement
concentration at the beam ends or beam-column joints as per code requirement for seismic
resistance. The specimens of S2, S7, S9, and S11 represent frames designed and detailed in
accordance with the Egyptian code provisions for seismic design (ECP 203-2007) [10]. Specimen
S2 represents the control specimen. Specimen S7 is the same as S2 but with no lap splice in the
middle column zone where the bottom reinforcement extended over the two spans. Specimens
S9 has the same details as the specimens S2, but using mild steel for the beam reinforcement
instead of high tensile steel. Specimen S11 is the same as the specimen S2, but with high
strength concrete instead of normal strength concrete. The details of tested specimens and
overall dimensions are shown in Table 1 and the properties of used reinforcing steel are shown in
Table 2. Figure 3 shows the typical reinforcement details of specimen S2. In all specimens, the
exterior two short columns were restrained against horizontal and vertical displacements during
the test and a monotonic vertical load was applied on the middle column stub to simulate the
vertical load of the upper floors. Figure 4, shows the test setup and the specimen in the loading
frame.
Electrical strain gauge type FLA-6-11-1L of gauge length 6 mm was used to measure strain in
the reinforcing steel bars. Strain gauges were bonded to the reinforcing bars at predefined
locations as shown in Figure 3. For concrete, electrical strain gauge type PL-60-11-1L was used
to measure strain on concrete surface at top and bottom surface of the beam near columns. A
linear variable displacement transducer (LVDT) was attached to each specimen under the middle
column stub to measure the vertical displacement produced due to the applied vertical load. A
computer controlled data acquisition system consists of 16 channels with maximum sampling rate
5 kHz was used to collect and record data from different sensors (load, displacement and strain
measurements). The sampling rate used in the test was 2 Hz.
All specimens were tasted under applied vertical downward load to simulate the gravity load
acting on the location of the removed middle column. The data acquisition system recorded
continuously the readings of the load cell, LVDT and strains in reinforcing steel and concrete
surface. The test continued under increasing monotonic loading until the failure of specimen. The
failure of specimen was attained when the rapture of reinforcement occurred.
340
Figure 5: Cracks pattern of Specimen S1
Figure 6: Crack pattern of Specimen S2.
Figure 7: Rapture of top reinforcement

of specimen S2
Figure 8: Cracking pattern of Specimen S7
Figure 9: Crack pattern of Specimen S9
Figure 10: Failure of the compression zone

of specimen S11
EXPERIMENTAL TEST RESULTS
3.1 Cracking patterns and modes of failure

Cracks were observed and marked during testing for all specimens to follow cracking history until
failure mechanism was reached. For specimen S1, the first flexure crack developed at the tension
zone adjacent to the column stub face at load 10 kN. With increasing load, the flexural cracks spread
along the beam almost symmetrically about the middle column stub. Flexure cracks at maximum
positive moment zone became wider and extended to compressive zone. Crushing of concrete at the
compression zone was observed at load 45.0 KN. The maximum reached load was 47.0 KN and
maintained constant for a while before starting to decrease slowly. However, the vertical deflection
continued to increase up to failure. At the end of test, the bottom reinforcing steel ruptured at the face
of middle column stub, Figure 5.
Similar behavior was observed for Specimen S2, however, the first crack initiated at negative
moment zone adjacent to the right column support at load 15 kN. The positive moment zone adjacent
341
to the middle column stub showed first crack at load 35 kN. With the increase of the applied load,
flexural cracks spread along the beam and propagated vertically. After reaching the maximum load of
107.4 kN, crushing of the concrete at the compressive zone adjacent to the middle column stub was
observed and the crack at the end of the lab splice of the bottom reinforcement became wider. This
wide crack initiated vertically and then propagated diagonally. At the failure of specimen S2, the top
reinforcement ruptured adjacent to the right and the left column supports. The cracking pattern of
specimen S2 and top reinforcement rapture are presented in Figures 6 and 7, respectively.
The specimen S7 started to crack at load about 20 kN then cracks spread along the beam length
with increasing load. At load 65 kN, crushing in the concrete compression zones adjacent to middle
column stub was observed. At displacement of 22 mm rapture of the total bottom reinforcement bars
occurred. Figure 8 presents cracking pattern of specimen S7.
For Specimen S9 with mild steel, the first crack initiated vertically at the end of bottom lab splice at
load 35 kN and propagated diagonally with the increasing of applied load. At load of 110 kN a small
slippage occurred at bottom and top reinforcement hooks then, crushing of concrete around hooks
was observed. The concrete compression zones failed at load of 116.0 KN. At later stage of test, wide
crack initiated at the end of lab splice of bottom reinforcement and propagated diagonally. Test was
stopped after the actuator reached its maximum stroke. No rapture in reinforcing steel occurred due to
the high ductility of mild steel. Figure 9 shows cracking pattern and slippage of reinforcement of S9.
For the specimen S11 with high strength concrete, cracks were limited at the beginning of the test,
where the first crack initiated at load of 35 KN and displacement of 5.98 mm. After the applied load
reached 65 kN, cracks spread along the beam span. At load 105 KN and displacement 54 mm, local
crushing in concrete at compression zone adjacent to middle column stub was observed. When the
vertical displacement reached 87 mm, concrete crushing occurred in the base of right column support
resulting in sudden drop of the applied load. At displacement of 225 mm the compression zone
adjacent to middle column stub totally crushed, as shown in Figure 10. At Displacement of 264.0 mm
rapture of top reinforcing bar occurred.
3.2 Load-displacement behavior
The load-displacement curves of all specimens are shown in Figures 11-13. As the test specimens
have the same dimensions and test setup the flexural capacity will be referred by the maximum
resisted load. The maximum flexure capacity for specimen S1 was 48.50 KN at vertical displacement
of 97.43 mm, then the applied load started to decrease gradually with the increase of displacement to
the value of 38.10 KN at displacement of 208 mm. Sudden drop of the carrying-load value occurred
due to the rapture of reinforcing steel bars.
The maximum flexure capacity of specimen of S2 was 107.40 KN, greater than that of S1, and the
corresponding displacement was 61.1 mm which lower compared to that of S1. Then the specimen
showed softer resistance to the applied load with the increasing of vertical displacement due to
geometrical and material nonlinearity. When the applied load reached 95.20 KN, and vertical
displacement of 171.8 mm, a sudden drop in the applied load occurred due to the rapture of
reinforcing steel bars.
Specimen S7 showed maximum flexural capacity of 77.50 KN at displacement of 115.40 mm. The
load-carrying value of specimen decreased gradually until the rupture of bottom reinforcement. The
rupture of reinforcement produced a sudden drop of specimen resistance at displacement of 190 mm.
By the end of the test, the specimen loss 60% of its maximum capacity due to the rupture of
reinforcing steel bars.
The carried load on specimen S9 increased with the increase in vertical displacement until it
reached 105.70 KN. Sudden reduction then occurred due to slippage of the bottom reinforcement.
The flexural capacity of specimen increased again and reached maximum value of 117.50 KN at
displacement 88.50mm. The resistance of specimen decreased gradually to the lowest capacity of
93.0 KN. Due to catenary action the specimen resistance increased again and the measured load by
the end of test was 109.40 KN at displacement of 416.3 mm which is the maximum stroke of the used
actuator. The reinforcement in S9 did not ruptured due to the high ductility of mild steel.
For specimen S11, the maximum flexural capacity was 108.0 KN at a displacement of 51.70 mm
then, the load resistance gradually reduced to 102.20 KN with increased displacement. Sudden drop
of specimen resistance occurred due to the crushing of the concrete cover of the column support.
After that, the flexural capacity decreased gradually to 96.0 KN at displacement of 227 mm.
Successive sudden drops occurred due to the rupture of reinforcing bars.
342

140
S1
S2
S7
120
Load (KN)
100
80
60
40
20
0
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
Deflection (mm)
140
140
120
120
100
100
Load (KN)
Load (KN)
Figure 11: Load-displacement curves for specimens S1, S2 and S7.
80
60
40
20
80
60
40
20
0
0
50
100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450
50
Displacement (mm)
100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450
Displacement (mm)
Figure 12: Load-displacement curve for S9
Figure 13: Load-displacement curve for S11
3.3 Strain measurements

Variations of the strains in the longitudinal bottom and top reinforcing steel bars at the critical
sections are presented versus the applied load in Figures 14-18. It is observed that, some measured
strains did not reach yielding because the gauges stopped measuring due to lack of continuous bond
between the reinforcing steel bar and the gauge. It is noted that, the steel strain reached yielding
strain before the maximum flexure capacity was reached. Table 3 presents yielding load, ultimate load
and the ratio between yield and ultimate loads. Yielding load of reinforcement is identified as the load
at the first yielding of reinforcement based on load-strain curve and according to the reinforcement
properties as indicated at Table 2.
The variation of top surface strains in concrete are presented as a function of the applied vertical
load, as shown in Figure 19 for specimen S11. The negative sign of strain indicates compression
strain. It is observed that with the increasing applied load, the compressive strain increased gradually
until certain value where compression failure occurred and the readings of strain became nonsense.
The reduction of concrete compressive strain in S11 occurred due to release of the compressive
strain because the concrete failed outside strain gauge zone.
S1
S2
S7
Yiled Load Py of Bottom

RFT
(KN)
22.0
86.50
45.0
S9
S11
N/A
93.0
Specimen
Ultimate load Pult

(KN)
Ratio Py/Pult
48.40
107.40
77.50
45.5%
80.5%
58.1%
117.50
108.0
-86.1%
Table 3: Yield load and ultimate load capacity.

343
Waleed El Sayed, Mohamed A. N. Abdel-Mooty

Mooty and Mohamed E. Issa
120
120
100
100
Load (KN)
140
Load (KN)
140
80
60
40
80
60
40
20
20
0
0
0
10
6
-3) 8
Strain (1x10
Strain (1x10--3)
10
140
140
120
120
100
100
Load (KN)
Load (KN)
Figure 14: Load-strain curve, bottom RFT of S1 Figure 15: Load-strain

strain curve, bottom RFT of S2
80
60
80
60
40
40
20
20
10
Strain (1x10-33)
Figure 16: Load-strain

strain curve, bottom RFT of S7
10

strain curve, top RFT of S9
140
140
120
120
100
100
80
80
Load (KN)
Load (KN)
Strain (1x10-3)
60
40
20
60
40
20
0
0
10
Strain (10-33)
-2
-4
-6
-8
-10
Strain (10-3)

strain curve, top RFT of S11 Figure 19: Load-strain
strain at concrete surface of S11
Specimen
Maximum Load
Pmax
(kN)
Deflacion at Pmax
(mm)
Maximum deflacion
max
(mm)
Load P at max
(kN)
S1
S2
S7
S9
48.4
107.4
76.6
117.5
97.43
61.11
89.74
85.90
209.11
213.77
240.66
416.33
14.1
50.5
31.0
107.2
S11
108.0
51.71
435.90
42.6
Table 4: Summary of load and displacement test results.

results
344
ANALYSIS OF TEST RESULTS
4.1 Flexural Strength Analysis

The flexural strengths of the tested specimens are evaluated and compared using the
maximum carried-load value and the corresponding displacement. The effect of seismic design
and detailing on flexural strength is presented. Table 4 presents the load and deflection results of
all tested specimens. Where, the first and second column present maximum carried-load values
and the corresponding displacements, respectively. The third and fourth columns present the
maximum displacement attained at the end of the test and the corresponding load, respectively.
By comparing the results of the specimens of S1, S2 and S7 it can be found that, the
maximum load carried by specimen S2 (designed according to seismic provisions) is greater than
that attained by specimen S1 (which was designed for gravity load only). The specimen S1
showed a flexible behavior where the maximum attained load occurred at larger displacement
compared to the other two specimens. Specimen S7, which was designed according to seismic
provisions, has bottom reinforcement ratio 50% lower than that of specimen S2 due to the
continuity of the bottom reinforcement with no lab splice for the bottom reinforcement at the
middle joint. S7 showed load-carried value smaller than S2 and the corresponding deflection was
greater than S2. As shown in Figure 11, the design according to seismic provisions improved the
flexure strength of reinforcing concrete structures; therefore, it improves the progressive collapse
resistant.
In spite of using the same reinforcement ratio, there is no significant effect of
compressive strength of concrete on the ultimate flexural strength of specimens, where S2 and
S11 had the same ultimate strength but, the corresponding displacement of the ultimate load of
S11 was lower than that of S2.
4.2 Displacement Ductility
In general, ductility is the ability of the reinforced concrete member to sustain large
inelastic deformations without excessive deterioration in strength or stiffness. The displacement
ductility is used here to evaluate the performance of the test specimens. The displacement
ductility factor is calculated according to Park [11] using the measured displacement at the
middle of the beam as: = f / y. f is the displacement at 80% of the ultimate load on the
descending branch of load-displacement curve or the displacement at the rapture of reinforcing
steel, whichever occurred first. y is the yield displacement, it can be calculated as the secant
stiffness at 0.75 of the ultimate load, as shown in Figure 20.
Figure 20: Determination of yield and maximum displacements and initial stiffness.
By referring to load-displacement curves of the test specimens, it can be observed that
the failure was defined by rapture of reinforcing steel except S9. According to Park definition of f
a significant portion of ductility will be ignored by neglecting the displacement after that
corresponding to 80% of the ultimate load in the descending branch of the load-displacement
curve. Thus, f used in the calculation of displacement ductility will be taken as the displacement
when the rupture of reinforcement occurred or the displacement corresponding to 10% rotation of
the clear span of specimen. The displacement corresponding to 10% rotation is 380mm.
345
Table 5 presents the displacement ductility factors () of the tested specimens. By

comparing the ductility factors of S1 and S2, it can be observed that, the seismic design and
detailing increased the ductility factor of S2 by about 22%. Thus, the designed and detailed
structures according to seismic provisions have the ability to resist progressive collapse
comparing to that designed only for gravity loads. For mild-steel reinforced specimens S9, the
ductility ratio is much higher than that for high tensile steel S2 and S7. The high ductility of mild
steel permitted specimen S9 to undergo large deformation without the rupture of reinforcement.
The High-strength concrete specimens also showed relatively higher ductility over the normal
strength concrete due to the delayed failure of the specimen.
Specimen
S1
50.712
208
4.1
S2
35.328
176.92
5.0
S7
51.283
189.39
3.69
S9
31.909
380
11.91
S11
25.641
227.35
8.87
Table 5: Displacement ductility factors for the tested specimens.
S1
S2
Stiffness
(KN/m)
954.65
3040.91
S7
S9
S11
1536.51
3682.94
4210.91
Specimen
Energy absorbed (kN-mm)
Table 6: Initial stiffness of the test specimens.

50000
40000
30000
20000
10000
0
S1
S2
S7
S9
S11
Figure 21: Energy absorbed by the different specimens during loading.

The ability of structure to absorb energy due to inelastic deformation is one of the significant
factors for a structure to resist progressive collapse. The energy absorbed by the specimen
during test is defined as the area enclosed by the load-displacement curve. Figure 21 presents
energy absorbed by the tested specimens. It is clear that, the specimens designed according to
the seismic provisions absorbed more energy compared to that designed according to gravity
load only. The specimen S2 absorbed energy 128% more than S1. Specimen S9 with mild steel
reinforcement showed the highest ability to absorb energy. All specimens presented in Figure 21
absorbed more energy than Specimen S1.
4.4 Formation of catenary action mechanism
Catenary action can be defined as redistribution of the applied vertical loads on middle joint
346
to neighboring columns through the axial tensile forces developed in the bridging beams. The
contribution of catenary action in the load redistribution increases as the deflection and thus the
slope of the bridging beams increases. Since the vertical component of the axial force in the
beam would be larger as the slope increase, so the load carried value increased by the end of
test (i.e. at the largest vertical displacement). This phenomenon explains the increase of loadcarrying value of some specimens after the yield of reinforcing steel bars. It can be observed that,
specimens S1, S2, S7 and S11, specimens with high tensile steel reinforcement, failed to
produce catenary action due to the rapture of the reinforcing steel. However, specimen S9
developed catenary action without failure of reinforcing steel bars. That can be explained by the
high ductility of the mild steel used in the main reinforcement of this specimen.
5.6 Flexural Stiffness
Stiffness is the property that quantifies and controls the deformations of structural
elements under the action of applied loads. In other words, it is the quantity that relates the
applied loads to the structural element deformation. The stiffness of test specimen is computed
based on the secant stiffness to the load-displacement curve at a load of about 75% of the
ultimate load, as shown in Figure 20. Table 6 presents the flexural stiffness of test specimens. It
is observed that, the specimen designed according to seismic provisions (S2) provided flexural
stiffness more than that designed for gravity load only (S1). The flexural stiffness of S2 was three
times the flexural stiffness of S1.
5
CONCLUSIONS
Experimental evaluation of the performance of reinforced concrete frame in resisting

progressive collapse considered in this research. Half-scale specimens of the first story were
extracted from the frame structure prototype designed in accordance with the Egyptian code
provisions for seismic design. Progressive collapse loading is simulated by gradually increasing
vertical load at the location of the removed column continuously applied and increased up to
failure. Twelve half-scale specimens tested, only five specimens are reported in this paper. The
parameters studied in this experimental program include: the effect of seismic design provisions
and detailing, the effect of reinforcing steel properties, and the effect of concrete compressive
strength on progressive collapse resistance. The cracking patterns, strains and the deformations
at selected locations are recorded for further analysis. The nonlinear response of the frame to the
removal of the column is evaluated and the amount of energy absorbed during the course of
deformation is calculated.
It is demonstrated that, the design according to seismic provisions improves the flexure
strength of reinforcing concrete structures. Thus, it improves the progressive collapse resistant of
reinforced concrete structures. In spite of using the same reinforcement ratio, there is no
significant effect of compressive strength of concrete on the ultimate flexural strength of
specimens. The seismic design and detailing increases the ductility factor by about 22% over
gravity load designed specimens. Specimens reinforced by mild steel have much higher ductility
ratio compared to those with high tensile steel reinforcement. The energy absorption capacity of
specimens design according to seismic design is as high as 128% over those designed for gravity
loads. Furthermore, the use of mild steel reinforcement increases the energy absorbing capacity
of the specimens. The use of mild steel also enhances the capacity of specimen to developed
catenary action without failure of reinforcing steel bars. It is observed that, the specimen
designed according to seismic provisions provide much higher flexural stiffness, up to three folds,
than that designed for gravity load only.
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348
th
MULTIHAZARDS ASSESSMENT AND MITIGATION:

RELIABILITY VS. RISK
Mohammed M. Ettouney* and Sreenivas Alampalli
*
Principal, Weidlinger Associates, Inc.

40 Wall Street, New York City, NY, USA
e-mail: <mohammed.ettouney@wai.com> webpage: http://www.wai.com
Keywords: Risk, reliability, Bayesian Networks, Multihazards, Consequences, Exposure.
Abstract. Reliability-based design principles, while ensures safe performance, do

not generally guarantee cost effectiveness. Risk-based designs call for
accommodation of any/all hazards that degrade performance. By definition, they
also accommodate safety as well as costs. We can extend these differences
between reliability and risk beyond design phase to mitigation, if and when
mitigation is required. This paper explores the differences between the popular
reliability design/mitigation practice and the emerging risk design/mitigation
process. It is shown that reliability state-of-the-art ensures safety but does not
guarantee cost-effective performance. Risk based processes promise to generate
safe as well as cost-effective performance.
1
INTRODUCTION
It was shown that if we define hazards as any event that can degrade the system
performance, any decisions made during design/retrofit/rehabilitation regarding one hazard will
[1]
have an effect on the system behavior due to any other hazard that might affect the system .
The implication of this theory are immense. For example, during design of any structural system
based on reliability principles, some hazards are accommodated objectively (such as
earthquakes, live loads, or temperature demands), while other hazards are accommodated
subjectively (such as corrosion or wear and tear). In addition, reliability based design principles
while ensure safe performance, do not guarantee cost-effectiveness. Risk based designs call for
accommodation of any/all hazards that degrade performance. Also, risk based designs
accommodate safety as well as costs (by definition). We can extend these differences between
reliability and risk beyond design phase to mitigation, if and when mitigation is required. This
paper explores the differences between the popular reliability based design/mitigation practice
and the emerging risk based design/mitigation process. It is shown that reliability state-of-the-art
ensures safety but does not guarantee cost-effective performance. Risk based processes
promise to generate safe as well as cost-effective performance.
2
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
2.1 Overview
This section provides a brief overview of risk management, multihazards, and Bayesian networks
[2-3]
terminology used in this paper. We follow Ettouney and Alampalli
handling of risk management.
______________________________
Director, Structures Evaluation Services Bureau, New York State Department of Transportation, 50 Wolf Road,
Albany, NY, 12232. e-mail: sreenivas.alampalli@dot.ny.gov, webpage: http://dot.ny.gov
349
Mohammed M. Ettouney and Sreenivas Alampalli
For more information about risk management and multihazards concepts in civil infrastructures, see
[2-
3].
2.2 Vulnerabilities, hazards (threats), and consequences

Perhaps the most widely practiced component of risk management is risk assessment. A generic
risk definition of risk assessment can be an expression of a relationship between particular hazard (or
threat) that might degrade the performance of the infrastructure under consideration and the
consequences that might result from such performance degradation. Note that we are using the most
general definition of threat in our discussion. For example corrosion, fatigue, wear and tear,
earthquakes, or floods are all threats. Most fields including engineering, finance, insurance, and
[4]
medicine, seem to adopt a variant of this particular definition of risk . For example, the infrastructure
community uses an objective risk definition as a function of consequences (C), threats (T), and
vulnerabilities (V). The function depends on the desired degree of complexity used for risk analysis,
with the simple definition being a product of all three factors (i.e., Risk = C . T. V).
2.3 Reliability and exposure
Let us define reliability, in general, as a relationship between capacity and demand or vulnerability
and hazards. Let us also define exposure as a relationship between capacity and demand but in an
inverse manner to reliability, i.e., high reliability = low exposure and low reliability = high exposure.
2.4 Risk
As noted earlier, risk can be defined as a relationship between capacity (or vulnerability which is
the inverse of capacity), demand (hazard), and consequence. Figure 1 shows this relationship
between risk, exposure, and reliability.
Figure 1: Risk model

2.5 Multihazards (MH)
th
A generic definition of MH is offered as the effect of changes resulting from the i hazard on a
[2-3]
particular subject
. For example, a decision maker might be interested in how the risks or
reliabilities resulting for the i
th
hazard,
Ri i and Re l i , respectively, will be affected by a change
in the social or economic consequences. Another example of MH effects would be the changes in
th
the total risk of a particular system due to the changes in the i hazard. Clearly, the above
definition results in numerous objective MH definitions and more on this subject can be found
[2]
elsewhere . These MH effects cannot be computed without accounting for the complex links and
interaction effects between different variables of the problem.
350
2.6 Bayesian networks (BN)

Given the essential uncertainties of computing risks and reliabilities and the paramount
importance of accounting links and dependence of different variables, we propose to use
[5]
Bayesian Networks (BN) as our computational tool. BN is a well-developed technique . There
are four general steps for solving BN: (a) Identifying/defining the main variables of the problem.
These variables are usually, but not always, random. (b) Defining the links between the variables.
These links are directional and represent dependence between the variables. (c) Building
conditional probability tables (CPT) for the variables. (d) Defining observations (evidence), if any,
for the variables. This last step is not needed if we are only interested in computing historical
(prior) probabilities of the variables. When computing MH effects, for the purpose of this work, we
will not be introducing any observations or evidence.
3
MH CONSIDERATIONS FOR RISK AND RELIABILITY DUE TO INDEPENDENT HAZARDS
3.1 Problem definition

We investigate here situations where risks and reliabilities of different hazards are computed
separately. However, we still insist on using single model for the computations. Of course, if we
use separate models for each hazard, computing MH effects would not be possible. Consider the
BN model shown in Figure 2. It consist of two hazards H _1 and H _ 2 . The model will assume
that the system on hand exhibits vulnerability V . The results of each of the two hazards and the
system vulnerability yield respective reliabilities Re l _1 and Re l _ 2 . We also assume a
consequences variable C which, coupled with the hazards and vulnerabilities would produce two
separate risks Ri _ 1 and Ri _ 2 . Note that even though H _1 and H _ 2 are assumed to be
independent, their resulting risks and reliability estimates are not, since
This commonality is the reason for the interaction between the hazards.
Figure 2: BN Model for independent hazards
351
V and C are common.
3.2 BN model
Assuming that all the variables in the BN model are discrete and random, the ranks and the
states of the variables are shown in the Table 1. Note that we choose monetary units to define
risks, Ri _1 and Ri _ 2 . Obviously, the risks from each hazard have different monetary ranges.
This is one of the advantages of using absolute risk instead of relative risk modeling (see next
example): we do not have to use same relative scale to define risks. The CPT of this model can
be found elsewhere [6-7].
Variable
H _1
H _2
V
Re l _1
Re l _ 2
C
Ri _1
Ri _ 2
Rank
2
States
High demand, Low demand
2
2
High, Low
High (Unsafe), Low (Safe)
High (Unsafe), Low (Safe)
2
5
High, Low
$10,000, $1,000, $100, $5, $1
$100,000, $50,000, $10,000, $1,000, $100
Table 1. Ranks and states used in the BN model
3.3 Historical probabilities

The first step in evaluating the MH effects of this model is to evaluate the historical (prior)
probabilities. The results are shown in Figure 3. These results indicate that the system has been
historically safe for all demands of H _ 2 while being unsafe for the higher demands of H _1 . Of
course, when we consider the historically low consequences for both hazards, we still get higher
risks for H _1 , albeit on a relatively lower level than when using reliability as a measure.
3.4 MH interaction
As noted earlier, we are interested in MH effect which computes changes in Re l _1 , Re l _ 2 ,
Ri_1 and Ri_ 2 due to changes in C while keeping the level of hazards H _1 and H _ 2
dRi _1 dRi _ 2 d Re l _1
d Re l _ 2
constant. In effect, we are interested in evaluating
,
,
, and
.
dC
dC
dC
dC
These need to be computed at each state of the discrete random variables. The MH vectors are
shown in Table 2 for MH risks and Table 3 for MH reliability [7]. We immediately observe that
reliability variable is independent of consequences as expected. We also see how risk states
change as consequences change -- valuable information for any decision maker. Similar MH
tables can be obtained at different hazards level, which ultimately can provide for
2 Ri _ 2
.
C H _1
352
2 Ri _1
and
C H _ 2
Figure 3: Historical probabilities
dRi _1
dC
State of
Ri_1
Ri_ 2
dRi _ 2
dC
$1
$5
$100
$1,000
$10,000
-0.046
-0.101
0.020
-0.045
0.173
$100
$1,000
$10,000
$50,000
$100,000
-0.347
0.009
0.100
0.134
0.105
State of
Table 2: Changes in risks considering MH effect
d Re l _1
dC
State of
Re l _1
High (safe)
Low (unsafe)
State of
Re l _ 2
0.000
0.000
High (safe)
Low (unsafe)
d Re l _ 2
dC
0.000
0.000
Table 3: Changes in reliabilities considering MH effect
MULTIHAZARDS CONSIDERATIONS FOR TOTAL RISK AND RELIABILITY
4.1 Problem definition

Many situations compel the decision maker to compute total risk of multitude of hazards that
[6]
might affect the system . Some of these hazards might be affecting the system continuously,
such as corrosion and/or fatigue. Let us define combined corrosion and fatigue hazard as
353
Corr Fat . Other hazards (such as high wind, severe floods, or earthquakes) might affect the
system in abnormal or random manner. Let us define these hazards generically as Abn.H . Let
us further assume that the system under consideration is inspected at routine intervals as well as
after it is subjected to an abnormal hazard. In such a case, routine visual inspections, V .I . are
generally intended to observe the Corr Fat damage, while special inspection S .V .I . , is
intended to observe the damage if and when an Abn.H . affects the structure. The exposure E is
related to both types of hazards as well as to both types of visual inspection. Obviously, reliability
Re l is directly related to exposure as discussed earlier. We note that mitigation decisions Mit.
are directly related to results of visual inspections. We now introduce two types of consequences:
consequences that are not related to the physical state of the bridge system (social, economical,
etc.), C.O. , and total consequences, C such that
C = f ( C.O., Mit )
(1)
Finally, the total system risk can be expressed as
Ri = Ri ( C , E )
(2)
All the above variables are assumed to be random variables so that they can be connected together
in a BN model as shown in Figure 4. As before, we note that the MH effects will rise through the
common variables E and Mit .
Figure 4: BN Model for all hazards considered together
354
4.2 BN model
Table 4 shows the ranks and the states of the discrete random variables of the model. The
[7].
CPT of the model can be found elsewhere
Variable
Corr Fat
Abn.H .
V .I .
S.V .I .
Mit.
E
C .O.
C
Re l
Ri
Rank
2
2
2
2
3
3
2
States
Pristine, Damaged
Pristine, Damaged
Pristine, Damaged
Adequate, Not Adequate, None
High, Medium, Low
High, Low
High, Medium, Low
2
Low (unsafe), High (safe)
3
High, Medium, Low
Table 4: Ranks and states of total risk BN Model with two hazards
Figure 5: Historical (prior) reliability and risk
355
4.3 Historical probabilities

We execute the BN model to produce the historical (prior) probabilities shown in Figure 5. Due
to the low probabilities of both hazards, we note that a higher reliability and lower exposure as
the historic expectations. Similarly, a lower exposure and generally low consequences produce
lower historical risk probabilities.
4.4 MH interaction
Our objective from this example is to produce an MH matrix, with its i
containing the rate of change of total risk
th
row and
j th column
Ri when the j th hazard changes while keeping the ith
hazard constant. The resulting 2 2 matrix (for each risk state) can be computed using the
[7]
results of Figure 5 as shown in Table 5 . Note that the diagonals of the matrices are all unity, as
expected. In a similar manner, we compute the MH matrices for different states of Mit. as shown
in Table 6. Again, these different MH matrices types can be invaluable decision making tools for
project planning, budget expenditures, and communication with other stake holders.
Risk State
Fixed Hazard
Rate of change in Total Risk with State

Change(from Low to high) of
Corrosion-Fatigue
Abnormal Hazard
Low
Corrosion-Fatigue
Abnormal Hazard
1.000
0.159
0.328
1.000
Medium
Corrosion-Fatigue
Abnormal Hazard
1.000
-0.047
0.033
1.000
High
Corrosion-Fatigue
1.000
Abnormal Hazard
-0.047
Table 5: MH matrices for total risk
0.033
1.000
Mitigation
State
Fixed Hazard
Rate of change in Mitigation with State

Change (from Low to high) of
Corrosion-Fatigue
Abnormal Hazard
Adequate
Corrosion-Fatigue
Abnormal Hazard
1.000
0.055
0.197
1.000
Not Adequate
Corrosion-Fatigue
Abnormal Hazard
1.000
-0.066
-0.139
1.000
None
Corrosion-Fatigue
1.000
Abnormal Hazard
0.011
Table 6: MH Matrices for mitigation
-0.059
1.000
CONCLUSIONS
Any decisions made during design/retrofit/rehabilitation of a structure regarding one hazard

will have an effect on the system behavior due to any other hazard that might affect the system.
Hence, consideration of all hazards in a unified fashion is important for infrastructure owners to
estimate total risk accounting for hazard interaction and implementing cost-effective measures to
mitigate the total risk. This paper briefly discusses risk based conceptual framework using
Bayesian networks to incorporate the effect of multiple hazards in estimating total risk and
evaluation of mitigation measures on risk.
356
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
All the opinions and findings reported in this paper are those of the authors and not of the
organizations they represent.
REFERENCES
[1]
Ettouney, M. Alampalli, S. and Agrawal, A.Theory of Multihazards for Bridge Structures, Bridge
Structures, IO Press, New York, NY (2005).
[2] Ettouney, M. and Alampalli, S. Infrastructure Health in Civil Engineering: Theory and
Components, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL (2012a).
[3] Ettouney, M. and Alampalli, S. Infrastructure Health in Civil Engineering: Applications and
Management, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL (2012b).
[4] Gutteling, J. and Wiegman, O., Exploring Risk Communications, Kluwer Academic Publishers,
Dordrecht, Then Netherlands (1996).
[5] Fenton, N., and Neil, M., Risk Assessment and Decision Analysis with Bayesian Networks, CRC
Press, Boca Raton, FL (2013).
[6] Ettouney, M. and Alampalli, S., Risk Management in Civil Infrastructure, CRC Press, Boca
Raton, FL (2015).
[7] Ettouney, M. and Alampalli, S., Multihazard Considerations in Civil Infrastructure, CRC Press,
Boca Raton, FL (2015).
357
th
LABORATORY TESTS OF DYNAMIC MATERIAL PROPERTIES OF

EPS13 AND EPS28
Hong Hao1, Dylan Hughes2, Yanchao Shi3, Jian Cui3, Wensu Chen1
and Zhong-Xian Li3
1
Tianjin University and Curtin University Joint Research Center of Structure Monitoring
and Protection, School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, Curtin University, Kent
Street, Bentley WA 6102, Australia
e-mail: <hong.hao@curtin.edu.au>
Keywords: Expanded polystyrene, Experimental tests, Dynamic material property
Abstract. Expanded polystyrene (EPS) is commonly used in a variety of

applications due to its light weight, durability, moisture resistance, low thermal
conductivity and versatility. Owing to its thermal insulation characteristics it has
been increasingly used in constructions as the core of structural insulated panels.
Some of those structures during their service life may subject to dynamic loads
such as windborne debris impact and accidental/or hostile explosion loads.
Understanding the dynamic material properties of EPS is essential for reliable
predictions of the performances of the structural insulated panels with EPS foam
core. This paper presents static and dynamic compressive and tensile test data of
EPS with density 13.5 kg/m3 and 28 kg/m3 at different strain rates. The dynamic
strength, Youngs modulus and energy absorption capacities of the two EPS
foams at different strain rates are obtained and presented in the paper. Based on
the testing data, some empirical relations are derived, which can be used to
model EPS properties in numerical simulations of dynamic responses of structural
insulated panels with EPS foam core to impact and blast loads.
1
INTRODUCTION
Expanded polystyrene (EPS) is a rigid and tough, closed-cell foam, which has been widely used
in a variety of energy absorption and impact mitigation applications, including packaging,
protective helmet, structural crashworthiness as well as insulated core of structural insulated
panels used in buildings. Therefore, it is important to understand material properties of EPS. In
recent years, some studies on EPS foam have been conducted and some testing results of EPS
foam under dynamic compressive loads have been reported in the literature. Strain rate
sensitivity of elastic modulus, plateau stress and densification strain has been found in previous
1
EPS studies. Ouellet, et al. reported the strain rate dependency of EPS was substantial when a
critical strain rate of 1000 /s was reached. It was also found that densification strain of high
density of EPS112 appeared at around 100 /s, which was earlier than 300 /s of low density
EPS61 as shown in Figure 1. In their study, the dynamic EPS compressive properties was
investigated by using Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) to achieve high strain rates up to
2500 /s and a drop weight impact method for medium strain rates. However, a gap exists in the
current literature in the range of strain rate between 0.1 and 500 /s due to the lack of capable
______________________________
2
School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering, the University of Western Australia,
35 Stirling Highway, Crawley WA 6009, Australia
3
Tianjin University and Curtin University Joint Research Center of Structure Monitoring and Protection,
School of Civil Engineering, Tianjin University, China
359
testing methods used in the previous studies. In addition, no dynamic tensile testing on EPS can
be found in the literature yet. Therefore, to better understand the dynamic material properties of
EPS under both compression and tension, and to fill the gap of the available testing data, more
dynamic tests of EPS dynamic material properties are deemed necessary.
In this study, a series of quasi-static testing and dynamic testing in compression and tension
were carried out by using Baldwin test system and INSTRON VHS 160/100-20 system,
respectively to investigate the EPS material properties and strain rate dependent behaviour. The
compressive and tensile strength, the Youngs modulus and the energy absorption capacities of
two EPS foams with different densities at different strain rates were obtained from the tests.
Some empirical formulas of dynamic increase factor (DIF) for the EPS compressive and tensile
material properties are derived and presented in this paper.
Figure 1: Stress vs. strain rate for EPS112 and EPS61 (Ouellet, et al., )
2
TESTING SPECIMENS
Two grades of EPS foams, which are commonly used in insulated structural panels, were
3
tested in this study. They are grade SL with density of 13.5 kg/m (named as EPS13) and grade
3
SL with density of 28 kg/m (named as EPS28). 40 specimens were prepared for each type in
compression and tension, respectively, giving a total of 160 specimens.
2.1 Compressive specimens
2
For quasi-static testing, ASTM-D695 stipulates a cylindrical specimen with height (L) equal to
twice the diameter (D) for use in compressive tests. However, as discussed by Bischoff and
3
Perry for high strain rate impact tests, inertia effects can be neglected in both the axial and
lateral directions when an ideal aspect ratio (i.e. L/D) of approximately 0.43 is used. In this study,
compressive specimens adopt an aspect ratio of 0.5, which is based on the requirements of
dynamic impact testing. Therefore, each specimen was made to be 37.5mm height with 75mm
diameter, as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Dimension of compressive specimen

360
Hong Hao, Dylan Hughes, Yanchao Shi, Jian Cui, Wensu Chen and Zhong-Xian
Zhong
Li
Typical compressive stress--strain curve for EPS consists of three regions,

regions i.e., linear elastic,
plateau and densification region.
region The linear elastic region terminates when the plateau stress is
reached. In the plateau region, the plateau stress maintained almost constant over the range.
When the densification strain is reached,
reached the stress increases sharply with strain due to cell
compactions or densification. Large amount of energy is dissipated through the plateau region
4,5
and the densification region .
2.2 Tensile specimens
6
The tensile specimens were designed based on the guidelines given in ASTM-D638
ASTM
, which
stipulates the requirements for the tensile testing of plastics as shown in Figure 3. To meet with
the specific requirements for using the INSTRON VHS 160/100-20 system,, the specimens were
customized and the dimension was adjusted.
adjusted The specimen gauge length was shortened to allow
for a longer stroke length for the INSTRON high speed grip. The maximum thickness
thic
(i.e. 14mm)
was used in order to minimize the effect of discontinuities and also increase the stiffness of the
specimen. A tensile mild steel bolt-nut
bolt
extender assembly as shown in Figure 4, was fabricated to
have two plates at each end of the specimen, bolted twice into the grip area to maximize the grip
between the rig and the tensile specimens for the tensile testing on the Baldwin testing machine
and INSTRON VHS testing machine.
machine
Figure 3: Dimension of tensile specimen (mm)
Figure 4: Tensile mild steel extender assembly
3 TESTING FACILITIES AND SETUP

3.1 Quasi-static test
Quasi-static compressive and tensile tests were conducted at the University of Western
Australia by using a Baldwin testing
esting machine with capable of loads up to 400 kN. The Baldwin
testing machine
achine uses hydraulic pressure to deliver a relatively constant velocity crosshead
movement. During the test, the crosshead displacement was controlled at a quasi-static strain
rate of 0.001 /s on the specimen. A 2000kg hollow load cell was installed to
t measure
compressive load. A 100kg Bongshin S-type load cell was used to measure tensile load.
load The load
data
ata was logged by the DIGIDAQ acquisition
acquis
system and the displacement
ent was measured by the
Baldwin testing system.
3.2 Dynamic test
Dynamic compressive and tensile tests were carried out at Tianjin University by using high
strain rate INSTRON VHS 160/100-20
160/100
testing machine. The INSTRON machine uses servohydraulic and control technologies to provide constant strain rate at high velocities for both
compressive and tensile tests. It is capable of controlled velocity in the range of 0.1 m/s to 25 m/s.
361
Previous tests indicated that the machine can achieve a maximum crosshead speed of 20 m/s
while still maintaining a satisfactory velocity profile. Therefore, crosshead velocity varied from 0.1
m/s~20 m/s was applied in the testing. The corresponding strain rate was expected up to 533 /s
in compression and 400 /s in tension. It should be noted that the INSTRON VHS is unable to
maintain a constant strain rate for the entire duration of the test at higher strain rates. This is due
to INSTRON crosshead requires a certain distance to decelerate to a complete stop at its
maximum stroke. For higher crosshead speeds, it requires a larger distance to stop and hence
results in non-constant velocity. Therefore the strain rate in the test is not a constant either. In the
present study, the initial constant strain rate corresponding to the constant impact velocity before
decelerating is taken as the strain rate the tested EPS material experienced. The observed
maximum strain rate was approximately 280 /s, not 533 /s as expected.
In the dynamic compressive testing, the crosshead accelerates a certain distance to achieve
the desired velocity before impact occurs. The compressive testing setup is shown in Figure 5 (L).
In the tensile testing, a constant profile with a desired velocity can be achieved through a
dynamic grip, which is located above the specimen. The grip accelerates over a defined length
whilst separates from the specimen. When a certain velocity is reached, the grip clamps the
specimen instantaneously. The photograph of tensile testing setup is shown in Figure 5 (R).
Figure 5: Photograph of (L) Compressive testing setup; (R) Tensile testing setup
Other testing instruments include load cell, amplifier, NI data acquisition system and Labview
software, high speed camera, INSTRON VHS console software. A Bongshin S-type load cell
with testing range of 100kg was used in the dynamic tensile testing. The load cell was connected
to a high frequency data acquisition system composed of a fast-response A/D conversion card, a
fast-response amplifier and a graphical programming Labview package. Data acquisition for
compressive test was through the INSTRON VHS software (i.e. FastTrack High Rate
software). Testing Data for tensile tests was recorded using a combination of INSTRON VHS
software and Labview software. A high speed camera Fastcam APX RS along with extreme
halogen lights was positioned in front of the INSTRON testing machine to capture the failure
process of each test.
4 COMPRESSIVE TESTING RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
4.1 Quasi-static compressive test
The quasi-static compressive stress-strain curve is shown in Figure 6. It is observed that the
compressive stress and the Youngs modulus increases while the densification strain decreases
with the increasing density of EPS specimen. As given in Table 1, the compressive stress at 10%
strain for EPS13 and EPS28 are 0.089 MPa and 0.191 MPa, respectively, which are comparable
with the minimum strength of 0.07 MPa and 0.165 MPa given by the EPS supplier. The
compressive Youngs modulus of EPS28 and EPS13 are 4.8 MPa and 2.7 MPa, respectively. The
densification strain of EPS28 is around 0.6, which is lower than 0.7 of EPS13.
362
Energy absorption (EA) per unit volume of EPS is calculated by the following formula,
f
EA
= d
0
V
(1)
where V is the specimens volume in cubic meters;
cf
is the compressive failure strain;
is the
stress. The energy absorption can be also obtained from the compressive stress-strain curve.
The area under the compressive stress-strain curve up to a certain strain represents the strain
energy per unit volume absorbed by the material. As shown in Figure 6, the energy absorption
3
based on a volume of 165.7 cm is 37.1 J for EPS13 and 66.9 J for EPS28, which indicates an
increase of 80.3% of EPS28 in energy absorption.
2.5
EPS13
EPS28
Stress (MPa)
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
Strain
Figure 6: Compressive stress-strain curve of quasi-static testing

Specimen
Compressive strength at 10% strain (MPa)
Tensile strength
Test
Data from supplier
Test (MPa)
EPS13
0.089
0.070 (min)
0.256
EPS28
0.191
0.165 (min)
0.406
Table 1: Quasi-static testing results

4.2 Dynamic compressive test
For dynamic compressive testing, all specimens regained their initial shape (i.e. Figure 7 left)
to a certain level after releasing the loads. As shown in Figure 7, the middle specimen EPS13
regained more of its initial deformation than the specimen EPS28.
Figure 7: (L) Un-deformed specimen; (M) Compressive specimen EPS13 after impact test; (R)
Compressive specimen EPS28 after impact test
363
Figure 8 and Figure 9 show dynamic stress-strain curves for EPS13 and EPS28, respectively.
Quasi-static testing data is also included in the figures to show the strength increment with
increasing strain rate. Data from the tests of 15 m/s and 20 m/s is not shown in EPS13 results as
the high degree of oscillation makes it difficult to be reasonable data. No obvious trend was
observed for Youngs modulus. With the increasing strain rate, Youngs modulus of EPS remains
almost constant, which indicates Youngs modulus is not sensitive to strain rate.
3.5
EPS13-Static
EPS13-0.5m/s
EPS13-2.5m/s
EPS13-7.5m/s
3.0
Stress (MPa)
2.5
EPS13-0.1m/s
EPS13-1m/s
EPS13-5m/s
EPS13-10m/s
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
Strain
Figure 8: Stress-strain curves for EPS13 dynamic compressive testing

6
EPS28-Static
EPS28-0.5m/s
EPS28-2.5m/s
EPS28-7.5m/s
EPS28-15m/s
Stress (MPa)
EPS28-0.1m/s
EPS28-1m/s
EPS28-5m/s
EPS28-10m/s
EPS28-20m/s
0
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
Strain
Figure 9: Stress-strain curves for EPS28 dynamic compressive testing

Crush stress at 50% strain in the plateau region is used as it has a certain distance from the
large oscillations experienced immediately following yielding and from the densification strain. It
was observed that the crush stress increased rapidly when the strain rate reached around 165 /s
as shown in Figure 10.
364
0.50
EPS28
EPS13
Stress at 50% strain (MPa)
0.45
0.40
0.35
0.30
0.25
0.20
0.15
1E-3
0.01
0.1
10
100
1000
Strain rate (/s)
Figure 10: Dynamic compressive stress at a strain of 50% versus strain rate
Dynamic increased factor (DIF), as a ratio of dynamic stress to quasi-static stress, represents
the increase in stress under higher strain rate. It can be used to predict material behaviour at
various strain rates. As shown in Figure 11, there exists a bi-linear relationship between the
stress and strain rate for EPS13 and EPS28. The relationship between compressive DIF and
strain rate can be expressed by the following empirical equations.
CDIF = 1.134+0.0381log ( & ) when
10 3 < & < 165
CDIF = -1.107+1.048log ( & ) when
& 165
(2)
(3)
where & is the strain rate. It should be noted that most of the tested strain rates fell in the range
-3
between 1 /s and 300 /s. DIF between 10 /s and 1 /s is assumed to be proportional to strain rate
with a logarithmic linear relation.
1.6
1.4
CDIF
1.2
1.0
EPS28
EPS13
Data fitted curve
0.8
0.6
1E-3
0.01
0.1
10
100
1000
Strain rate (/s)
Figure 11: Dynamic Impact Factor curve for compressive testing
As given in Table 2, energy absorption of EPS13 and EPS28 are 48.5 J and 82.5 J at
crosshead speed of 0.1 m/s, with the increase of 23.3% and 30.7% compared to those in quasistatic testing, respectively. No significant further increase can be observed when crosshead
speed increases from 0.1 m/s to 10 m/s, which mean it will not absorb increased amounts of
energy at higher strain rates up to 280 /s. However, it should be noted that increasing the density
365
of the material increases the energy absorption capacity as demonstrated with two EPS foams of
EPS13 and EPS28 with two densities.
Crosshead speed
(m/s)
Quasi-static
0.1
2.5
10
Energy Absorption (J)

EPS13
37.1
48.5
49.9
52.8
EPS28
66.9
82.5
82.2
82.3
Table 2: Energy absorption comparison

5 TENSILE TESTING RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
5.1 Quasi-static tensile test
The results of quasi-static tensile testing are presented in Figure 12. The data indicates a
significant increase in ultimate tensile strength with increasing density. The ultimate tensile
strength of EPS13 and EPS28 are 0.256MPa and 0.406MPa, respectively as given in Table 1. It
is due to the greater number of foam cells at the cross section contributing to the strength of the
material. The tensile Youngs modulus of EPS28 and EPS13 are 7.2 MPa and 5.0 MPa,
respectively, which are larger than their compressive Youngs modulus of 4.8 MPa and 2.7 MPa,
respectively. Tensile failure strain also increases with the increasing density of EPS. The initial
strain is induced because the weight of the steel assembly pre-loaded the specimen, which
resulted in a starting point of approximately 0.07MPa and therefore generated an initial strain.
Tensile failure strains of EPS13 and EPS28 are 5.1% and 4.9%, respectively.
0.45
EPS13
EPS28
0.40
Stress (MPa)
0.35
0.30
0.25
0.20
0.15
0.10
0.05
0.00
0.00
0.01
0.02
0.03
0.04
0.05
0.06
Strain
Figure 12: Tensile stress-strain curve of quasi-static testing

5.2 Dynamic tensile test
Figure 13 shows the failure mode after dynamic tensile testing. The breakage occurred in the
central narrowed part of the specimen. Because the tensile strength is weak, the breakage was
also found in the grip area due to the stress concentration or unavoidable loading eccentricity
effect. Those data are considered not reliable therefore the total number of data available from
tensile tests is less than the compressive tests.
366
Figure 13: Specimen after tensile testing
0.9
0.8
EPS28
EPS13
0.7
Stress (MPa)
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
1E-3
0.01
0.1
10
100
Strain rate (/s)
Figure 14: Tensile stress vs. Strain rate

2.2
EPS28
EPS13
Data fitted curve
2.0
1.8
TDIF
1.6
1.4
1.2
1.0
0.8
0.6
1E-3
0.01
0.1
10
100
Strain rate (/s)
Figure 15: Dynamic Impact Factor for tensile testing
Although a large range of strain rates was tested, data acquisition proved difficult and the
testing data was valid up to a rate of 30 /s only due to a high degree of oscillation experienced
with high strain rate. In addition, only a single test was found producing valid data at some strain
rates. It is worth noting that inertial effect influences testing results at high strain rates, which
results in the lack of reliable data at high strain rates owing to the inertial forces experienced by
the testing apparatus and load cell. Some developments on the extender assembly should be
undertaken for further tensile testing. Tensile failure strains were observed to be in the range of
6-8%, which is an increase on the failure strain observed in the quasi-static testing. As shown in
Figure 14, ultimate tensile strength increases rapidly with higher strain rate when the strain rate is
over 10 /s. Tensile DIF was calculated based on the ultimate tensile strength. As shown in Figure
367
15, the dynamic tensile strength increment is slightly more substantial than its compressive
strength. The relationship between tensile DIF and strain rate can be derived as the following
empirical equations.
TDIF = 1.0 + 0.01log(&) when

TDIF = 0.402+1.038log ( & )
where
&
10 3 < & < 3.3
when
& 3.3
(4)
(5)
is strain rate.
CONCLUSIONS
In this study, laboratory tests were carried out to investigate the quasi-static and dynamic
properties of both EPS13 and EPS28 by using Baldwin test system and INSTRON VHS system,
respectively. The strength and Youngs modus increase with the increasing density of EPS. The
compressive dynamic testing results indicate the strength increases rapidly with the strain rate
when the strain rate is over 165 /s. The densification strain decreases slightly with increasing
strain rate. Youngs modulus does not exhibit obvious strain rate effect over the range of strain
rates tested (i.e. 1-280 /s). As this is the first study to conduct the EPS dynamic tensile testing,
some conclusions can only be drawn based on the limited reliable testing data to understand the
dynamic tensile properties. The tensile results show that the dynamic tensile strength also
increases with strain rate and the failure strain decreases with strain rate. The strain rate
dependency in tension is more substantial than that in compression. Empirical formulae of DIFs
for compressive and tensile strength with respect to the strain rate are derived from the testing
data, which could be used to model EPS material in numerical simulations.
REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
Ouellet, S., Cronin, D., and Worswick, M. (2006). "Compressive response of polymeric foams
under quasi-static, medium and high strain rate conditions." Polymer Testing, 25(6), 731-743.
ASTM-D695 (2010). "Standard Test Method for Compressive Properties of Rigid Plastics."
Bischoff, P., and Perry, S. (1991). "Compressive behaviour of concrete at high strain rates."
Materials and Structures., 24(6), 425-450.
Gibson, L., and Ashby, M. (1997). Cellular solids: structure and properties, Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge.
Lu, G., and Yu, T. (2003). Energy absorption of structures and materials, Woodhead Publishing.
ASTM-D638 (2003). "Standard Test Method for Tensile Properties of Plastics."
368
th
NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF INERTIA EFFECT ON

CONCRETE MATERIAL PROPERTIES IN DYNAMIC SPLITTING
TENSILE TESTS
Yifei Hao*, Hong Hao and Gang Chen
*
Tianjin University and Curtin University Joint Research Center of Structural Monitoring
and Protection; and School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, Curtin University, Kent
Street, Bentley, WA 6102, Australia
e-mail: <yifei.hao@curtin.edu.au>
Keywords: Concrete, dynamic tension, inertia effect, mesoscale, SHPB
Abstract. In design and analysis of protective structures against high-rate

loadings such as impact and blast, one of the key properties of concrete material
that need be accurately defined is the dynamic tensile strength. The dynamic
concrete tensile strength can be usually obtained by carrying out laboratory tests
such as direct tensile tests, splitting tensile tests and spall tests. It has been
commonly acknowledged that the inertia generated in dynamic tests of concrete
material influences the test results, and the inertia effect is specimen size and
loading rate dependent. Therefore to derive the true dynamic concrete material
properties, it is very important to remove the inertia effect in testing data.
Moreover, concrete is a composite material which consists of different
components, but is conventionally assumed in most previous studies to be a
homogeneous material, i.e. cement mortar only. Owing to the limitation in tests or
simplification in numerical simulation, the coarse aggregates in concrete material
are usually neglected. Neglecting coarse aggregates might not give accurate
concrete dynamic material properties. In the present study, a 3D mesoscale
model of concrete specimen with consideration of cement mortar and coarse
aggregates is developed to simulate splitting tensile tests and investigate the
behaviour of concrete material at high strain rate. The commercial software LSDYNA is used to perform the numerical simulations of dynamic splitting tensile
tests. The numerical simulation results are compared with the laboratory test data
from literature to calibrate the numerical model in simulating the dynamic splitting
tensile tests. The influence of inertia effect with respect to loading rate and
specimen size in dynamic splitting tensile tests is investigated. An empirical
formula to represent the true DIF relations obtained from dynamic splitting tensile
test is proposed and verified.
1
INTRODUCTION
Concrete materials are widely used in both civil and military structures that are designed to
resist high-rate blast and impact loadings. Because this kind of brittle material behaves differently
______________________________
Tianjin University and Curtin University Joint Research Center of Structural Monitoring and Protection, School of
Civil and Mechanical Engineering, Curtin University, Kent Street, Bentley, WA 6102, Australia
Institute of Systems Engineering, CAEP, Mianyang 621900, Sichuan, China

369
Yifei Hao, Hong Hao and Gang Chen
under static and dynamic loads, the concrete dynamic material properties need be defined for a
more reliable design of structures. The dynamic tensile properties of concrete materials have
[1]
been extensively investigated by carrying out tests such as direct tensile tests , splitting tensile
[2]
[3]
tests
and spall tests . The test results indicate that the dynamic strength of concrete material
[4]
increases with the increase of strain rate . The dynamic increase factor (DIF), which is defined
as the ratio of dynamic to static strength, is used to describe the strength improvement with
respect to the strain rates.
Like dynamic tensile strength, the increase in dynamic compressive strength of concrete with
strain rate is normally considered as a material property, called strain rate effect. However, it is
well known that under high-speed impact test, structural effects such as lateral inertia and endfriction confinements on test specimen is inevitable, which also cause material strength increase.
It is commonly acknowledged that these confinements contribute to DIF, but do not rule out the
material strength increment at high strain rate. This has been confirmed by a number of numerical
[5-10]
and experimental studies
.
With respect to dynamic tensile tests of concrete materials, studies of the influence of inertia
are, however, very limited. Numerical simulations of uniaxial tensile impact tests on concrete-like
materials, i.e., no coarse aggregates, were conducted by Cotsovos and Pavlovi who concluded
[11]
.
that the DIF obtained from dynamic testing is caused primarily by lateral inertia confinement
In other words, the dynamic strength increment of concrete in tension is trivial. Hao et al.
concluded that dynamic tensile strength increment is caused by both the inertia confinement and
concrete material strain rate effect in direct tensile tests and proposed an empirical relation to
[12]
remove the influence of lateral inertia confinement effect from laboratory test data
.
Splitting test, known as indirect tensile test or Brazilian test, is commonly used to determine
[13]
the concrete tensile material properties
. In static tests, the cylindrical specimen is diametrically
placed between the platens of a testing machine. To prevent premature damage caused by the
concentrated load, normally load-bearing strips are inserted between the specimen and the
platen plates as illustrated in Fig. 1. To adopt the splitting tensile testing method in studying the
dynamic property of concrete material, split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) technique is
[2]
normally used . Because the stress state of the specimen under splitting tension is different
from that in direct tension, it is important to also understand the inertia effect on dynamic splitting
tensile tests in order to derive the true dynamic material properties. The inertia effect in dynamic
[14]
splitting tensile tests was numerically studied in
in which authors concluded the inertia effect
[14]
was negligible. However, it should be noted that in the latter study
, to save computational
effort the authors used axis-symmetric model to simulate the splitting tensile tests in SHPB. In
3D, this results in a spherical concrete specimen rather than cylindrical specimen, as is
commonly used in laboratory tests. Since the geometry of specimen and contact condition affect
the test results, it is important to build a more realistic model of concrete specimens in studying
the inertia effect.
Figure 1: Static splitting tensile test setup

Another important issue in studies of concrete dynamic material properties is the aggregate
effect. Concrete is a composite material consisting of mortar matrix, coarse aggregates and
interfacial transition zone (ITZ) between aggregates and the matrix. However, for simplicity in
370
numerical simulations or limitation in preparing specimens for lab tests, the coarse aggregates
were not considered in most previous studies of the dynamic behaviourr of concrete material.
Because different components in the concrete mix have different material properties, neglecting
the coarse aggregates might not give accurate concrete material properties. Experimental and
numerical studies have shown the significantt contribution of coarse aggregates to dynamic
[1, 15]
strength
th of concrete material
, indicating that it is necessary to include aggregates in
performing either numerical or experimental studies.
This study develops a 3D mesoscale model of concrete specimens
specim ens considering coarse
aggregates and mortar matrix and aims to study the influence of inertia effect in dynamic splitting
tensile tests using SHPB technique. LS-DYNA
LS DYNA is used to perform the numerical simulations.
Concrete specimens with various diameters, namely 50.8 mm, 70 mm and 100 mm, but the same
thickness, i.e. 50.8 mm, are numerically tested to investigate the inertia effect. Coarse
aggregates with random sizes and distributions in the concrete specimen were considered. The
influence of inertia effectt in dynamic splitting tension of concrete material is examined. An
empirical relation is proposed to quantify the inertia effect.
2
SPLIT HOPKINSON PRESSURE

PRES
BAR TESTS
The schematic view of a typical SHPB test set-up

set
is illustrated in Fig. 2,, where the specimen is
diametrically sandwiched between two pressure bars. When the incident bar it hit by the striker
bar, a 1D compressive stress wave is generated. The stress wave propagates along the incident
bar towards the specimen and is recorded by
b strain gauge. When it reaches the interface
between the incident bar and the specimen, part of it reflects as a tensile stress wave while the
rest travels through the specimen. Reflecting at the two interfaces, part of the stress wave in the
specimen goess back and forth and makes the stress along the specimen approximately uniform
after a few reflections. The compressive stress wave leaves the specimen, propagates forward
[16]
along the transmission bar and is recorded by strain gauge
.
Figure 2: SHPB test setup

For such an arrangement, the dynamic splitting tensile stress, , is determined by [2]

(1)
where and are the thickness and diameter of the specimen, respectively; represents the
force that is transmitted through the specimen, which is determined from the transmitted stress as

(2)
in which is the radius of the pressure bars, and is the transmitted stress. The loading rate
and strain rate can be obtained from the following expressions
/
/
371
(3)
(4)
where is the time delay between the start of the transmitted stress wave and the peak
transmitted stress and is the Youngs modulus of the material.
3
MATERIAL MODEL
Mortar matrix, coarse aggregates and pressure bars are modelled by plasticity model, pseudo
tensor model and isotropic elastic model, termed as MAT_72R3, MAT_16 and MAT_1, respectively, in
LS-DYNA. The material parameters are listed in Table 1.
Table 1. Material properties in LS-DYNA
Material
Model in LS-DYNA
Mortar matrix
MAT_72R3
Coarse aggregate
MAT_16
Pressure bars
MAT_1
Input parameter
Density
Unconfined compressive strength
Poissons ratio
Density
Unconfined compressive strength
Poissons ratio
Density
Youngs Modulus
Poissons Ratio
Value
2200kg/m3
58MPa
0.18
2750kg/m3
160MPa
0.20
7800kg/m3
200GPa
0.28
The strain rate effect on the material strength is described by DIF. In the simulation, the
[15]
compressive DIF relations for mortar matrix and aggregates are adopted from
, which have the
lateral inertia confinement effect removed and therefore better represent the true dynamic material
strength increase than those obtained directly from the laboratory tests. The tensile DIFs used for
[17]
[18]
while those for coarse aggregates are obtained from
. The
mortar matrix are adopted from
compressive and tensile DIFs of mortar matrix and coarse aggregates are given below.
30) *+
30) *+ < < 1000) *+
1) *+
> 1) *+
0.0419( ! ) + 1.2165

0.8988( ! ) 2.8255( ! ) + 3.4907
0 ( 12 )4
0 5( 12 )+/6
for
for
for
for
89 0.0187(
89 1.8547(
089 0.0598(
089 0.5605(
for
1) *+ 220) *+
(9)
for 220) *+ 1000) *+ (10)
for 10*: ) *+ 0.1) *+ (11)
for
0.1) *+ 50) *+
(12)
! ) + 1.2919
! ) 7.9014( ! ) + 9.6674
! ) + 1.3588
! ) + 1.3871( ! ) + 2.1256
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
in which 1/(1 + 8f>? /f>@ ), log 6 2, f>? is the static compressive strength and f>@ 10MPa,
I? 10*: s *+ . The subscripts M denotes mortar matrix and CA represents coarse aggregates.
4
NUMERICAL MODEL AND MODEL CALIBRATION

[2]
Dynamic splitting tensile tests using SHPB were carried out and reported in . 50.8-50.8 mm
concrete specimens with coarse aggregates up to 8.5 mm were tested. The dimensions of
pressure bars were 50.8-3660 mm and 50.8-3350 mm for incident and transmitted bars,
respectively. Strain gauges were attached on the surface at the middle of the bars. In numerical
simulation, the dimensions of the pressure bars and specimen are the same as those stated
above. The numerical model consists of incident pressure bar, concrete specimen and transmitted
pressure bar. The striker bar is not modelled. Instead, the incident stress generated by the impact of
the striker bar is directly applied to the incident bar as a stress boundary. In this case, the contact
between the specimen and pressure bars is modelled by surface-to-surface contact algorithm in LSDYNA. The dynamic splitting tensile test is numerically simulated and compared with the data
[2]
reported in to check the accuracy of the developed numerical model in the present study.
4.1 Mesoscale numerical model
In the present study, coarse aggregates are assumed to have circular shape with random size
and distribution in the concrete specimen in order to simplify the numerical model. The reliability
[19].
of this assumption has been proven by a number of previous studies
372
The aggregate particle size distribution is assumed to follow Fullers curve expressed by the
[20]
equation
K(L) 100(

MNO
)P
(13)
where K(L) is the cumulative percentage of aggregates passing a sieve with aperture diameter L,
LQRS is the maximum size of aggregate particle; T is the exponent of the equation, varying from
0.45 to 0.7, which is taken as 0.5 in the present study.
The algorithms of aggregate generation and mapping are developed in FORTRAN as
[21].
described in a previous study
[2]
In the mesoscale model, to be consistent with the laboratory tests reported in , concrete
specimen is assumed to be a two-phase composite material comprising coarse aggregates of
35% volume fraction and mortar matrix. The created 3D mesosclae model is illustrated in Fig. 3.
(a) 3D mesoscale model
(b) cement mortar elements
(c) aggregate elements
Figure 3: 3D mesoscale model of concrete specimen

Erosion technique is used in the numerical simulations to avoid possible mesh tangling as well
as the material failure. In the present study, an erosion criterion depending on the maximum
principle strain of 0.2 is used. Mortar and aggregate elements will be removed when the principal
strain of the elements reaches the erosion criterion in the simulations. However, the mass of the
eroded elements will be kept to maintain the mass conservation.
To optimise the effects of computational time and calculation accuracy, mesh sensitivity tests
are performed for pressure bars and concrete specimen, respectively. Based on the mesh
convergence test results, mesh sizes of 4 mm for pressure bars and 1 mm for concrete specimen
are used.
4.2 Model validation
[2]
The developed model is used to simulate the splitting tensile test reported in to validate the
[2]
numerical model used in this study. The stress boundary given in
(Fig. 4) is applied on the
incident pressure bar as the input. The stress histories recorded in the pressure bars from the
simulation is shown in Fig. 5. Although the stress histories from the laboratory test are not given
[2]
in , the peak transmitted stress is 20.97 MPa. As indicated in Fig. 5, the numerically obtained
peak transmitted stress is 21.96 MPa with a difference of 4.5% to the test result, indicating the
reliability of the numerical models used in the present study.
373
10
80
60
-10
40
-20
20
Stress (MPa)
Stress (MPa)
-30
-40
-50
-60
Reflected
stress
0
-20
-40
Incident
stress
Transmitted
stress
-60
-70
-80
-80
-0.05 0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30 0.35
-0.2
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
1.2
1.4
1.6
Time (ms)
Time (ms)
Figure 4: Stress boundary
Peak: -21.96 MPa
Figure 5: Numerical results
PARAMETRIC SIMULATIONS
The developed numerical model is used to simulate static splitting test first to determine the
quasi-static tensile properties before conducting intensive simulations of dynamic tests. A slow
-4
loading rate equivalent to strain rate of about 10 1/s is used in the simulation. The quasi-static
tensile strength and Youngs modulus are found to be 4.84 MPa and 26 GPa, respectively, which
will be used to define the tensile DIF.
5.1 Specimens with different diameters
As the inertia effect is specimen size dependent, simulations of SHPB tests with specimens of
different diameters will allow a direct observation of the influence of inertia effect. Therefore in
this study, mesoscale models of specimens with the same thickness of 50.8 mm but different
diameter, i.e. 50.8 mm, 70 mm and 100 mm, are developed and simulated. The cross-sections of
the specimens with different diameters are shown in Fig. 6.
Diameter 50.8 mm
Diameter 70 mm
Diameter 100 mm
Figure 6: Specimens with different diameters

5.2 Simulations with strain rate sensitive models
Numerical simulations of the mesoscale concrete specimens of different sizes under dynamic
splitting tensile loads are conducted. The strain rate effects for mortar matrix and coarse
aggregates defined by Eqs. 5-8 and 9-12 are adopted in the simulation. The obtained DIFs are
374
plotted and compared in Fig. 7. As shown, when the strain rate is below 10 1/s, the obtained
tensile DIFs of specimens with different sizes are similar, indicating that the influence of inertia
confinement effect is insignificant. However, when the strain rate is higher than 10 1/s, increasing
the specimen size leads to an increase in DIF, i.e., the splitting tensile strength, indicating the
prominent influence of the inertia effect. For example, at strain rate of about 24.5 1/s, the DIF of
50.8 mm specimen is 4.47 whereas that of the 100 mm specimen is 5.638, which is 26%
higher than the former. Since the only difference in these simulations is the specimen size, and
the larger the specimen size, the higher the inertia confinement, the increase in the tensile
strength corresponding to the larger specimen size can be attributed to more significant inertia
confinement.
50.8 mm
70 mm
100 mm
DIF
10
20
30
40
Strain rate (1/s)
Figure 7: Numerically obtained DIFs using strain rate sensitive material model
5.3 Simulations with strain rate insensitive models
To quantify the contributions of inertia confinement to concrete strength increment in SHPB
splitting tests, the above simulations are repeated by using strain rate insensitive material model,
that is, by defining the tensile DIF=1.0. In such cases, the simulated strength increment
[22]
. Simulations with strain rate insensitive model
associates purely with the inertia confinement
are performed and results given in Fig. 8. As can be seen, it is clear that the inertia effect is size
and strain rate dependent, i.e. the DIF increases with specimen size and strain rate. When the
strain rate is lower than 10 1/s, the difference in splitting tensile DIFs of specimens with different
diameters is not prominent, but becomes prominent when the loading rate becomes higher.
These observations are consistent with those made according to Fig. 7. By comparing those in
Figs. 7 and 8, it is also obvious that the DIF obtained by considering inertia effect only in Fig. 8 is
smaller than that obtained by considering both the material strain rate effect and inertia
confinement shown in Fig. 7, indicating the material strain rate effect.
4
50.8 mm
70 mm
100 mm
DIF
10
20
30
40
Strain rate (1/s)
Figure 8: Numerically obtained DIFs using strain rate insensitive material model
375
5.4 Removal of inertia effect in dynamic splitting tensile tests

The strength increment in dynamic splitting tensile tests is due to the combination of inertia effect
and strain rate effect according to the above observations. Therefore the tensile DIF that reflects the
[15]
true concrete material strain rate effect, U , can be expressed as
(14)
U 9 V + 1
where 9 is the apparent DIF obtained from experimental tests that contains the contributions from
both the strain rate effect and inertia effect, and V denotes the obtained DIF from simulations using
strain rate independent model, i.e. due to specimen inertia effect, given in Fig. 8.
The strain rate effect induced DIF of specimens with different diameters according to Eq. 14 are
shown in Fig. 9. It can be seen that after the removal of contribution of inertia effect, the U of
specimens with different diameters are very close because they are the true material property and are
therefore specimen size independent. The difference among the scattered data might be attributed to
the influence of the specimen heterogeneity, i.e. the influence of randomly distributed coarse
aggregates. The linearly fitted curve of the data, defined in Eq. 15, is also included in the figure to
quantify the material strain rate effect.
U 1.091 ! + 1.5357
for
5 1/) < < 40 1/)
(15)
DIF
50.8 mm
70 mm
100 mm
10
20
30
40
Strain rate (1/s)

Figure 9: Derived true strain rate DIF relation
This relation can be considered as the true material strain rate effect on concrete dynamic tensile
strength. It is interesting to note that the derived tensile DIF can almost fit a linear-log relation with the
[17]
strain rate between 5 1/s and 40 1/s. This is because, as indicated in , the turning point of concrete
tensile DIF is at about 1 1/s. From 1 1/s onwards, the tensile DIF increases rapidly with the strain rate
and follows a linear-log relation. The above empirical relation provides a concrete DIF estimation with
inertia effect removed in splitting tensile tests in the strain rate range of 5 1/s to 40 1/s only. This is
because when the strain rate is below 5 1/s, the inertia effect is insignificant as shown in Fig. 8. On
[17]
the other end, as summarised in , splitting tensile tests of concrete material are normally able to
reach tensile strain rates only up to 30-40 1/s. The material tensile properties with strain rate higher
[3]
than 40 1/s are usually obtained by spall tests , which do not require stress uniformity inside the rod
specimen. Therefore the empirical formula proposed to remove inertia effect in dynamic splitting
tensile tests is limited to the strain rate between 5 1/s and 40 1/s.
5.5 Verification of the proposed true strain rate effect
To examine the validity of the proposed true tensile strength DIF defined by Eq. 15, an SHPB
splitting tensile test with the same specimen and test setup as described in Section 5, but a much
376

[2]
higher level of incident stress (264.27 MPa) is simulated . The waveform of incident stress is the
same as shown in Fig. 4 but the intensity is scaled from 72.76 MPa to 264.27 MPa. The simulations
[17]
are conducted by using the strain rate effect defined in
and in Eq. 15, respectively, for comparison.
The simulated transmitted stress histories are given in Fig. 10.
From Fig. 10, it can be seen that the obtained peak transmitted stress from simulation using DIF
[17]
(32.37 MPa) is slightly higher than that from simulation using DIF relation
relation defined in
[2]
defined in Eq. 15 (29.2 MPa). The laboratory test data reported in give the peak transmitted stress
[17]
28.14 MPa. Comparing with the test data, result obtained with DIF relation from
is 15% higher
while that with the proposed DIF relation in Eq. 15 is 3.8% higher, indicating the proposed relation
[17]
more accurately models the true material strain rate effect, whereas the DIF relation defined in
based on testing data overestimates the material strain rate effect because of the contributions of
inertia confinement effect in dynamic impact testing.
Stress (MPa)
20
DIF relation from [17]

DIF relation in Eq. 15
10
0
-10
-20
-30
Peak stress: -29.2 MPa
Peak stress:
32.37 MPa
-40
1.05
1.10
1.15
1.20
1.25
Time (ms)
Figure 10: Comparison of numerical simulation results

6
CONCLUSION
The present study develops mesoscale model and conducts numerical simulations to study the
inertia effect on the concrete material properties obtained from dynamic splitting tensile loads.
Specimens with the same thickness but different diameters are developed and simulated. It is
found that the dynamic splitting tensile strength increases with the specimen diameter, indicating
the influence of inertia effect. Based on numerical simulation results, an empirical DIF relation is
proposed to represent the true strain rate effect on dynamic tensile strength increment from
dynamic splitting tensile tests of concrete materials with the contribution of inertia effect removed.
The proposed relation is verified by laboratory test data available in the literature.
7
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to acknowledge Australian Research Council (grant number
DP130104332) and China National Natural Science Foundation (grant number 51227006) for
financial support to carry out this study.
REFERENCES
[1] Yan D, Lin G. Dynamic properties of concrete in direct tension. Cement and Concrete Research
2006, 36: 1371-1378.
[2] Tedesco JW, Ross CA, Kuennen ST. Experimental and numerical analysis of high strain rate
splitting tensile tests. ACI Materials Journal 1993, 90(2): 162-169.
[3] Brara A, Camborde F, Klepaczko JR, Mariotti C. Experimental and numerical study of concrete at
high strain rates in tension. Mechanics of Materials 2001, 33: 33-45.
[4] Bischoff PH, Perry SH. Compressive behaviour of concrete at high strain rates. Materials and
Structures 1991, 24: 425-450.
[5] Hao H, Hao Y, Li ZX. A numerical study of factors influencing high-speed impact tests of
th
concrete material properties. Keynote paper in 8 International Conference on Shock & Impact
Loads On Structures 2008, Adelaide, Australia: 37-52.
[6] Hao Y, Hao H, Li ZX. Numerical analysis of lateral inertial confinement effects on impact test of
concrete compressive material properties. International Journal of Protective Structures 2010,
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Hao Y, Hao H, Jiang GP, Zhou Y. Experimental confirmation of some factors influencing dynamic
concrete compressive strengths in high-speed impact tests. Cement and Concrete Research
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Hao Y, Hao H, Li ZX. Numerical quantification of factors influencing high-speed impact tests of
concrete material. IAPS special publication 1, 97-130.
Jiang GP, Hao H, Zheng CH, Hao Y, Wu RJ, Liu JC. Experimental study of friction effect under
impact loading. Acta Physica Sinica 2013, 62: 116203.
Cotsovos DM, Pavlovi MN. Numerical investigation of concrete subjected to high rates of
uniaxial tensile loading. International Journal of Impact Engineering 2008, 35: 319-335.
Hao Y, Hao H, Zhang XH. Numerical analysis of concrete material properties at high strain rate
under direct tension. International Journal of Impact Engineering 2012, 39: 51-62.
Hao Y, Hao H. Dynamic compressive behaviour of spiral steel fibre reinforced concrete in split
Hopkinson pressure bar tests. Construction and Building Materials 2013, 48: 521-532.
Lu YB, Li QM. About the dynamic uniaxial tensile strength of concrete-like materials. International
Journal of Impact Engineering 2011, 38: 171-180.
Hao Y, Hao H. Numerical evaluation of the influence of aggregates on concrete compressive
strength at high strain rate. International Journal of Protective Structures 2011, 2(2): 177-206.
Davies EDH, Hunter SC. The dynamic compression testing of solids by the method of the split
Hopkinson pressure bar. Journal of Mechanics and Physics of Solids 1963, 11: 155-179.
Malvar LJ, Ross CA. Review of strain rate effects for concrete in tension. ACI Materials Journal
1998, 95(6): 735-739.
Hao Y, Hao H. Numerical investigation of the dynamic compressive behaviour of rock materials
at high strain rate. Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering 2013, 46: 373-388.
Zhou XQ, Hao H. Mesoscale modelling of concrete tensile failure mechanism at high strain rates.
Computers and Structures 2008, 86: 2013-2026.
Wriggers P, Moftah SO. Mesoscale models for concrete: homogenisation and damage
behaviour. Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 2006, 42: 623-636.
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and Structures, published online. DOI: 10.1617/s11527-014-0281-z.
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responses to blast loadings. Engineering Structures 2014, 73: 24-38.
378
th
EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON DYNAMIC BEHAVIOR OF

REINFORCED CONCRETE PLANE FRAME UNDER SMALL
IMPACT LOAD
Qing-Feng He*, Yi-Ren Liu and Wei-Jian Yi
1)
College of Civil Engineering, Hunan University, China

e-mail: <5672101@qq.com>
Keywords: reinforced concrete frame; impact test; progressive collapse
Abstract. The collapse-resistant behavior of RC frame under impact load is a

major concern in the collapse-resistant design. In this paper, a new impact test
system was developed and utilized to conduct a small equivalent impact
experiment on a 2-bay, 1-story RC plane frame. The impact load was applied
through free falling counterweight released by automatic decoupling device, where
the jack and counterweight were used to adjust the height and magnitude of the
impact, respectively. The dynamic response of middle column, the time curve of
impact force and the internal force of the frame were carefully recorded during the
experiment. The test results showed as follows with the increase of the impact
energy the structural plastic deformation was found in the frame it's stiffness
and dynamic load coefficient decreased slightly. The strain rate had little influence
on the increase of the strength of steel bar.
1. INTRODUCTION
In recent years, the analysis and design of reinforced concrete frame to resistant progressive
[1-4]
collapse under impact load and explosion had become a hot topic which was mainly due to
the complex response of concrete structures to dynamic load, including the material nonlinearity,
[5-7]
geometric nonlinearity and contact nonlinearity. The previous studies showed
that there were
two modes of structure's progressive collapse: one was the failure of the bottom local support
membersleading to the progressive collapse of the structure; another was the failure of the
middle local support membersleading to the progressive collapse of the upper floors. The overall
structure collapsed due to the impact from the upper collapsed floors on the lower floors, such as
[5-6]
the collapsed of Ronan point apartment and World Trade Center .
Many researchers have already conducted a large number of experiments and theoretical
[2-4]
studies on the first collapse mode . The studies of structure subjected to impact load focused on
the structural impact response, failure patterns and material dynamic constitutive through the
[8-12]
drop-weight impact machine
. With the development of the high-rise building, the collapse of
the middle floors under accidental loadsuch as explosion and fireresulting in the impact from
the upper collapsed floors on the lower floors, which is very important to the design of structural
collapse-resistance.
In this studyin order to simulate the beam of lower floors subjected to impact load from
upper collapsed floors and to study the dynamic behavior of reinforced concrete plane frame under
low velocity impacta new impact test system was developed and utilized to conduct a small
equivalent impact experiment on a 2-bay, 1-story RC plane frame.
379
Qing-Feng He, Yi-Ren Liu and Wei-Jian Yi
2. EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM
2.1Design of Specimens
A one-story, two-bay model reinforced concrete frame with geometry scale of 1:3 was designed
[13]
according to the Chinese concrete structure design code(GB50010-2010)
and the anti-seismic
[14]
building design code(GB50011-2010) .The dimensions of the model frame are shown in Fig.1. The
lap and anchoring, the spacing of steel was in accordance with the construction specifications. The
grade of the longitudinal reinforcement and the concrete were HRB400 and C30 respectively. The
mechanical parameters of steel and concrete are listed in Table 1.
Table 1 Mechanical properties of reinforcing steel and concrete
Measured values
Material
Experiment items
D=8
D=12
Yield strength/MPa
567
563
Longitudinal reinforcement
Ultimate tensile strength/MPa
615
635
HRB400
Ratio of elongation 10
18%
19%
Cube strength of
37.2
ConcreteC30
compression/MPa
a
1-1
b
2-2
c
3-3
1. Reaction frame 2. Rope touch device 3. Hydraulic jacks 4. automatic decoupling device
5.Apply weight 6 .load sensor 7.displacement sensor S. the strain gauge of steel
Figure 1: Frame model's dimension and dynamic test setup
2.2 Impact device and test setup
Before the test, the hydraulic jacks was used to replace the middle column(Fig.2) and the test frame
was fixed by anchor bolts in the foundation beam. The impact device was mainly divided into the
following several parts: the upper and lower plates, automatic decoupling device, rope touch device
reaction frame, hydraulic jacks etc. (Fig.1). The upper plate will be used to impact test frame and the
lower plate to apply weights. The upper and lower plates were connected by rigid screw in order to
380
reduce the relative displacement between them. The decoupling device will be triggered by the rope
touch device. The jack was used to adjust impact height. The specific impact height and quality are
shown in table 2.
Table 2 Test Results
Impact
28
38
48
63
78
103
mass/kg
50100150
Impact
50
50
50
50
50
height /mm
200250300
Impact
14~84
19
24
31.5
39
51.5
energy/J
In these tests, the impact force, the middle stigma displacement and the acceleration were
measured and recorded by using MGC plus system at a sampling frequency of 2400Hz.The impact
force was measured by the load sensorwhich was connected to the middle stigma by structural
adhesive to prevent rebound.
Figure 2: Test frame model setup

3. TEST RESULTS
3.1 Impact force
The time histories of impact force are shown in Fig.3. Experimental results showed that frame beam
were impacted repeatedly. The impact force decreased rapidly and the interval of the impact time was
shortened, which was mainly due to the rebound of the impact device during the test.
The impact test results are listed in table 3. It can be seen that the duration of impact process
changed little, indicating that it was affected slightly by the impact height or the impact quality. In the
case of the same impact height, the duration of the impact forces main wave was increased slightly
with the increase of impact energy, which indicated that the stiffness of the test frame beam was
decreased slightly.
20
15
6
4
2
0
200
210
220
230
Time(ms)
Impact force(kN)
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
-2
220
Impact force(kN)
Impact force kN
h=250mm, m=28kg
Impact force(kN)
h=50mm, m=28kg
8
10
5
230
240
250
Time ms
0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 9001000
Time(ms)
200
400
600
Time(ms)
Figure 3: The time curve of impact force
381
800
1000
Maximum impact force ratio
24
Maximum Impact force(kN
22
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
3.0
2.8
2.6
2.4
2.2
2.0
1.8
1.6
1.4
1.2
1.0
0.8
90
The mass ratio

The height ratio
Impact energy (J)
Mass (height) ratio
Figure 4: Impact force versus energy curve
Figure 5: Impact force versus mass and

height ratio curve
Table 3 Experimental results

Impact mass
kg
Impact
height
mm
Impact
energy
J
Impact force
kN
Duration time
of main wave
ms
Duration
time of
impact force
ms
Interval
of strain
ms
final
stationary
displacement
mm
28
28
28
28
28
28
38
48
63
78
103
50
100
150
200
250
300
50
50
50
50
50
14
28
42
56
70
84
19
24
31.5
39
51.5
8.209
12.753
16.382
16.373
17.811
22.899
11.244
11.588
12.347
14.829
16.957
13
11
13
11
13
12
13
14
14
15
15
579
557
744
338
430
659
435
880
550
602
1311
4
4
4
4
5
4
4
4
3
4
4
0.305
0.331
0.384
0.338
0.391
0.396
0.444
0.586
0.940
0.958
1.674
NoteThe interval of strain is the time interval of the beam near slide column and near middle column to reach the
peak strain
Fig.4 shows the relation curve between maximum impact force and impact energy. It can be
observed that the impact force increased gradually with the increase of impact energywhile it
decreased in individual conditions. It indicated that the frame beams stiffness decreased slightly under
repeated impact load.Fig.5 shows the influence of impact quality and height on maximum impact force
(with 28kg, 50mm condition as benchmark). It can be seen that the influence of the impact quality and
the impact height on the maximum impact force were very close.
3.2 Displacement of middle stigma
Fig.6 shows the time histories of the middle stigma displacement. From the figure, it can be seen
that the frame beam vibrated cyclically around its equilibrium position and finally stopped in the new
equilibrium position. From Table 3, it can be observed that the final stationary displacement increased
with increase of the impact height under the condition of the same impact quality. This phenomenon
indicated that the frame beams plastic deformation and cumulative damage increased with the
increase of impact energy and shock number.
382
Table 4 Dynamic characteristics of the frame beam

Impact
Height
(mm
28
28
28
28
28
28
38
48
63
78
103
50
100
150
200
250
300
50
50
50
50
50
10.043
16.433
19.402
20.066
17.126
28.926
10.328
8.528
9.118
8.784
8.239
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
-0.5
-1.0
-1.5
-2.0
-2.5
-3.0
-3.5
Dynamic load
coefficient
based on
strainS-1
Dynamic load
coefficient
based on
displacement
Vibration
frequency
Hz
10.615
15.912
19.837
22.990
19.573
23.572
10.845
10.857
9.001
9.675
8.787
9.793
9.795
12.237
17.656
16.538
19.432
9.605
8.379
6.734
7.968
5.896
9.131
10.751
10.840
8.511
8.948
9.131
8.764
8.460
10.333
9.162
9.132
h=50mm, m=28kg
Displacement mm
Displacement mm
Impact
Mass
(kg
Dynamic load
coefficient
based on
strainS-2
200 400 600 800 10001200140016001800
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
-1
-2
-3
-4
Maximum strain rate1/s

For S-2
For S-1
0.125
0.204
0.229
0.255
0.345
0.364
0.146
0.161
0.157
0.206
0.279
0.099
0.209
0.241
0.173
0.191
0.296
0.127
0.133
0.147
0.177
0.227
h=50mm m=63kg
250 500 750 1000 1250 1500 1750 2000
Time ms
Time(ms)
Figure 6: The time curve of displacement
Maximum displacement ratio
The vibration characteristics of frame beam are presented in table 4. The dynamic load
coefficient is equal to the ratio of the structural dynamic response amplitude and its final stationary
response. From the table, it can be observed that the dynamic load coefficient based on displacement
increased significantly with the increase of impact height, while it decreased with the increase of
impact mass, which indicated that the frame beams cumulative damage increased gradually. and the
vibration frequency of the frame beams were at about 10Hz and it changed little, indicating the damage
of the frame beam was relatively small. Fig.7 shows the influence of impact quality and height on the
maximum displacement of middle stigma (with 28kg, 50mm condition as benchmark). It can be seen
that the influence of impact quality to the maximum displacement of the middle stigma was larger.
3.75
3.50
3.25
3.00
2.75
2.50
2.25
2.00
1.75
1.50
1.25
1.00
0.75
The height ratio

The mass ratio
mass height Ratio
Figure 7: Maximum displacement vs. mass and height Ratio curve
383
3.3 The internal force of the frame beam
800
600
400
200
0
-200
-400
-600
h=50mm, m=28kg
S-1 u
S-1 u
Fig.8 shows the strain history of tension reinforcement on both ends of frame beam (S-1 represents
the reinforcement strain of beam ends near side column and S-2 represents the reinforcement strain of
beam ends near center column).From the figureunder the impact load, the tension strain of steel in
the same cross section of frame beam was slightly larger than compression strain. The main reason
was that due to the interaction between frame beam and impact device, the vibration equilibrium
position had changed comparing to the equilibrium position of the empty frame. Fig.9 shows the
relation between strain amplitude and impact energy. It can be found that the steel tension strains of
the beam near center column beam and near the side column in the test framework were very close to
each other under the impact load, which showed that the internal force of both sections was very close.
From Table 3, both the ends of the beams near side column and near center column almost reach the
maximum strain at the same time. The time interval was very short and the effect by the change of the
impact energy was very small. Therefore, it can be judged that, under the impact load, the tension steel
at the both ends of the beam were broken at the same time and the structure collapses when the frame
beam reached the ultimate state. Fig.10 shows the influence of impact quality and height on the
maximum tension strain of the steel in the ends of the beam (with 28kg, 50mm condition as
benchmark).It can be seen that the influence of impact quality to maximum tension strain of steel in the
ends of the beam was larger.
Table 4 shows dynamic load coefficient based on strain, It can be found that the dynamic load
coefficient of frame beam near center column and near side column were very close under the
condition of impact height not change, and the dynamic load coefficient decreased with the increase of
impact quality, what showed that the test framework had been damaged slightly and the dynamic load
coefficient decreased with the increase of damage degree. Under the condition of impact quality not
change, the dynamic load coefficients of the frame beam near center column and near side column
were very close and both increased with the increase of impact height.
200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800
800
600
400
200
0
-200
-400
h=250mm, m=28kg
200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800
200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800
1500
1000
500
0
-500
-1000
S-2 u
S-2 u
2000
1500
1000
500
0
-500
200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800

Time (ms)
Time(ms)
Figure 8: Time curve of strain

2400
S-1
S-2
2000
Maximum strain ratio
Maximum strain u
2200
1800
1600
1400
1200
1000
800
600
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Impact energy(J)
Figure 9: Maximum strain versus energy curve
The height ratio S-2

3.75
3.50
The mass ratio S-2
3.25
The mass ratio S-1
3.00
2.75
2.50
2.25
2.00
1.75
1.50
1.25
1.00
0.75
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5
Mass(height) ratio
Figure 10: Strain versus mass and height ratio

curve
384
S-2
S-1
0.35
Maximum strain rate ratio
Maximum strain rate 1/s
0.40
0.30
0.25
0.20
0.15
0.10
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Impact energy(J)

3.50
The mass ratio S-2
3.25
3.00
The mass ratio S-1
2.75
2.50
2.25
2.00
1.75
1.50
1.25
1.00
0.75
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5
Mass(height) ratio
Figure 11: Strain rate versus impact energy

curve
Figure 12: Strain rate versus mass and

height ratio curve
Fig.11 shows the relationship between the impact energy and the tension steel strain rate of the
ends of the frame beam. The strain rate of the frame beam near center column was larger than that of
the beam near side column in addition to the individual conditions, which showed that the structural
dynamic effects under impact load was larger on the neighborhood of impact area than the other parts.
Fig.12 shows the influence of impact quality and height on maximum strain rate of tension steel of the
beam ends (with 28kg, 50mm condition as benchmark).It can be seen that the influence of impact
height on the steel maximum strain rate of the frame beam near side column and near center column
were larger than impact mass.
The steel strength increasing coefficient was calculated based on the method in literature [15]. The
results show that the maximum amplification coefficient of yield strength was 1.11 and the maximum
amplification coefficient of ultimate strength was 1.08. It can be known that under the small impact
velocity, the reinforcement strength increased slightly due to the strain rate effect.
4. CONCLUSIONS
The displacement and internal force responses of the tested framework increased along with
both of the impact height and the impact quality, But both of the influence degree to structure response
had certain difference. The impact quality had a larger influence on the displacement and internal force
amplitudes than the impact height, while they had the similar influence on maximum impact force. The
impact velocity was small, resulting in the small steel strain rate and a slight increasing on steel
strength. The structure dynamic load coefficient increased along with the impact height. The structure
dynamic load coefficient decreased with the development of the structural plastic displacement.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The work presented in this paper was funded by the National Natural Science Fund, China
(Project No. 51108170 and 51408213). The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance provided
by Mr. Jiang Qu-Chong, Mr Huo Bing-Yong, other postgraduate students in the civil engineering
department of Hunan University.
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Removal Scenario[J]. Journal of Structural Engineering, 2012, 139(2): 233-250.
[2] Qian K, Li B. Slab Effects on Response of Reinforced Concrete Substructures after Loss of
Corner Column[J]. ACI Structural Journal, 2012, 109(6):845-855
[3] Liu M. A new dynamic increase factor for nonlinear static alternate path analysis of building frames
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[4] Yi Wei-JianHe Qing-FengXiao Yan, Sashi Kummath, Experimental study on progressive
collapse-resistant behavior of reinforced concrete frame structures. ACI Structural Journal
105:4,433~439
[5] Pearson C, Delatte N. Ronan point apartment tower collapse and its effect on building codes[J].
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[6] Zdenfk P. Bazant. Mechanics of Progressive Collapse: Learning from World Trade Center and
Building Demolitions. Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilitics. 2007,133(3):308-319
[7] Byfield M, Paramasivam S. Murrah Building Collapse: Reassessment of the Transfer Girder[J].
Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities, 2011, 26(4): 371-376.
[8] Saatci S, Vecchio F J. Effects of shear mechanisms on impact behavior of reinforced concrete
beams[J]. ACI structural Journal, 2009, 106(1): 78-86.
[9] Lu Y B, Li Q M. About the dynamic uniaxial tensile strength of concrete-like materials. International
Journal of Impact Engineering, 2011,25(9):869-886
[10] Kishi N, Mikami H. Empirical Formulas for Designing Reinforced Concrete Beams under Impact
Loading[J]. ACI Structural Journal, 2012, 109(4).
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flexural-failure-type RC beams under impact loading[C]//Transactions of the 16th International
Conference on Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology (SMIRT). 2001.
[12] Tachibana S, Masuya H, Nakamura S. Performance based design of reinforced concrete beams
under impact[J]. Natural Hazards & Earth System Sciences, 2010, 10(6).
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Building Press, 2010.(In Chinese)
[14]GB50011-2010 Code for seismic design of building [S]. Beijing: China Architecture & Building
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386
th
ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF VENTILATION IN HIGH EXPLOSIVE

STORAGE CHAMBERS TO MITIGATE BLASTING EFFECT
Francisco Hernandez*, Hong Hao and Madhat Abdel-jawad
*School of Civil and Resource Engineering, The University of Western Australia
35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
e-mail: <20966189@student.uwa.edu.au>
Keywords: gas pressure component, High-Explosive, ventilation, Radial Breathing Mode

(RBM)
Abstract. This paper presents a comparative study on the effectiveness of

ventilation to mitigate blasting effects of chambers subjected to internal detonations
of high explosives. The reflected pressure time-history acting over the chambers
walls is produced by superposition of three components: i) the first shock wave, ii) a
train of multiple re-reflected shock waves, and iii) the gas pressure. The effect of
each pressure component on the dynamic response of storage chambers is
analyzed from a simplified SDoF approach based on the equivalent RBM response
(Radial Breathing Mode). Comparisons between the results from the fully and
partially confined chambers show that openings are not an effective solution for
mitigation of blasting effects on chambers storing high explosives. The common
understanding that venting is effective to mitigate damage on storage chambers is
not exactly correct. This is because although vents are effective to reduce gas
pressure, owing to the very short natural period of RBM mode of storage chambers,
the maximum responses of chamber structure is governed by the primary and rereflected shock waves and not by the gas pressure. To further examine the chamber
structure responses, 3-D numerical simulations in AUTODYN have been carried out.
The results have confirmed those obtained with the SDoF approach by assuming
RBM response mode for spherical chambers. The numerical simulations have also
demonstrated that ventilation is not effective either to mitigate damage when other
axisymmetric and nonaxisymmetric modes govern the chamber response induced by
eccentric HE detonations. However, simulations indicate that ventilation is relatively
effective to mitigate damage due to blast effects on chambers with low natural
frequencies such as box geometries, indicating box chambers are relatively
ineffective in comparison to spherical or cylindrical geometries to contain explosions.
1
INTRODUCTION
A blast chamber is a structural system designed to confine internal explosions, therefore,

avoiding secondary external explosions, casualties and damage of surrounding facilities. Two
______________________________
Department of Civil Engineering, Curtin University, Kent St., Bentley WA6102, Australia
GexCon, 8/64 Fitzgerald st, Northbridge WA 6003 Australia

387
Francisco Hernandez, Hong Hao and Madhat Abdel-jawat
design criteria are commonly used to design monobloc blast chambers. That is, containment
vessels are designed for single (elastic design) or multiple usage purposes (ductile design).
1
The first analytical solution of explosion chambers was presented in 1950s . In that study, the
elastic response of homogeneous spherical vessels subjected to an internal uniformly distributed
triangular pulse has been derived, assuming a simplified Single Degree of Freedom (SDoF)
equation which describes the radial motion (or radial breathing mode - RBM). This simplified
approach relies on several assumptions; for example, the chamber geometry should be perfectly
spherical and the equivalent TNT charge need to be perfectly spherical and centered. Baker
expanded the RBM equations considering the perfect elastic-plastic response of thin wall
chambers. In the both consecutive studies the reflected pressure time-history is simplified by a
2
unique triangular pulse .
Currently, blast chambers can be analyzed using more sophisticate numerical tools. That is,
Finite Elements and CFD methods are coupled on Lagrange-Euler algorithms, which allow
modeling accurately interactions between gaseous explosive products, air, gases, fluids and
3
structural elements . Numerical simulations can be utilized also to include other particularities
such as: complex chambers geometries, the presence of nozzles, effects of obstructions,
influence of the explosive shape, diverse explosive materials, changes of ignition points (and
eccentricities), complex pressure time-histories, strain growth phenomenon, multiple initial
conditions (e.g. pressure, temperature, propagation medium), nonlinear structural materials, 3D
membrane and bending modes and other kind of singularities that simplified method cannot take
into account.
It is commonly agreed that openings and frangible covers can be useful devices to reduce the
structural damage and provide cheaper chambers designs, owing to reliefs could partially reduce
4
the pressure time-history caused by an internal explosion . In fact, partially confined technologies
are widely utilized by vessels destined to storage deflagrative materials such as flammable
5
suspended dust mixtures or fuel/oxidant gas clouds .
Even though it is conventionally accepted that venting reduces the gas pressure duration and
impulse of vessels subjected to detonation of High-Explosives (HE), there is generally a lack of
detailed studies of shock and gas pressure wave propagation and interaction of containment
structures with openings, and a lack of studies of shock and gas pressure wave propagation and
interaction with containment structures with frangible covers or panels that allow pressure relief
insider the structure. Moreover, there is not a clear understanding about the effectiveness that
openings and vent devices can provide when internal HE detonations occur.
However, approaches have been proposed to simplify the pressure time-history profile for
some ideal situations; for example, Baker et al. have proposed a simplified approach for spherical
or cylindrical chambers subjected to ideal spherical centered TNT detonations. To be precise,
6
three pressure components are estimated and superposed to form the pressure time-history .
First, the primary shock wave is estimated from experimental curves based on the scaled
7
distance between the TNT charge and the chamber walls . Second, a train of successive rereflected shock waves is assumed. Specifically, three triangular pulses with same duration are
assumed (same duration that first shock wave) but their amplitude are consecutively halved
through each reflection. Likewise, re-reflected shock waves are temporally equally spaced
assuming that they strike the chamber walls according to a recurrence loading period (i.e. they
are propagated at the same average velocity of the first shock wave). Finally, the pressure gas
component is estimated assuming a triangular or an exponential function, parameterized by the
7
peak gas pressure and impulse which can be estimated from experimental curves . Based on
Bakers observations, it is assumed that the pressure gas component increase linearly until
reaching its peak after the third shock wave.
The linear and non-linear response of spherical perfect elastic-plastic chambers is solved
numerically based on the simplified pressure time-history profile and assuming that the response
is described by the equivalent SDoF equation which describes the RBM response. Therefore, the
influence of each pressure component on the maximum response (or the ductility ratio) is studied
and compared to check their implications and when they should be considered. Finally, the
reduction of the gas pressure component due to ventilation is analyzed.
The analysis is focused on realistic idealized scenarios. That is, spherical or cylindrical
monobloc steel vessels subjected to detonation of concentric spherical TNT charges. Multiple
numerical analyses are studied covering a wide range of parameters: chamber diameter [0.5 6
m], TNT equivalent spherical weight charge [0.05 Kg 400 Kg] and ductility ratios [between 0.2
5.0]. All results are summarized in terms of the dimensionless thickness which allows comparing
different scales of chamber and blast scenarios.
388
SIMPLIFIED ENERGY APPROACH TO DETERMINE THE CHAMBER THICKNESS

2
The SDoF analysis described by Baker is complemented with an equivalent energy approach
which allows determining the approximated thickness of the chambers shell according to a
predefined level of performance (or ductility ratio).
The ductility ratio ( ) is commonly defined as the ratio between the maximum radial
displacement and the radial yielding displacement ( = umax / uy , where uy = Py / k , in which Py is
the equivalent yielding force and k equivalent stiffness of the radial response mode). Assuming that
the pressure time-history is an impulse, the initial kinetic energy of the equivalent SDoF system is
equal to Ek 0 = i r 2 / 2 m * (where i r = impulse related to the reflected shock wave, m* = equivalent
mass of the SDoF system). For a perfect elastic-plastic SDoF system, the maximum potential energy
displayed just when the system reaches its maximum displacement is equal to (defined as the area
under the force-displacement curve),
Py
1
1
1 ( Py )
= k umax 2 = k
=
2
2
2
k
k
Py u y
Py 2
=
(1 + 2 ( 1) ) =
( 2 1)
2
2k
2
Ep
max
E pmax
if 1 ( elastic )
(1)
if > 1 ( plastic )
Assuming that there is not an internal or external source of energy

dissipation (viscous damping, friction, etc.); then, the initial kinetic energy is equal to the maximum
potential energy based on conservation of energy principle ( Ek 0 = E pmax ). Therefore,
1 i 2 1 ( Py )
r =
2 m 2
k
Py =
i r n
Py 2
1 i2
r =
( 2 1) Py =
2 m 2k
for 1
i r n
2 1
(2)
for > 1
The equivalent dynamic properties derived by Baker for the equivalent SDoF system which
describe the RBM for a perfect elastic-plastic spherical monobloc chamber can be substituted into
Equation (2). That is, Py = 2 h y / a (where, a = the mean radius, h = vessel thickness, y = the
yielding stress) and the angular natural frequency is equal to n = 2 E / (1 ) a 2 (where, E =
young modulus, = material density, = Poissons ratio) (and thin spherical chamber assumption).
Therefore, the thickness can be obtained as follows
h=
1
E
i for 1
y 2 (1 ) r
(3)
i r for 1
h=
y 2 1 2 (1 )
The impulse is a function of the charge weight, the mean radius and the thickness
i r = f [W ,(a h / 2)] . In case that the shell thickness is significantly lower than the main radius we can
approximate the impulse as i r f [W , a ] if h << a .
The elastic thickness ( helastic = h =1 ) is defined when the ductility ratio is just equal to one.
helastic = h =1 =
E
i r [W , a helastic / 2]
2 (1 )
(4)
Therefore, the equation (3) can be re-written as
h
helastic
1/
=
1/ 2 1
1 i r [W , a h / 2]
1/
1 i r [W , a helastic / 2] 1/ 2 1
389
1
1
(5)
Equations (3) and (4) are approximations based on two assumptions: (i) the pressure time-history
is an impulse, (ii) Only RBM is considered on the dynamic response (thus, these equations should be
used only for pre-design purposes).
It is conventionally accepted that the dynamic response of SDoF systems subjected to a triangular
pulse can be properly estimated assuming an equivalent impulse when the ratio between the pulse
duration and the natural period of the chamber is lower than 0.40. In this study, the evaluated cases
are in the range of t0 / Tn [0.2 0.5] . Thus, the impulse assumption is generally acceptable, and it
can be employed conservatively to estimate the walls thickness due to the maximum impulsive
response is always higher than the maximum response obtained with an equivalent triangular pulse.
Note that Eq. (5) is also valid for pulses if the response remains elastic during the pulse.
The main advantage of the dimensionless value h / helastic (Eq.(5)) is that it allows eliminating the
scale of the problem. That is, chambers with different average radius ( a ), variable charge weights (
W ) and different materials can be compared as a function of this simple dimensionless parameter.
Thus, RBM analyses will be displayed as a function of this dimensionless parameter ( h / helastic ). Note
that helastic utilized by next sections is obtained numerically assuming a simplified triangular pulse
(avoiding error on the approximation due to impulse assumption).
SIMPLIFIED ANALYSIS - EQUIVALENT SDOF RBM EQUATION
The study is focused on spherical chambers subjected to centered detonation of spherical TNT
charges with and without ventilation (small size openings). Based on these idealistic conditions, the
7
three pressure time-history components are simplified according to the UFC guidelines and the
6
Bakers approach .
A comparison of the effect associated to each pressure component on the dynamic linear or nonlinear response is presented in this section. The dynamic response is solved numerically considering
the equivalent SDoF equation which describes the RBM radial motion of thin walled spherical
2
chambers subjected to uniform distributed pressure time-histories . However, the simplified blast
pressure ( p ( t ) ) is not restricted to be an equivalent simplified triangular pulse (Bakers analytical
solution); instead it considers also the pressure gas component and/or the train of re-reflected pulses.
Consequently, the dynamic response is computed numerically based on the Newmarks method
(constant acceleration approach).
To sum up, the numerical analyses assume the following idealized conditions:
a) The chambers geometry is assumed perfectly spherical;
b) Monobloc spherical shells with uniform thickness are studied;
c) Perfect spherical and centered TNT charges are assumed;
d) The system is analyzed through an equivalent non-linear dynamic single degree of
freedom equation (SDoF) considering only the radial breathing mode (RBM);
e) Tridimensional effects and other modal response are not considered (e.g. strain growth
phenomenon is ignored);
f) Perfect elastic-plastic stress-strain curves are assumed for the material. (Steel BHW35).
g) The blast load is estimated from simplified approaches and ventilation modifies only the
pressure gas component.
Table 1 summarizes blast scenarios which are utilized to compare the effect of each pressure
component. The effect of ventilation on the reduction of the gas pressure component will be also
explained.
Comparisons of numerical results are shown in term of the maximum dynamic response which is
related to the performance level or ductility ratio ( = ur max / ury , where ur max = the maximum radial
displacement obtained from the numerical solution, and ury = y a (1 ) / E is the yielding radial
displacement).
Matlab 7.9.0 software has been employed to program subroutines related to: i) Digitalize and
evaluate UFC curves (and other authors curves) to determine the simplified blast pressure profiles. ii)
Obtain the linear and/or the nonlinear response for SDoF systems (Newmarks method), iii) Compare
results between different cases described in Table 1.
The material properties assumed for this research is structural steel. Thus, the elastic properties
have been assumed equal to E = 2.17 105 MPa, = 7.8 kg / m 3 , = 0.28 . The yield stress
assumed in this study is y = 390 MPa associated to steel BHW35 (high-strength steel), ignoring
strain-rates effects. Equation (3) shows that the thickness of the chamber for certain performance is
390
inversely proportional to the yield stress. However, the effects of the material parameters are
excluded if the results are presented as a function of h / helastic (however, small variations can be
observed due to the thickness modifies slightly the reflected impulse). Moreover, general results and
conclusions obtained in this study have shown to be independent of the material (i.e., other material
parameters have been analyzed without showing a significant difference).
Multiple numerical analyses (25,000 approximately) are solved covering a wide range of realistic
parameters (summarized in Table 2).
a) The main radius ( a ) is studied for the range [250 mm 3000 mm]. Thus, 8 average radius
values have been chosen: 250 mm, 500 mm, 750 mm, 1000 mm, 1500 mm, 2000 mm,
2500 mm and 3000 mm.
b) For each selected main radius, a set of TNT charges (15-20 intermediate values) is
selected in order that the thicknesses studied (for different levels of ductility ratios) cover
reasonable values used in common practice.
c) For each combination of chamber radius and TNT charge, a set of multiple thicknesses
(50 intermediate values) are evaluated in order that the ductility ratio shows values
between 0.2 and 5.0 for the case where only the first triangular pulse is considered (case
1S, Table 1).
Case
Description
1S
Pressure time history is formed only by the triangular pulse

associated to the primary reflected shock (estimated from
UFCs charts)
3S
Pressure time history is made by the triangular pulses

associated to the primary reflected shock (estimated from
UFC charts) + simplified secondary reflected shocks
according to Baker approach (three peaks of decaying
amplitude)
3S+QSG
3S+TG
Sketches
Pressure time history is obtained as the superposition of the

triangular pulse associated to the primary reflected shock
(estimated from UFC charts) + re-reflected shock waves
according to Baker simplification (three decaying amplitude
pulses) + the gas pressure component (estimated from
UFCs charts) that grows linearly until it reaches a constant
quasi-static pressure just after the third shock wave (full
confined chamber).
Pressure time history is obtained as the superposition of the
primary reflected shock (estimated from UFC charts) + rereflected shock waves according to Baker simplification
(three decaying amplitude pulses) + the gas pressure
component which is a triangular function (estimated from
UFCs charts) associated to a vented area equivalent to 10%
of the chambers surface. It is assumed to be growing linearly
up to the end of the third shock wave.
Table 1: Compared Cases
To be precise, numerical analyses based on Newton-Raphson iterations have been executed for
each combination of radiuses and TNT charges to determinate accurately the thickness
corresponding to ductility ratios equal to 0.2, 1.0 and 5.0 (considering thickness effect for the
estimation of the blast loads). These calculations have been computed and compared with the
reference case, i.e., only a single triangular reflected pulse is considered (case 1S). The selection of
case 1S as the reference is because it shows the minimum ductility ratio. Similarly, case 1S has been
391

2
commonly utilized by previous simplified approaches in design analyses . Based on thicknesses

obtained for defined ductility ratios, a set of 50 intermediate thickness values are defined into the
range of ductility ratios between 0.2 and 5.0. The same set of thicknesses derived is then employed to
evaluate the ductility ratio for other cases detailed in Table 1 (which take into account other pressure
components).
Results related to dissimilar chamber or explosive scales are compared utilizing the dimensionless
thickness. Therefore, the dimensionless thickness is determined based on the reference case (
h / helastic , helastic = h =1 = thickness required to obtain a ductility ratio equal to 1.0 for case 1S). Note
that, the simplified equation to determine helastic (Eq.(4)) is accurate and slightly conservative (max.
error 3%) in comparison to case 1S. Moreover, the simplified equation to determine h (Eq.(4)) is
accurate for other performance levels if h << a .
Main Radius
(a )
[mm]
250
500
750
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
Range of Charges
(W )
[TNT kgf]
0.05 1.8
0.25 10
0.25 30
0.5 50
1 120
2 170
5 300
10 400
Range of
h =0.2
Range of
helastic = h =1
Range of
h =5
[mm]
19 157
26 340
14 439
15 614
16 831
18 1066
28 1217
38 1048
[mm]
4 80
5 115
3 154
3 150
3 169
4 146
6 166
8 157
[mm]
1.2 25
1.7 36
1.0 49
1.1 48
1.1 55
1.3 48
2.0 54
2.6 52
Table 2: Range of Analyzed Parameters

Figure 1 shows the ductility ratio ( = ur max / ury ) for Case 1S, Case 3S, Case 3S+QSG and Case
3S+TG as an function of the dimensionless thickness ( h / helastic ) in the interval h [14.5 244.1] mm
or h / helastic [0.332 5.585] (with helastic = 43.7 mm ). From Figure 1 it can be concluded that the rereflected shock waves are the principal cause of amplification. The gas pressure component also
amplifies the maximum response between 8% and 15%. The effect of openings (with an effective
area equal to 10%) reduces the ductility up to 4% with respecting to the fully confined case.
Figure 1: Ductility ratios for Case 1S, Case 3S, Case 3S+QSG and Case 3S+TG as a function of
the dimensionless thickness (a=1500 mm, W= 25 kgf)
Figure 2 shows the ratio of ductility ratios of case 3S+QSG to case 3S. This figure allows
evaluating the effect of the gas pressure component when all shock waves are considered. From
Figure 2, one can conclude that the gas pressure component can increase significantly the ductility up
to 40% in comparison with the case when it is ignored (particularly for ductile systems). Therefore,
392
the gas pressure component should not been ignored. However, a conservative increase factor equal
to 15% can be employed for elastic chamber.
Figure 2: Ratio of ductility ratios of Case 3S+QSG to Case 3S as a function of the dimensionless
thickness and charge weights (a=1500 mm) (W=[1-120] kg)
Figure 3: Comparison between ductility ratios for Case 3S+TG and Case 3S+QSG for several
dimensionless thicknesses and charge weights (W=[1-120] kg) (a=1500 mm)
Finally, Figure 3 shows the ratio of ductility ratio of case 3S+TG (partially confined chamber with
10% of effective vented area) to case 3S+QSG (fully confined chamber). From the results, one can
conclude that opening/frangible covers (with an effective area equivalent to 10% -or lower-) allow
reducing the maximum ductility demand up to 5% in comparison to fully confined chambers. Similarly,
numerical results with an opening area equal to 25%, which are not shown in detail here owing to
page limit, can reduce the maximum ductility demand by only 15%. Therefore, ventilation seems no to
be an effective technique to reduce the ductility demand or improve significantly the spherical
chamber design. Results associated to other main radius values (detailed in Table 2) show the same
trends and the same conclusions are derived.
393
This simplified SDoF analysis has been repeated assuming that the gas pressure component is
8
estimated according to the Anderson et al. approach . That is, an exponential decaying function was
employed. In general, the quasi-static gas pressure value estimated by the Andersons approach
shows lower values than the UFC guideline (and longer duration). Based on results obtained
assuming the gas pressure component from the Andersons approach, the effect of the gas pressure
component is less significant and ventilation is similarly ineffective as that calculated with the UFC
guideline.
NUMERICAL ANALYSES
Numerical simulations have been carried out with the software package ANSYS Autodyn v14.0 to
check and confirm the conclusions derived from the equivalent RBM SDoF analysis. However, only a
limited number of cases are selected for the comparison without cover the wide range of combinations
analyzed by the simplified analyses, due to each simulation involves a substantial computational cost.
Based on these results, the capability of the simplified SDoF method and CFD software packages to
reproduce the selected cases is compared. Moreover, Euler-Lagrange software packages also allow
including response of other structural modes, i.e., AUTODYN permits modifying the idealized
conditions assumed by the simplified analysis. Discussions about the effect of openings are also
studied assuming other conditions (e.g. eccentric charges or other chambers geometries).
The comparative analysis is focused on a monobloc spherical chamber with a main radius equal to
1500mm (Figure 4). The same conditions assumed by the simplified SDoF analysis are considered.
That is, i) a bilinear hardening nonlinear material is employed (perfect elastic-plastic material) with
properties associated to steel BHW35 ( s = 7800kgf / m3 , K = 1.644 108 kPa, G = 8.476 107 kPa,
y = 3.9 105 kPa ); ii) fully confined and partially confined chambers are studied. For partially confined
chamber, a circular vent area equal to 6.71% of the chambers area is employed (maximum vent area
8
covered by Andersons gas pressure approach ); iii) 3D analyses with triple symmetry have been
employed (one eighth of the spherical chamber is evaluated), with cubical Euler-G elements of 13.3
mm (1,728,000 elements). Remapping techniques have been used, employing an initial 1D Euler
multi-material simulation associated to a fine mesh until the first shock wave is propagated near to
the walls; iv) Shell Lagrange elements are utilized for the chamber (1300 elements); v) Ideal gas EOS
is assumed for air, initial internal energy is evaluated considering atmospheric conditions; vi) JWL
EOS is employed to simulate the TNT gas products, and the additional energy method is utilized to
model afterburning in order that the quasi-static pressure for fully confined vessels coincides with UFC
values (afterburning energy is released linearly between the first pulse and the third pulse); vii) The
same additional energy parameters are used for partially confined vessels; viii) 4 TNT spherical
charge values are studied (7kg, 15 kg, 30 kg and 120 kg); ix) two thickness values are evaluated for
each charge value related to two performance levels; that is, thicknesses are estimated from the
simplified triangular pulse approach for basic ductility ratios equal to 1.0 and 5.0.
TNT charge
7 kg
Thickness =1
5.23 mm
Thickness =5
15.58 mm
15 kg
30 kg
120 kg
9.62 mm
16.84 mm
54.93 mm
28.84 mm
50.84 mm
169.27mm
Table 3: thicknesses used for AUTODYN simulation (a=1500 mm)

The reflected pressure time-history obtained for fully confined or partially confined vessels shows
that the shock waves are not significantly modified by ventilation and the gas pressure is mitigated at
long term for partially confined vessels. The radial response for these points is not modified
substantially due to openings. In general, response is controlled by the RBM. However, chambers
with openings are also affected by other membrane and bending modes. Even though pressure
profiles show the three pressure components, some differences were observed in comparison to the
simplified approach. First, the re-reflected shock waves arrive later according to AUTODYN
simulations than the simplified approach (note that afterburning increases propagation velocities).
These discrepancies can be justified since waves are dissipated inside the vessel and shock wave
should naturally reduce its velocity (lower kinetic energy) owing to viscous damping. Moreover
chamber walls are not rigid, which also affect the wave interaction with the chamber. Second, the
394
peak reflected pressure estimated by AUTODYN was almost 50% lower than UFC curves. This
difference is explained due to a smaller meshing was required to reproduce this peak value; for long
TNT charges it is observed a double peak (associated to the first shock) due to the second
reverberation shock wave was not fully joint to the first shock front (in general it occurs for distance
longer than 12 times the charge radius).
Figure 4: AUTODYN 3D model, fully confined and partially confined chambers

Figure 5 shows the effective plastic strain (related directly with the ductility ratio for elastic-plastic
materials, = EPS / y + 1 and y = y / E = 1.797 * 103 ) for a fully or partially confined spherical
vessel (a=1500 mm, h=9.62mm W=15kg) with and without eccentric charges (e=150mm) (a quarter of
the sphere was simulated). Simulations show that eccentric charge results in larger damage near the
charge, whereas larger damage always occurs near the opening irrespective of the large location if
the chamber has an opening.
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
Figure 5: Effective plastic strain ( EPS ): (i) Fully confined and concentric detonation, (ii) Fully
Confined with eccentric detonation, (iii) Partially confined and concentric detonation, (iv) Partially
confined with eccentric detonation
CONCLUSIONS
The effect of each pressure component on the response of spherical chambers has been studied
(primary shock wave, re-reflected shock waves and gas pressure). Based on the comparison between
the maximum ductility demand it is concluded that all the three components are important in the
dynamic response and the ductility demands. In general, the dynamic response is controlled by the
primary shock wave. Though, the train of subsequent re-reflected shock waves can duplicate the
395
maximum response (plastic resonance). The gas pressure component should be considered
especially for chambers designed to behave plastically. However, an increase factor equal to 2.5 can
be used in order to estimate the response based only on the primary shock wave (if ductility rate is
limited to be lower than 5). The mitigation of the gas pressure component due to intermediate/small
opening (10% chamber area or lower) does not show a real effect on reduction of ductility demands (a
maximum reduction equal to 5% is observed). Therefore, ventilation seems to be not an effective
technique to reduce cost or improve designs.
The inefficiency of ventilation for spherical chambers is confirmed from AUTODYN simulations.
However, differences between the simplified SDoF analyses and numerical simulation are observed.
Particularly, the arrival time for re-reflected shocks seems to be underestimated from the Bakers
approach (i.e. re-reflected shock waves are not propagated at the same average velocity than the first
shock wave). Numerical analyses have also showed that ventilation is also ineffective when eccentric
loads or geometrical singularities are considered for spherical vessels with or without openings.
Moreover, AUTODYN numerical simulations have shown that openings modify the pattern of damage,
leading to the damage concentrating around the vents and reducing slightly the damage level at
locations distant from the openings.
Even though ventilation reduces the gas pressure component and the long term impulse; it shows
to be ineffective when the chambers natural period is around the order of the duration of the shock
wave pulse. In fact, spherical chambers show natural periods between 0.2-0.4 of the equivalent
triangular pulse duration. Moreover, spherical chambers are susceptible to plastic (or elastic)
resonance because the re-reflected shocks can coincide with a positive velocity response which
amplifies the dynamic response of subsequent cycles. On the other hand, structural elements or
structures which show long periods (e.g. long walls of box chambers) are highly susceptible to long
term impulses; therefore, the gas pressure component plays an important role on its maximum
response. In fact, ventilation is an effective technique to reduce the maximum ductility for these cases.
The details of these results are, however, not shown in the present paper owing to page limit.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors acknowledge partial financial supports from Australian Research Council (ARC) and
GexCon Australia Pty Ltd under ARC Linkage Project LP130100919 for carrying out this research.
The first author also acknowledges Chile Government for providing scholarship for him to pursue PhD
study in Australia.
REFERENCES
[1] Baker , W.E. and Allen, F.J, The Response of Elastic Spherical Shells to Spherically Symmetric
Internal Blast Loading. New York : ASME,. Third U.S. national Congress of Applied Mechanics. p.
79 (1958).
[2] Baker, W.E., The Elastic- Plastic Response of Thin Spherical Shells to Internal Blast Loading,
Journal of Applied Mechanics, pp. 139-144 (1960).
[3] Dong, Q., Hu, B. Y., Chen, S. Y. & Gu, Y, Engineering Design of a Multiple-Use Spherical
Explosion Containment Vessel Subjected to Internal Blast Loading From 25 kg TNT High
Explosive. Journal of Pressure Vessel Technology, ASME, April, Volume 134, pp. 021205 1-5
(2012).
[4] Bennett, G. F., Explosion Hazards in the Process Industries. University of Bergen. Norway: Gulf
Publishing Company (2005).
[5] NFPA 68. Standard on Explosion Protection by Deflagration Venting. National Fire Protection
Association (2007).
[6] Baker, W., Cox, P. & Westine, P.S.,. Explosion Hazards and Evaluation, Volume 5. 4, illustrated
ed. s.l.:Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company (1983).
[7] UFC 3-340-02,. Structure to resist the effects of accidental explosion, s.l.:U.S. Departments of the
Army, Navy and Air Force (2008).
[8] Anderson, C. E., Baker, W., Wauters, D. K. & Morris, B. L., Quasi-static pressure, duration, and
impulse for explosions (e.g. HE) in structures, International Journal of Mechanical Sciences,
25(6), pp. 455-464 (1983).
396
th
PERMEABILITY EFFECT OF STEEL FRAME DAM

ON DEBRIS FLOW IMPACT LOAD
Toshiyuki Horiguchi* and Satoshi Katsuki
*
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National Defense Academy

1-10-20 Hashirimizu Yokosuka Kanagawa, Japan 239-8686
e-mail: <ed12007@nda.ac.jp> webpage:http://www.mod.go.jp/nda/
Keywords: debris flow, impact load, filled gravel, steel frame check dam
Abstract. This paper presents an experimental approach on the permeability

effect of steel frame check dam on the debris flow impact load. The miniature
model of steel frame check dam filled with granular or gravel, i.e., permeable
body, is set in the water channel. In comparison, the structure covered with thin
plastic film in front miniature model dam, i.e., non-permeable body, is set in the
water channel in other case. Debris flow and water flow with various parameters
flow down the channel and directly hit the structures. Time history of water flow or
debris flow impact load on the structures are measured. Comparing with those
load each other, this paper basically discuss about the permeability effect of steel
frame dam using filled gravel.
1
INTRODUCTION
Although latest statistics indicate a decrement

in the number of victims of natural disasters in
Japan, there has actually increased the number
[1]
of sediment disasters . This has led to the
development of many types of structures for
counting sediment and debris flow disaster. There
are many check dam to protect our life or
property from disaster in the mountain. One of
such counter measures is a hybrid structure
composed of steel frame check dam and filled
gravels as shown in Picture 1, which gives weight
of the dam to achieve greater stability and shear
Picture 1: Steel frame dam
resistance in conjunction with the resistance of
[2]
the frame . The dam is made of filled gravels in
site, and it is considered to protect natural environment. The structure is also useful to construct
counter measures quickly, and it is also possible to get out of water because of porosity between
gravels and gravels from packing gravels. But, the steel frame check dam has difficulty in
estimating design load. The design load apply to use non-permeable dam for that purpose. That
is to say, current designs are made without considering the design of permeability effect. Therefore,
considering how water pressure has impact effect is insufficient, if they affect the dam water omission.
______________________________
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National Defense Academy, Japan
397
Toshiyuki Horiguchi and Satoshi Katsuki

tank
gate
water flow position
4350
load cell
3500 debris flow
500
2000
1250
600
1000
steep sloop
15
a unit of mm
line pump
Picture 2: Straight slope channel
Figure 1:
Schematic diagram of experimental setup
There are many papers discussing about impact load evaluation against debris flow. Iketani
[3]
et.al., classified the type of debris flow model . The two models classify debris flow load by
means of fluid theory and also by means of solid state theory, which dispose of the system of
impact load. Besides, Mizuyama investigated the way of impact load estimation on concrete dam
[4]
using two characteristic debris flow impact, which utilize fluid theory or solid state theory .
Among them, focusing on the load due to the collision of the boulder, local failure energy in
[1]
collision is estimated. This technique is used in present design manual .
[5]
Miyoshi et. al,. reproduce check dam experiment as impact load evaluation in unsteady jet .
Consequently, The mechanism of the impact load which occurs debris flow against a check dam
was considered. Daido et.al,. consider that the pressure of mud-debris flow acting on an flat face
of dam was evaluated for cases in which the mud-debris flow was regarded as a non[6]
compressible fluid or as a compressible fluid . Yamamoto et. al,. discussed experiment and DEM
analysis on impact load caused by debris flow on a check dam. The impact load experiment was
performed for the wall type dam by the modified DEM analysis which takes into consideration the
rolling resistant moment buoyancy and drag force of water. But, the steel frame check dam in
filled gravel is examined a little. The influence of the permeability effect is still open to further
discussion.
This paper presents an experimental approach on the permeability effect of steel frame check
dam on the water flow or the debris flow impact load. Comparing with experimental case of
permeable model and non-permeable one, this paper basically discuss about the permeability
effect.
2
EXPERIMENTAL MODEL AND DEVICE
2.1 Outline
The experiment uses the model check dam set in slope channel and impact load are
measured by using potentiometer. The impact load is caused by water flow or debris flow starting
in 2.0m or 3.5m far from check dam. The experimental models are two types, i.e., permeable
model and non-permeable one. In addition, total water volumes are changed to check
permeability effect on the impact loads.
2.2 Experimental device
Experimental device is shown in Picture 2. Straight slope channel (4.5m in length, 30cm in
width, and 50cm in height) is used. Initial position of gravels and water are shown in Fig.1. Initial
position of gravels is 1.0m, and Initial position of water is 2.0m in case of debris flow experiment.
Initial position of water is 2.0m or 3.5m in case of water flow experiment. The channel is fixed to
15 declination. The potentiometer is set at the top of check dam model to measure the load of
debris flow acting on the model.
2.3 Check dam model
Dimensions of check dam model shown in Picture 3 is 150mm in length, 150mm in width, and
300mm in height. The frame of model is made of wood, and harden coal ash are packed as filled
398
Picture 4:
Specimen of harden coal ash
Table 1:
item
I
II
III
IV
Parameter of specimen
Grain size(mm)
510
1015
1520
3035
Volume()
1.5
1.5
1.5
0.75
Color
Red
Yellow
Green
Gray
Percentage passing
Picture 3: Dam model
Figure 2: Grain size distribution

Table 2:
No
Flow condition
Water flow model
Debris flow model
Experimental case
Water volume()
4.5
5.5
6.5
4.5
5.5
Distance(m)
2.0
3.5
2.0
Dam model
Permeability model
or
Non-permeability model
gravels model in the frame. Those are packed by pouring without any compaction effect. Grain
size of harden coal ash is between 10mm and 20mm. The packed harden coal ash had porosity
of 0.80 consequently. To prevent leakage of gravels from wood frame, wire mesh are set at inside
plane of model. Consequently, the dam model is hanged from ceiling so that the impact load of
debris flow transmits to the potentiometer without any resistance, i.e., shear resistance between
the bottom of dam model and channel's bottom plane.
2.4 Specimen of debris
Picture 4 shows harden coal ash which are used as model of debris. Table 1 shows grain size
of those types hard coal ash. Average grain diameter are 30mm(gray), and 20mm (green) , 15mm
(yellow), 10mm (red). Debris flow model are made by mixing those models. Figure 2 shows grain
[8],[9].
size distribution used in this experiment which follows the model research of Shibuya et.al,.
2.5 Experimental cases
Table 2 shows experimental cases. Same experimental cases are carried out for nonpermeability dam model and permeability one. Two cases of flow distance, 2.0m or 3.5m, and
three cases of water discharge are combined for water impact condition. In case of debris flow
experiment, the gravels are set 1.0m far from dam model and water starting position is 1.0m far
from the gravels setting point.
399
Water Impact load (N)
Water impact load (N)
35
II
Non-permeability dam
Permeability dam
Static pressure
30
25
III
20
15
10
5
0
0
(a)
0.5
2.5m distance
(b)
1.5
Time (s)
3.5m distance
Figure 3: Water flow load (5.5)

Table 2: Peak load of water flow load
Item
Permeability model
Non-permeability
model
Water volume
4.5
5.5
6.5
4.5
5.5
6.5
Distance 2.0m
12.3N
20.3N
22.2N
19.0N
24.6N
30.1N
Distance 3.5m
15.8N
21.0N
24.9N
19.0N
32.5N
39.2N
Condition I
Condition I
Condition II
Condition II
II
III
Condition III
Condition III
(a) Permeability
(b)
Non-permeability
Picture 5: Water behavior(3.5m)
400
2.5
Water impact load (N)
60
Non-permeability model
permeability model
II
50
III
40
30
20
10
0
0
0.5
1.5
Time (s)
2.5
Figure 4: Water flow case of 5.5 in

Experimental resultdebris flow
Sediment load (Pa)
III
(a)
Figure 5: Sediment load and
peak of sediment height
Non-permeability
(b)
Permeability
Picture 6: Debris flow behavior against each of condition
EXPREIMENTAL RESULT
3.1 Water flow collision experiment

Figure 3(a) and (b) show time history of impact load of water flow acting on the dam model
which start 2.0m and 3.5m far from the dam model, respectively. Red and blue lines are
corresponding to experiment of permeable dam model and non-permeable one, respectively. The
permeable dam model is subjected to smaller impact load, which occur in time range of " I "
shown in the figures, than non-permeability one. Table 2 summarizes peak loads obtained at time
range of " I " for all cases. The peak load associated with cases of 2.0m distance are clearly
smaller than those of 3.5m. In other word, the peak load are affect clearly the collision
velocity of water flow. Comparing with the load between non-permeable dam model and
permeable one, it is also very clear that peak loads on the permeable dam model are smaller
than those on non-permeable dam model.
Yellow line shows an estimation load acting on the dam as a static pressure of water in fluid
theory if whole water is accumulated at upstream side of dam. In Fig.3(a), the water collision load
in time range of " II ", associated with non-permeable dam model yields to the static water
pressure loads. However, the load of permeable dam decrease quickly and yields to null at time
range of " III ". Similar differences between permeable dam model and non-permeable model are
found in Fig.3(b).
Picture 4 shows a typical behavior of water collision recorded in time ranges of " I, II, III "
shown in Fig.3, respectively. At time in case of " I ", see top pictures Figs.4(a) and (b), water
impacted on the dam and spouted out violently along the front face of dam. The quantity of the
spouted out water of non-permeable dam model is clearly larger than that of permeable model.
So, part of water bumping against permeable dam might penetrate the porosity of the dam in this
situation already, Then this mechanism mitigates the impact loads of water collision as shown in
Table 2. At time in case of " II " , see middle pictures Figs.4 (a) and (b), a lot of bubble are found
at upstream side of the dam. The water starts to accumulate in front of the dam gathering lately
401
Water impact load N
Water impact load N
(a) Case of 3.5m
(b) Case of 2.5m
Figure 6: Peak impact load estimation (water flow)
Figure 7: Comparison with peak impact load estimation (debris flow)

arrive water and spouted water. At time in case of " III ", see bottom pictures Fig.4 (b) water
stored in front of the dam statically. However no-water is found in front of dam in case of the
permeable dam model, see Picture 4(a). So, the water pressure load gradually yield to null
becomes non load as shown in Fig.3 in time range of " III ".
3.2 Debris flow experiment
Fig.4 shows time history of impact load obtained in the debris flow experiments in case
supplying 5.5 water. Both permeable dam model and non-permeable one in experiment are
shown in Fig.4 and similar results are found. In time range of " I ", the peak load nearly 55N are
found, and those load gradually decrease in range of " I ". Finally those load yield to stable load
of 17N. The stable loads, i.e., 17N is larger than that of non-permeable dam's water flow load in
range of " III " , i.e., 11N, see Fig.4(a). Picture 5 shows the typical behavior of the debris flow
impact against permeable dam, Picture 5 (a), and non-permeable one, Picture 5(b), respectively.
In time range of " I ", see top picture, the debris impacted to the dam and run up to the dam, so
the back side of debris flow sediment make steep angle slope, and water flow are climbing over
the sediment and top of dams. There is no much difference between permeable and nonpermeable dam models.
In time ranges of " II "and " III ", see middle and bottom pictures, the debris flow model is
rebounded and spread upstream side of dam. The top plane of sediment become almost
horizontal. In case of non- permeable dam, water is also spread at upstream side of the dam,
while no-water in found for permeable dam. At stage " III ", the pressure of the storage debris
may be predicted by the earth pressure theory of soil. The equation for earth pressure load is
given by
Pg = eCe H 2 B
402
(1)
Where, Pgload of earth pressure, Cecoefficient of earth pressure (substituting Ca : active earth
pressure coefficent, Cp : passive earth pressure coefficent), H : sediment height, B : sediment width.
Fig. 5 shows the estimation results associated with sediment height and experiment results.
The experimental results of permeable model is in the estimation range between active and
passive earth pressure theory. However, the load over the passive pressure estimation in case of
non-permeable dam model. Water pressure may affect the difference of those results.
3.3 Design load
Fig.6 and 7 show a comparison of impact load estimation and experiment one. In the Figures, two
types of estimation are indicated . First is the load used in the conventional design manual, called
[6]
Daido's equation . The equation is follows
F = Kh
d
g
DdU 2
(2)
Where, F : debris flow fluid force unit width , U : velocity of debris flow, Kh : coefficinet (normal : Kh =
1.0), d : debris flow unit weight.
[9]
Second one is Morison's equation as follows,
F = CD
U2
DS + CM ACV
2
(3)
Where, CD : the drag efficient, D: the diameter of structure, S : small projection area of structures,
CM : the coefficient of inertia, Ac : the acceleration of fluid.
In case of water flow collision, see Fig.6, both estimation loads are smaller than that of experiment.
In case of debris flow, see Fig.7, the experimental peak loads are clearly larger than those of
estimation. So there may be a risk that less estimation of impact load on the dams.
4
CONCLUSION
This paper presents an experimental approach on the permeability effect of steel frame check
dam on water or the debris flow impact load. The results of this experiment are summarized as
follows:
(1) When water flow hit to the dams, remarkable mitigation of impact load is found in case of
permeable body dam, i.e., 35 percentages load reduce comparing with non-permeable body
dam.
(2) Non static water pressure load act on the permeable body dam after a few seconds later.
(3) When the debris flow impact to dams, collision effect between rocks and dam is much
effective than the water flow. The impact load is from 1.5 to 2.0 seconds larger than that of
water flow collision. The impact loads measured in this study are larger than that of
conventional estimation method used in the design manual.
(4) Earth pressure of accumulated debris flow acted on permeable body dam is nearly the load
estimated by the active pressure of soil. However, the load on non-permeable body exceeds
the estimation load because of accumulated water pressure load effect
403
REFERENCES
[1]
General Incorporated Association SABO Technical Centre, The actual condition of sediment
disaster, pp.3-31 (2011) (in Japanese)
[2] SABO Technical Centre, Structure of steel check dam, in Handbook of Designed Structure
of Steel Frame Check Dam, Japan (2010) (in Japanese)
[3]
Hiroshi Iketani, Classification of an avalanche of earth and rocks, civil engineering
journal,pp150-155 (1987) (in Japanese)
[4]
Takahisa Mizuyama, Estimation of debris flow impact load against check dam and the point
at issue,Journal of the Japan Society of Erosion Control Engineering,Vol.32,No.1, pp40-43
(1979) (in Japanese)
[5]
Iwao Miyoshi, and Masakazu Suzuki, Experimental study on impact load on a dam due to
debris flow, Journal of the Japan Society of Erosion Control Engineering,Vol.43,No.2(169),
pp11-19 (1990) (in Japanese)
[6] Atsuyuki Daido, Masahito Yoshizumi, and Kenta Nakazima, Impact force of mud-debris
flows acting on structure, Journal of hydraulic engineering, Vol.38, pp557-562(1994) (in
Japanese)
[7] Akira Yamamoto, Shuichi Yamamoto, Makoto Torihira,and Kunioki Hirama, Impact load on
Sabo Dam due to debris flow, Journal of the Japan Society of Erosion Control Engineering,
Vol.51, No.2, pp22-30 (1998) (in Japanese)
[8] Satoshi Katuki, Hajime Shibuya, Hirashi Ohsumi, and Nobutaka Ishikawa, Trap performance
analysis of steel frame check dam subjected to woddy debris by using 3-D DEM, Journal of
Japan Society of Civil Engineers, A2 (Applied Mechanics), Vol.69, pp16-29 (2012) (in
Japanese)
[9] Hajime Shibuya, Satoshi Katuki, Hiroshi Kokuryo, Hirashi Ohsumi, and Nobutaka Ishikawa,
Experimental study of load for steel frame check dam caused by debris flow with woody
debris, Journal of the Japan Society of Erosion Control Engineering, Vol.65, No.1, pp54-61
(2012) (in Japanese)
[10] Osamu Kiyomiya, Structure design overview in Japanese, Gihoudobooks (2003) (in Japanese)
404
th
NUMERICAL ANALYSIS ON DYNAMIC PERFORMANCE OF

TUBULAR K-JOINT UNDER IMPACT LOADS
Yufen Hua, Hui Qu*a, Jingsi Huob and Ran Fengc
*a
School of Civil Engineering, Yantai University, Yantai 264005, China

e-mail: <quhuiytu@gmail.com>
Keywords: Impact, tubular joints, numerical analysis, dynamic performance
Abstract. In order to gain an insight and understanding of the dynamic failure and
behavior of impacted steel tubes, this paper presents a finite element analysis
(FEA) model which can predict the behavior of a K-joint with the chord subjected
to transverse impact loads, and its validity has been verified well by previous
experimental results. Numerical results based on the mode, such as the impact
force, displacement, energy, were presented in this paper. It is found that when
the impact energy is relatively low, the chord plays an important role in resisting
the impact loads, however, when the energy is relative large, the deformation of
brace is obvious.
1
INTRODUCTION
th
Steel tubular structure is widely used in all kinds of constructions since the 20 century.
However, collision accidents caused by the dynamic loads acting on the steel structures have
occurred occasionally during its serving period. Such collision accidents not only test the impact
resistance of the structure, affect the service safety and the durability of the structure, but also
cause great damage to peoples life and property security. Abundant significant research results
have been accumulated on different types of joint in the world, however, most efforts were still
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
concentrated on static area, such as Chen , Wu and Zhang , Lee et al. , Feng and Young
and so on, who studied static performance by means of a series of experiments and numerical
simulation analysis. As to dynamic performance, a few researches have been conducted due to
the constraint of equipments, coupled with the accuracy of the data information collection hard to
ensure. In recent years, some experiments on different joints under impact loads conditions were
[5]
[6]
[7]
carried out by Qu et al. , Zeinoddini et al. , Bamabach et al. , respectively. The behavior of
[8]
tubular joints under impact loads can be assessed in numerical studies, such as Jama et al. ,
[9]
Qu .
This paper aims to establish a finite element numerical to study the dynaimc performance of
tubular K-joint with the chord subjected to transverse impact loads. The impact force,
displacement, energy dissipation were investigated to reveal the impact resistance mechanism
and provide some suggestions for structure design.
______________________________
b
China Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Building Safety and Energy Efficiency, College of Civil
Engineering, Hunan University, Yuelu Mountain, Changsha, 410082, China
c
School of Civil Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, 230009, China
405
Yufen Hu, Hui Qu, Jingsi Huo and Ran Feng
FEA MODEL
2.1 Geometric parameters

In order to study the overall process analysis of the circular steel tubular K-joint subjected to
lateral impact, FEA model is carried out using the finite element package ABAQUS Version 6.10.
[10-14].
The geometric parameters of the joint are chosen by considering both the series codes
The
outer diameter(D), wall thickness(T) and length (L) of chord is is 180mm, 5.8mm and 1944mm,
respectively. The outer diameter(d), wall thickness (t) and length (l) of brace is 89mm, 4.0mm
and 995mm, respectively. The FEA model is shown in Figure 1.
Hammer
Local cylindrical coordinates
All degrees of freedom of
the reference point is constrained
Reference point
Local area are with fine meshes
Chord
Brace
End plate
End plate
Degrees of freedom U1, U2, U3 of the
midline is constrained
Midline
Figure 1: FEA model of K-joint under impact loads

2.2 Material model
The idealized uniaxial stress-strain relationship of mild steel is used to represent the elasticperfectly plastic behavior of steel. The yield stress, elastic modulus and Poissons ratio were given
on base of previous tension test measuring. In this model, the welding residual stress was not
taken into consideration. During impact loading, the yield stress increases with the increase of
strain rate. The dynamic yield strength of steel under different strain rates was calculated with
[15]
Cowper-Symonds model
given by:
& 1/n
dy =y 1+
D
dy
(1)
Where
is the dynamic yield strength of steel under strain rate & , the
is the static yield
strength of steel, D and n are the rate-dependent parameters. According to previous experiment,
when D=40.4s-1 and n = 5 the model can simulate the material well.
2.3 Boundary condition, element type, interaction property and applied load
This paper aims to investigate the resistance performance of K-joint under impact hammer,
therefore the influence of the boundary conditions on joint failure mode are ignored herein. The six
degrees of freedom (U1, U2, U3, UR1, UR2, UR3) of the reference points at the two ends of chord are
constrained to achieve consolidation, while the ends of two braces are allowed to rotate around the Xaxis, with constraints of the three degrees of freedom (U1, U2, U3) of the outside midlines on both
plates at the ends of braces to get the braces hinged. A 4-node linear shell element with reduced
integration (S4R) is used to model chord and braces, while the hammer and the end plates are
modeled by using a 3D stress 8-node linear brick element with reduced integration (C3D8R). The
interaction type between the hammer and the chord is general contact in which a normal behavior and
a tangent behavior were considered in the interaction property. A hard contact is used to simulate
pressure-overclosure in the normal behavior, while a friction formulation penalty is represented to
the tangent behavior, and the friction coefficient is set to be 0.3. The impact loads is applied at the
mid-span of chord by creating a predefined field with initial velocity equal to 5.9m/s on hammer to
simulate the previous experiment, and the gravity acceleration is taken into account in the simulation
at the same time.
406
FAILURE MODE
K-joint under transverse impact loads presents mainly two failure modes: when the ratio of the
diameter to the wall thickness of chord is relatively smaller, the effect of the impact loads on brace is
so little that the deformation of the bottom mid-span of chord can be ignored, as shown in Figure 2a
and 2b. Otherwise, with axial loads transferring into the braces increasing, local dent occurs at the
bottom surface of chord. The lower intersection of chord and braces at the mid-span is up-lifted much
more obviously than both sides nearby as shown in Figure 2c and 2d.
The dish-shape plastic zone is the main region where the deformation occurred in both of the two
failure modes. The most conspicuous deflection embodies in local denting on the top surface of midspan where the yield lines occur. Dramatic puffing distortion can be observed on both sides of the wall
at mid-span. However, there is no obvious deformation occurring to braces on the contrary. The
denting zone consists of one rectangular sag zone and two halves of slant ellipse caused by the
outside layout of the hammer. Local stress concentration in the sag zone made the insider yield lines
visible clearly. Nevertheless, the outside yield lines were not obvious as the bending deflection was
changing constantly along the length of the chord, therefore, nearly ellipse shape is represented.
(a) Failure mode
(b) Intersection at mid-span of failure mode
(c) Failure mode
(d) Intersection at mid-span of failure mode

Figure 2: Failure mode of K-joint
4 IMPACT PERFORMING INDEX

4.1 Impact force history curve
Figure 3 presents the change of the impact force with time from the beginning of the hammer
contacting with the joint to the end of the hammer bouncing back up. It can be seen the whole
impact force curve can be divided into four phases: stage is elastic stage (rising rapidly,
0~0.82ms); stage is hardening stage (wave-like rising slowly 0.82~12ms); stage is plastic
flow stage (approximate steady 12~17ms); and stage is elastic recovery stage (falling fast
17~24ms). The impact force displays a very strong linear relationship to time as shown in loading
stage . It can be seen that the force rise rapidly in the initial phase of impact since the hammer
began contacting with chord. Continuous elastic deformation occurred around the contact zone
with energy absorption till the it reaches to the maximum value of the curve in stage which is
the critical elastic load of chord. The impact procedure steps into stage once the top surface of
the chord occurred plastic deformation. As the velocity of the contact zone sagging is larger than
that of the hammer dropping, it is obvious that the change rate of the force in stage is smaller
than that in stage . The higher frequency fluctuations of the loads in this stage are noticeable
due to the local plastic deformation changes instability on the contact zone, which caused the
stiffness of the chord changing constantly. The contact zone reached a stable denting state at the
beginning of stage , besides that, braces played an important role in decreasing overall
bending deflection by sustaining the chord in this stage, making the impact force keep relatively
stable. Care should be taken that an unpredicted slight decline appears at the time 13.5ms. It is
407
reasonable as the global flexural deformation began to occur at the time which led to the trend
that the hammer relatively separated slightly from the chord. Stage started when the denting
deformation reached to the maximum value. At the same time the hammer began to move
reversely and the elastic deformation began to recovery. The impact force decays linearly to zero
until the hammer and the joint separate completely.
200
F /kN
150
100
50
0
0
0.01
0.02
0.03
t /s
Figure 3: Impact force history curve

4.2 Displacement history curve
Figure 4 gives the results of four displacement time history curves of three special points on
chord. It can be clearly seen that the downward deformation of the top surface of chord (D1) is
dominant among all the deformation during the course of impact. The tendency of the other three
curves (downward and puffing outward displacement of mid-side of chord (D2 and D3), downward
displacement of the bottom surface of chord (D5)) approximately keeps consistent with each
other during the course of impact loading. These three displacements rise continuously with the
impact force increasing in the initial stages, and present a gradual downward trend in the last
stage. As predicted, all displacements are so small that they have a negligible effect on failure
mode in loading stage; a sharp rising occurred in hardening stage; continuous development
occurs until displacements get maxim value while the force keeps relatively stable in plastic stage;
the displacements are getting stable gradually as elastic deformation recovery developing in the
last stage.
[16]
According to Norman and Birchs method
which took the equal area axis of the deformed
and un-deformed section as the datum to define the global deformation, the K-joint global
deformation history curve (D4) was plotted in Figure 4. According to the failure modes in Figure 2,
it can be obtained that the K-joint deformation can be considered as the coupling of local buckling
and global flexural deformation after suffering from impact loads, and the local buckling is
[17]
dominant. As the experiment
of a tube suffering from impact loads confirmed the results
mentioned above, the lower surface corresponding to the dent zone is markedly lifted with
respect to the neutral axis in tube. A striking contrast is presented herein that the bottom
displacement at mid-span of K-joint is very close to zero. This suggests that the punching action
of the braces on the one hand can mitigate the joint damage by constraining the global
deformation effectively, on the other hand it aggravates local plastic failure on the top surface of
the chord.
75
U/ mm
60
45
D1
D2
D3
D4
D5
30
15
0
-15
0
0.01
0.02
0.03
t/s
Figure 4: Displacement history curve
408
4.3 Energy dissipation history curve

The kinetic energy shown in Figure 5 was generated by the motion of hammer when it started
contacting with the joint. Figure 5 shows that it was chord deformation absorbed major impact
energy while brace almost did not take part in the whole energy dissipation. At the same time the
law of energy conservation is confirmed during the impact process: the process of the hammer
kinetic energy decrease is the process of the joint overall internal energy growth.
10
EI/kJ
8
chord energy
absorption
brace energy
absorption
kinetic energy
2
0
0
0.01
0.02
0.03
t/s
Figure 5: Energy dissipation history curve

A few researches have been focused on the resistant impact force calculation of K-joint so far.
[18]
Ellinas and Walker
provided a very simplified analytical model of tube based on experiments
to estimate the impact force and the energy absorbed as follows:
P = 150mP
E = 100mP
(2)
1.5
d
(3)
t y
2
mP =
(4)
is threshold impact force,
is impact deformation energy, d is the maximum dent
depth, D is the diameter of the tubular,
mP
is the plastic section property of the tubular wall.
Where
P
E
and of a tube similar to the K-joint without braces can be calculated according to the
above equations, and the results are list in Table 1. It is found that the force of the joint is not
much lower than that of the tube by contrast, which indicates that the negative impact mainly
affects chord while it has a negligible effect on braces. However, the tubular deformation energy
is lower than that of the K-joint about 13.7% at the same dent. This suggests that the joint energy
absorption is enhanced by braces, which is beneficial to plastic failure.
Tube
K-joint
Force (kN)
198.99
196.04
Energy (KJ)
7.164
8.143
Table 1: Comparison of impact performance between tube and joint
409
CONCLUSIONS
An attempt to understand the mechanism of K-joint impact response has been completed
through FEA. The following conclusions are made from the results for engineering design
purpose and further study:
(1) K-joint under transverse impact loads presents mainly two failure modes on the base of the
diameter and the wall thickness of chord, performing at whether the lower intersection of chord
deforms.
(2) The whole impact process can be divided into elastic, hardening, plastic flow, and elastic
recovery stages; and the local buckling is the dominant deformation.
(3) The punching action of braces can mitigate the joint damage by constraining the global
deformation effectively, at the same time it aggravates local plastic failure on the top surface of
chord.
REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
[11]
[12]
[13]
[14]
[15]
[16]
[17]
[18]
Y. Chen, Research on static behavior of unstiffened overlapped circular hollow section Kjoints[D], Tongji University, 2006.
Z.Y. Wu and Y. Zhang, Finite element analysis of failure modes of directly welded KT-type
overlapped SHS joints[J], Journal of Architecture and Civil Engineering, 2008, 25(3): 6-11.
C.K. Lee, S.P. Chiew, S.T. Lie, T. Sopha, Comparison of fatigue performances of gapped and
partially overlapped CHS K-joints[J]. Engineering Structures, 2010, 33(1): 44-52.
R. Feng and B. Young, Stress concentration factors of cold-formed stainless steel tubular Xjoints[J]. Journal of Constructional Steel Research, 2013, 91: 26-41.
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loads[J]. Journal of Building Structures, 2013, 34(4): 65-73.
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impacts:an experimental study[J]. International Journal of Impact Engineering, 2002, 27, 669690.
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under transverse impact loads [J]. Engineering Structures,2008, 30, 2859-2870.
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beams subjected to transverse blast loads[J]. Thin-Walled Structures, 2009, 47, 1523-1534.
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Mechanics and Materials. 2012,166-169:310-313.
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Fixed Offshore Platforms-Working Stress Design (21st edition).December 2002.
Fixed Offshore Platforms-Working Stress Design supplement2 (21st edition). 2005.
Fixed Offshore Platforms-Working Stress Design supplement3 (21st edition). 2007.
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Netherlands. Comit Intemational pour le Dveloppement et IEtude de la Construction Tubulaire,
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loading. Brown University, Division of Engineering Report, BU/NSRDC, 1967, 1-67.
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Colloquium, Copenhagen.1983,253-262.
410
th
EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON EXTERIOR PRECAST CONCRETE

FRAMES UNDER COLUMN REMOVAL SCENARIOS
Shaobo Kang* and Kang Hai Tan
*
School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University

50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798
e-mail: <skang2@e.ntu.edu.sg>
Keywords: precast concrete frames, column removal scenarios, compressive arch action,
catenary action, column failure
Abstract. With rigid boundary conditions, precast concrete beam-column subassemblages are capable of initiating significant compressive arch action (CAA) and
catenary action under column removal scenarios. However, axial force in these
bridging beams over the middle column removal may induce flexural or shear failure
of adjacent side columns, which in turn hinders the full development of CAA and
catenary action in beams. Thus, it is necessary to assess structural behaviour of
precast concrete frames subject to column loss. This paper presents an
experimental investigation on the resistance and failure mode of two precast frames.
Each frame incorporates a middle beam-column joint, a double-bay beam, and two
side columns. Specimens were loaded by a vertical servo-hydraulic actuator on the
middle joint, and their reaction forces were recorded by a horizontal load cell on the
top and a pin support at the bottom of each side column. Test results and
observations indicate shear failure of the side beam-column joint, as well as bar
fracture in the beam-column joint under CAA and catenary action. Conclusions from
the frame tests suggest that the side columns have to be strengthened so as to
protect them from potential failure under middle column removal scenarios.
1 INTRODUCTION
In recent years, the disastrous aftermath of progressive collapse of building structures, such as
the World Trade Centre in New York and the Alfred-Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma city, has
stirred up intensive research studies on the resistance of structures subject to blast loads. Accordingly,
[1, 2]
design guidelines were issued by government agencies to mitigate progressive collapse
. Among
the various design approaches against progressive collapse, the alternate path method allows local
failure to occur, but seeks to arrest its disproportionate propagation through development of additional
load paths, viz. CAA and catenary action, in the bridging beams over the local damage. It takes single
column removal as a standard scenario by means of which the structural resistance has to be
quantified experimentally or analytically.
Experimental tests on the behaviour of reinforced concrete (RC) beam-column sub-assemblages
subject to column loss indicate that bridging beams are able to develop catenary action provided they
[3-6]
have sufficient axial restraint
. However, at the frame level, mobilisation of catenary action in the
beams imposes a substantially high demand on the moment resistance of side columns and the shear
______________________________
School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University

50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore, 639798
E-mail: CKHTAN@ntu.edu.sg
411
Shaobo Kang and Kang Hai Tan
strength of beam-column joints, and column or joint failure may occur under combined bending
[7, 8].
moment and horizontal tension
Therefore, special attention has to be paid on the side columns to
enable catenary action to develop in the bridging beam.
This paper presents an experimental study on the exterior precast concrete frames under column
removal scenarios, in which the side columns were only laterally restrained by load pin or load cell at
the top and the bottom ends of the columns. Experimental results show that the ultimate failure of
precast frames was due to fracture of the beam top reinforcement near the side columns, shear
failure of the side beam-column joint or flexural failure of the side columns under catenary action,
dependant on the beam reinforcement ratio.
2 EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAMME
2.1 Specimen design
250
225
300
250
150
150
A-A
B-B
C-C
1000
1000
B
150
300
150
1175
225
300
75
75
200
Two precast concrete frames with identical dimensions were designed in accordance with
[9]
and scaled down to one-half model. Figure 1 shows the geometric properties of the
Eurocode 2
frame. Bridging beams over the column removal and side columns were extracted from the building
structure. The hatched zones represent precast beam and column units. In the precast concrete
frames, precast beam and column units were prefabricated, and then the precast components were
assembled into the frame with continuous longitudinal reinforcement passing through the concrete
topping. In order to prevent delamination between the precast beam units and cast-in-situ concrete
topping, the horizontal interface was intentionally roughened to about 3 mm and mild steel stirrups of
8 mm were provided along the beam length at 80 mm spacing.
2750
875
250
Figure 1: Geometry of Precast Concrete Frames

Specimen
EF-B-0.88/0.59
EF-B-1.19/0.59
A-A
3T13 (top)
2T13 (bottom)
2T16+1T13 (top)
2T13 (bottom)
Beam bars
B-B
2T13 (top)
2T13 (bottom)
2T16 (top)
2T13 (bottom)
Stirrups
Column bars
Main bars
Stirrups
R8@80
8T13
R8@100
R8@80
8T13
R8@100
Table 1: Reinforcement details of precast concrete frames

Table 1 list the reinforcement details of the precast frames. In the notations, the alphabets EF
o
and B represent exterior frames with 90 bend of bottom reinforcing bars in the beam-column joint,
and the two numerals denote the top and the bottom reinforcement ratios at the beam section A. All
other parameters of the beams and columns remained the same in the two frames except the beam
412
top reinforcement ratio. In the beam-column joint, the diameter and spacing of stirrups remained
identical to that in the column units.
2.2 Material properties
Prior to structural testing, material properties of steel reinforcement were obtained experimentally,
as listed in Table 2. It is noteworthy that the steel bars at the top and bottom layers of beams were
from different batches of reinforcement, and thus their nominal strengths were different. As for
concrete, standard concrete cylinders with 150 mm diameter and 300 mm height were tested to
obtain the compressive and splitting tensile strengths. Besides, concrete strain gauges with a gauge
length of 60 mm were mounted in the middle of each cylinder to obtain its modulus of elasticity. Table
3 shows the strength and the modulus of concrete cylinders.
Nominal
diameter
(mm)
Material
T13
Main bars
Stirrups
13
Yield
strength
(MPa)
Elastic
modulus
(MPa)
Ultimate
strength
(MPa)
Fracture
strain (%)
553.2
203895
630.8
10.8
593.7
202228
688.4
12.0
Beam bottom
bars and
column bars
Beam top bars
Remark
T16
16
493.9
204049
615.7
16.0
Beam top bars
R8
272.4
207395
359.5
--
--
Table 2: Characteristic values of steel bar properties

Specimen
EF-B-0.88/0.59
EF-B-1.19/0.59
Precast units
In-situ concrete
Precast units
In-situ concrete
Compressive
strength (MPa)
27.7
26.9
26.9
38.1
Modulus of
elasticity (MPa)
22719
25766
25766
26284
Splitting tensile
strength (MPa)
2.0
2.1
2.1
2.8
Table 3: Concrete compressive and splitting tensile strengths

2.3 Test set-up and instrumentation
Reaction
wall
Actuator
Load cell
Self-equilibrating
system
A-frame
Pin support
Rotational
restraint
Out-of-plane
restraint
Figure 2: Test Set-up for Precast Concrete Frames
413
Figure 2 shows the test set-up for precast concrete frames. Underneath each side column, a pin
support was fixed onto the strong floor, with a load pin inserted to capture the horizontal reaction force.
A horizontal load cell was connected to the top end of the column to constrain it from horizontal
translation. In addition to the restraint system at the side column, short steel columns were employed
at the mid-span of each single-bay beam to prevent its out-of-plane deflection. Rotational restraint
was also utilised at the middle joint to avert its rotation after rebar fracture occurred at one side of the
joint. In order to simulate axial compression force in the side column, a self-equilibrating system was
fitted to the column. A flat jack was placed between the column and a thick steel plate on its top. Four
steel rods were used to connect the top steel plate to the pin support at the bottom. By jacking against
steel plate, compression force was imposed to the column and was equilibrated by the tension force
in the four steel rods. Before testing, a stress level of 0.3fc was applied onto the column, fc is the
cylinder strength of concrete. Displacement-control quasi-static load was imposed on the middle joint.
Corresponding vertical load and middle joint displacement were recorded by the built-in load cell of
the actuator. Under column removal scenarios, sides columns to the bridging beams experienced
[7]
lateral deflections when subject to CAA and catenary action . Therefore, linear variable differential
transducers (LVDTs) were installed along the column height to capture the lateral deflections. Figure
3 shows the layout of LVDTs.
Pin support
Top restraint
SD-3
SD-2
SD-1
575
400
SD-4
300
SD-5
400
665
Figure 3: Layout of LVDTs along the Column Height

The progressive collapse resistance of exterior frames is characterised by the capacities of CAA
and catenary action developed in the bridging double-bay beam under column loss scenarios. The
side column plays a crucial role at the CAA and catenary action stages. Transmission of horizontal
forces to the side column through the beam-column joint may induce shear failure to the joint if
insufficient shear reinforcement is provided in the joint, which in turn hinders the full development of
CAA and catenary action in the beam.
3.1 Load-displacement curves
100
EF-B-0.88/0.59
EF-B-1.19/0.59
Horizontal reaction force (kN)
80
Applied load (kN)
EF-B-0.88/0.59
EF-B-1.19/0.59
40
60
40
20
20
0
-20
-40
-60
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
Middle joint displacement (mm)
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
Middle joint displacement (mm)
(a) Vertical Load
(b) Horizontal Reaction
Figure 4: Action-Middle Column Displacement Curves

Figures 4(a and b) show the variation of vertical load and horizontal reaction force with middle joint
[3, 4],
CAA and catenary action feature the axial
displacement. As defined in previous study
compression and tension forces in the bridging beam, respectively. Accordingly, significant CAA
414
developed in the exterior frames at small middle column displacements. However, the comparatively
smaller column showed a slow descending phase with increasing middle joint displacement. At the
catenary action stage, although the horizontal reaction force in the bridging beam kept increasing, the
vertical load decreased due to premature rebar fracture near the side column, or shear failure of the
side beam-column joint.
Table 4 lists the CAA capacity, the peak horizontal compression force, the catenary action capacity
and the maximum tension force. Compared with EF-B-0.88/0.59, the beam top reinforcement ratio of
EF-B-1.19/0.59 was 35% higher, and its CAA capacity was increased by around 11% to 75.1 kN.
Correspondingly, the peak compression force at the CAA stage was increased by 30% as well. After
catenary action kicked in, the peak tension force in EF-B-1.19/0.59 was increased by 19.8 kN.
However, the vertical load kept decreasing when the exterior frames entered into the catenary action
stage. Thus, the catenary action capacity is taken as the vertical load at the onset of catenary action.
Eventually, shear failure of the side joint cut off the load path of horizontal force from the bridging
beam to the side column, leading to progressive collapse of EF-B-1.19/0.59. For EF-B-0.88/0.59,
fracture of beam top bars near the side column induced failure.
Specimen
Capacity (kN)
EF-B-0.88/0.59
EF-B-1.19/0.59
67.9
75.1
CAA
Max. compression
(kN)
-45.0
-58.3
Catenary action
Capacity (kN)
Max. Tension (kN)
51.4
67.7
17.1
36.9
Table 4: Capacities of Precast Concrete Frames

3.2 Failure modes
RC beam-column sub-assemblages with rigid restraints only show beam rebar rupture at the
[3, 6].
o
middle joint
Nonetheless, with 90 bend of bottom bars anchored in the beam-column joint, pullout of beam bars from the middle joint occurred in EF-B-0.88/0.59, as illustrated in Figure 5(a).
However, in EF-B-1.19/0.59, one bottom bar fractured at the left face of the middle joint, leading to a
drop of the vertical load in Figure 4(a), whereas the other steel bar at the left face exhibited pull-out
failure, as shown in Figure 5(b). Following rebar rupture at the left face of the middle joint, the
presence of rotational restraint at the middle joint enabled the moment resistance at the right face to
be mobilised. Thus, the vertical load imposed on EF-B-1.19/0.59 (Figure 4(a)) could increase once
again prior to the commencement of catenary action.
Left face
Right face
Left face
Pull-out failure
Right face
Rebar pull-out
(a) EF-B-0.88/0.59
(b) EF-B-1.19/0.59
Figure 5: Failure Mode of Middle Joints
415
In EF-B-0.88/0.59, beam top bars near the side column fractured after the plastic hinge attained its
rotational capacity, as shown in Figure 6(a). Several discrete wide cracks formed at the beam end,
leading to concentration of beam rotation in the plastic hinge region. However, due to the relatively
[4]
lower compression force in the beam in comparison with RC beam-column sub-assemblages , less
severe concrete crushing was observed in the compression zone of the beam. By increasing the top
reinforcement ratio in the beam of EF-B-1.19/0.59, more flexural cracks were generated in the plastic
hinge region, as shown in Figure 6(b), thereby enhancing the rotational capacity of the plastic hinge.
Therefore, beam bar fracture at the side column was averted. Instead, behaviour of the side column
and the beam-column joint deteriorated when subject to horizontal forces produced by CAA and
subsequent catenary action in the bridging beam.
Concrete crushing
Concrete crushing
(a) EF-B-0.88/0.59
(b) EF-B-1.19/0.59
Figure 6: Failure Mode of Plastic Hinges near the Side Column

Left column
Left column
Right column
(a) EF-B-0.88/0.59
Right column
(b) EF-B-1.19/0.59
Figure 7: Failure Mode of Side Columns

Development of CAA in the bridging beam generated flexural cracks at the outer face of the
column below the side beam-column joint, as shown in Figures 7(a and b), due to significant
horizontal compression force acting on the column. Above the joint, little flexural cracks were
observed, as compression force at the CAA stage was primarily transmitted to the pin support at the
bottom of the column. Besides, diagonal shear cracks were also observed in the joint zone, especially
in EF-B-1.19/0.59. This observation indicates that a higher top reinforcement ratio in the beam tends
to fail the beam-column joint in the form of shear cracks. It is shear failure of the joint that cut off the
load path of the horizontal force from the beam to the side column and led to decreasing vertical load
at the catenary action stage. It is noteworthy that the diagonal cracks in the left joint of EF-B-1.19/0.59
416
were mainly formed under CAA, whereas in the right joint shear cracks developed at the catenary
action stage. Therefore, beam-column joint failure occurred under both CAA and catenary action.
In addition to the total horizontal force, Figures 8(a and b) plot the reaction force in each lateral
restraint on the side column. When the side column was subject to CAA, the horizontal compression
force was predominantly transmitted to the bottom pin support, while the horizontal load cell at the top
of the side column carried limited force. It agrees well with the crack pattern on the column, as shown
in Figures 7(a and b). It is notable that the reaction in the left bottom pin support was substantially
larger than that in the right support. Therefore, more severe diagonal shear cracking was observed in
the left joint zone at the CAA stage, as shown in Figures 7(a and b). Following the commencement of
catenary action in the bridging beam, the top load cell started to carry more tension force. In EF-B1.19/0.59, the top load cell connected to the right column sustained much higher tension force in
comparison with its counterpart at the left column, which resulted in diagonal shear cracks in the right
joint at the catenary action stage, as shown in Figure 7(b). Additionally, the bottom pin support
sustained almost no tension force at the catenary action stage due to shear failure of the side joint
(Figure 8(b)).
Left top
Left bottom
Right top
Right bottom
20
-20
-40
-60
20
0
-20
-40
-60
-80
50
100
150
200
Left top
Left bottom
Right top
Right bottom
40
40
250
300
350
400
450
500
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
400
450
500
Middle column displacement (mm)
(a) EF-B-0.88/0.59
(b) EF-B-1.19/0.59
Figure 8: Reaction Forces of Lateral Restraints Connected to Side Columns
3000
2000
1500
Yield strain
1000
500
0
-500
LCS-1
LCS-2
RCS-1
RCS-2
2500
Shear link strain ()
Shear link strain ()
3000
LCS-1
LCS-2
RCS-1
RCS-2
2500
2000
1500
Yield strain
1000
500
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
-500
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
(a) EF-B-0.88/0.59
(b) EF-B-1.19/0.59
Figure 9: Strain of Shear Links in the Side Beam-Column Joint
417
500
2000
2500
Top restraint
Peak compression
Onset of catenary action
Peak tension
Distance to bottom pin support (mm)
Distance to bottom pin support (mm)
2500
Beam top
1500
1000
Original position
Beam bottom
500
0
-8
-6
-4
-2
Lateral deflection (mm)
2000
1500
Top restraint
Peak compression
Onset of catenary action
Peak tension
Beam top
1000
Beam bottom
500
Original position
0
-8
-6
-4
-2
Lateral deflection (mm)
(a) EF-B-0.88/0.59
(b) EF-B-1.19/0.59
Figure 10: Lateral Deflection of the Side Column

To analyse the behaviour of the side beam-column joint, Figure 9 plots the strain of shear links in
the joint zone measured by steel strain gauges. LCS-1, LCS-2, RCS-1 and RCS-2 represent the
strain gauges in the left and the right side joints, respectively. Shear links in the side beam-column
joint were under compression with limited compressive strains at the initial stage. When the middle
joint displacement was larger than 50 mm, the strains started to increase rapidly, indicating the
formation of diagonal cracks in the joint zone. Thereafter, the strain of shear links in EF-B-0.88/0.59
increased at a lower rate and remained in the elastic stage except LCS-1. Shear links were able to
sustain shear force in the joint and prevented shear cracks from widening. Thus, shear failure did not
occur in spite of diagonal shear cracks. However, in EF-B-1.19/0.59, shear links in the side joint
entered into the post-yielding stage due to higher shear force in the joint, thereby deteriorating the
shear behaviour of the side joint. Besides, diagonal shear cracking in the joint even propagated into
the column above the side joint, resulting in severe spalling of concrete cover of the column.
Significant lateral deflections of the side column were recorded through LVDTs, as shown in Figure
10. The negative value denotes the deflection away from the middle joint, and the positive value
stands for the deflection towards the middle joint. Under CAA, the column was pushed outwards by
the horizontal compression force in the bridging beam. Similar deformed profile of the side column
was obtained for EF-B-0.88/0.59 and EF-B-1.19/0.59. The maximum negative deflection up to 6 mm
was attained at the column section corresponding to the bottom face of the beam. Following the onset
of catenary action, inward deflection of the side column was induced due to horizontal tension force.
At the catenary action stage, the column lateral deflection varied with the failure mode of the frame.
Beam top bars fracture defined the progressive collapse of EF-B-0.88/0.59, with limited shear cracks
in the side joint. Thus, the whole side column exhibited positive deflection, as shown in Figure 10(a).
Nonetheless, shear failure of the side joint in EF-B-1.19/0.59 created a jump in the lateral deflection of
the column corresponding to the beam top face. The substantially higher horizontal tension force
acting on the column pulled the upper column above the side joint inwards, but load could not be
transferred to the lower column due to joint failure.
4 DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
Under column removal scenarios, the exterior precast concrete frame EF-B-0.88/0.59 was able to
develop CAA in the bridging beam. In comparison with rigid restraints, slender columns at the two
ends of the beam limited the horizontal compression force due to lower stiffness and cracking at the
CAA stage. Even though horizontal tension force was activated to redistribute the vertical load at
large deformations, no significant catenary action was observed in the vertical load-middle column
displacement curve due to premature rupture of beam top reinforcement near the side column. By
increasing the beam top reinforcement ratio from 0.88% to 1.19%, a higher CAA capacity was
obtained in EF-B-1.19/0.59 with slightly large horizontal compression force in the beam. Nonetheless,
the side beam-column joint failed eventually instead of beam top bar fracture near the column face,
which hindered the full development of catenary action in the beam.
With slender columns at the two ends of the double-bay beam, precast concrete frames may
exhibit two modes of failure, viz. beam top bar fracture near the side beam-column joint and shear
failure of the beam-column joint, depending on the beam top reinforcement ratio. Above all, special
precaution has to be taken against shear failure of the beam-column joint under CAA and catenary
418
action, and future experimental programme on the exterior frame is suggested to quantify the demand
on shear strength of the beam-column joint under progressive collapse scenarios.
REFERENCES
[1] DOD. Design of Buildings to Resist Progressive Collapse. Unified Facilities Criteria(UFC)-4-02303: Department of Defence, Washington, DC; 2013.
[2] GSA. Progressive Collapse Analysis and Design Guidelines for New Federal Office Buildings and
Major Modernization Projects. General Services Administration, Washington, DC; 2003.
[3] Su Y, Tian Y, Song X. Progressive collapse resistance of axially-restrained frame beams. ACI
Structural Journal. 2009;106:600-7.
[4] Yu J, Tan KH. Experimental study on catenary action of RC beam-column sub-assemblages.
Proceedings of the 3rd fib International Congress 2010: Washington, DC; 2010.
[5] Yu J, Tan KH. Experimental and Numerical Investigation on Progressive Collapse Resistance of
Reinforced Concrete Beam Column Sub-assemblages. Engineering Structures. 2013;55:90-106.
[6] Yu J, Tan KH. Structural Behavior of RC Beam-Column Subassemblages under a Middle Column
Removal Scenario. Journal of Structural Engineering. 2013;139:233-50.
[7] Yi WJ, He QF, Xiao Y, Kunnath SK. Experimental study on progressive collapse-resistant
behavior of reinforced concrete frame structures. ACI Structural Journal. 2008;105:433-9.
[8] Lew HS, Bao Y, Sadek F, Main JA, Pujol S, Sozen MA. An Experimental and Computational
Study of Reinforced Concrete Assemblies under a Column Removal Scenario. NIST Technical
Note 1720: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD; 2011.
[9] BSI. Eurocode 2: Design of concrete structuresPart 1-1: General rules and rules for buildings.
BS EN 1992-1-1:2004: British Standards Institution, London; 2004. p. 225.
419
th
QUASI-STATIC COMPRESSIVE MECHANICAL BEHAVIOR OF

EPS-CEMENT COMPOSITE FOR IMPACT RESISTANCE
*
Key Laboratory of Advanced Civil Engineering Materials of Ministry of Education,

Tongji University, 4800 Caoan Road, Shanghai 201804, China
Keywords: Expanded polystyrene, cement, compressive mechanical behavior, energy

absorption.
Abstract. Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) is commonly used in concrete to

enhance the toughness and energy absorbing properties. In the previous study,
an EPS-cement based composite material (EPS-C) was prepared for impact
resistance. In this research, quasi-static compressive tests were conducted to
further investigate the energy absorbing properties. The character and formation
of the stress-strain curves were analyzed. Energy absorption and energy
absorbing efficiency were also calculated. Effects of cement dosage, fiber, latex,
compress ratio and curing condition on the properties above were analyzed.
Results figure out that the stress-strain curve can be treated as the complex of
an elastic porous material and an elastic-brittle porous material. By using higher
cement dosage, adding latex or using higher compress ratio, the compressive
strength and elastic modulus will all increase apparently. The energy absorption
will increase if the cement dosage is higher else if fibers, latex or a 0.60
compress ratio are applied. With higher cement dosage, the energy absorbing
efficiency is lower. By using fibers and latex, the energy absorbing efficiency will
turn lower, too.
1
INTRODUCTION
With the rapid development and wide usage of cement-based materials, concrete is endowed with
1
more and more function, among which is impact resistance. Despite its remarkable brittleness,
various methodologies had been applied to enhance the toughness of concrete, making it possible to
be used in impact resistance. Fibers were usually used to raise the post-crack strength after brittle
2, 3
fracture and absorb impact energy by their rupture and pulling-out.
Another possible method is to
4, 5
compound with some elastic materials which can absorb energy by their toughness failure.
Here,
expanded polystyrene (EPS) is optimal and adaptive.
The impact resistance of EPS concrete is commonly measured by the energy absorption on
5
dynamic compressive test or quasi-static compressive test. Hu did research on the energy absorption
capacity of EPS concrete, revealing it to increase first and then decrease with the increasing of the
6
volume fraction of EPS beads. Ding studied the dynamic compressive properties of EPS concrete
with Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) and discovered that the impact resistance performance
7
would rise with curing age. BABU investigated the stress-strain relationship of EPS concrete
______________________________
Key Laboratory of Advanced Civil Engineering Materials of Ministry of Education, Tongji University
421

8
containing fly ash and made comparison with EPS concrete with ordinary Portland cement. XU
analyzed the stress-strain curve of EPS concrete and found the EPS dosage to be the most significant
factor on compressive strength.
In the previous study, a novel EPS-cement based material (EPS-C) was developed. It was able to
9
be used in sound absorption . The impact resistance was also studied by a self-made device, proving
10, 11
it capable to be used in impact resistance
. However, the former studies focused on the impact
force absorption and impact energy absorption, which should be treated as the protecting effect on the
structures being surrounded. The properties of this materials own especially the energy absorption
during failure was referred to quite little. So in this study, the mechanical behavior by quasi-static
compressive test is studied. The character and formation of the stress-strain curves are investigated.
The influence of cement dosage, fibers, latex, compress ratio and curing condition on the stress-strain
curves is analyzed. The energy absorption is calculated to characterize the energy absorbing
properties. And the energy absorbing efficiency is also analyzed.
2
EXPERIMENTAL
2.1 Materials
Type PII 52.5 Ordinary Portland cement (OPC) was produced by Jiangnan-xiaoyetian Cement Co.,
Ltd.. EPS beads, with diameter of 1 - 5 mm, were manufactured by Shanghai Leien Economy Energy
Build Material Co., Ltd., which were accord with the standard of JG 158 - 2004. Polypropylene fibers
(FB) with the length of 8mm, as well as redispersible emulsion powder (LTX) with dominant ingredient
of acroleic acid were also utilized.
2.2 Samples preparation
10
Samples were prepared by compressing semi-dry materials molding in 15.6 cm 6 cm

cylindrical molds. The compress ratios were 0.75 and 0.60 separately. Afterwards, samples were
cured in standard condition (20 2 , RH>95%) for 28d or cured in steam for 8h respectively. Mix
designs, compress ratios and curing conditions for each samples were shown in Table 1.
Sample
No.
C200
C300
C400
F200
F300
F400
L200
L300
L400
H200
H300
H400
S200
S300
S400
OPC
(g)
200
300
400
200
300
400
200
300
400
200
300
400
200
300
400
W
(g)
70.0
102.0
124.0
70.0
102.0
124.0
70.0
102.0
124.0
70.0
102.0
124.0
70.0
102.0
124.0
Mix Design
EPS
W/C
(L)
0.35
1
0.34
1
0.31
1
0.35
1
0.34
1
0.31
1
0.35
1
0.34
1
0.31
1
0.35
1
0.34
1
0.31
1
0.35
1
0.34
1
0.31
1
FB (g)
LTX
(g)
2.67
2.67
2.67
8
8
8
Compress
Ratio
Curing
Condition
Compressive
Strength (MPa)
0.75
0.75
0.75
0.75
0.75
0.75
0.75
0.75
0.75
0.60
0.60
0.60
0.75
0.75
0.75
standard
standard
standard
standard
standard
standard
standard
standard
standard
standard
standard
standard
steam
steam
steam
0.61
1.10
1.80
0.61
1.32
1.87
0.73
1.64
2.77
0.85
1.49
2.61
0.60
1.30
2.08
Elastic
Modulus
(MPa)
20.1
24.4
31.7
19.9
23.9
33.0
20.9
31.8
57.6
26.4
35.6
42.3
14.3
24.4
37.9
Table 1: Mix design and mechanical properties
2.3 Testing methodology

Quasi-static compressive tests were conducted by Longsheng autocontrol electronic universal
test machine of Suzhou Longsheng Co. The loads were applied with the speed of 2.0kN/s. Stressstrain curves were acquired by computer.
422
3.1 Formation of stress-strain curve

The stress-strain curves are shown in Fig.1. Firstly, the formation of the stress-strain curves
12
will be discussed according to the study of Gibsons.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
Figure1: Stress-strain curves of EPS-C
10, 11
In our previous research, a stress-strain curve of EPS-C is divided into three stages.
In
Gibsons study, these stages are called Linear Elastic (stage one), Plateau (stage two) and
Densification (stage three). Based on the differences of these three stages, porous materials are
divided into three types: elastic porous materials, elastic-plastic porous materials and elastic423
brittle porous materials (See Fig.2). Actually, EPS-C can be treated to be made of EPS beads
which are elastic porous materials, as well as porous cement matrix which is an elastic-brittle
porous material. Therefore, the stress-strain curve of EPS-C has the characters of both elastic
porous materials and elastic-brittle porous materials.
(a) elastic materials
(b) elastic-plastic materials
(c) elastic-brittle materials
Figure 2: Typical stress-strain curves of three kinds of porous materials

For elastic-brittle porous materials, the stress in Plateau and Densification will rise to a peak
and fall to almost zero continuously and sharply. The peaks in Plateau are usually lower than the
peak stress in Linear Elastic. Actually, when an elastic-brittle porous material is compressed, the
walls of network structure will fracture into fragments. The fragments will fall and get together in
certain places, leading to new stress. Nevertheless, the new stress will be lower owing to the
weak joint of fragments.
Elastic porous materials, on the contrary, have smoother Plateau and Densification. When an
elastic porous material is compressed, the walls of network structure do not rupture. They are
just pressed nearer, making the materials themselves compressed. So the stress-strain curve in
Densification will go up seriously, even faster than that of elastic-brittle porous materials.
Still, the Linear Elastics of these two materials are not the same though the mechanisms of
this stage are both bending and extending of pore walls. For EPS, the elastic modulus is around
13
4~5 MPa . Porous cement-based material, say foam concrete will have an elastic modulus of
3 14
about 1000 MPa around the density of 500 kg/m , far higher than EPS.
(a)EPS beads and porous cement matrix
(b) EPS-C
Figure 3: Formation of the stress-strain curve of EPS-C

To conclude, the stress-strain curve of EPS and porous cement matrix should be like those in
Fig.3. The Linear Elastic of EPS is far lower than that of cement matrix. The Plateau and
Densification of EPS is smooth with those of cement matrix fluctuant. The Densification of EPS is
higher than cement matrix, though. When these two materials are combined, the stress-strain
curve makes some difference. The Linear Elastic is between those of the two materials. The
Plateau and Densification is smooth because the fragments of cement matrix do not move but
424
stick on the EPS beads. The Densification is higher than cement matrix because the structure is
more compact. (shown in Fig.3 b)
3.2 Differences of stress-strain curve
Here, the differences of the stress-strain curves (in Fig.1) which are made by cement dosage,
fibers, latex, compress ratio and steam curing will be analyzed.
It can be detected from Fig.1 that with the cement dosage increase, the Linear Elastic will be
higher. That is because the compressive strength and elastic modulus increases just with the
cement dosage, which will be further discussed in 3.3 and 3.4. Still, the Plateau will turn shorter
and the Densification will come earlier and ascend sharper. This is because more cement will
make the material easier to be compacted.
When fibers are added, the failure mode of Linear Elastic turns from brittle rupture to plastic
rupture. Actually, the strength of cement matrix is far higher than that of EPS. The compressive
strength of EPS-C depends mostly on the strength of cement matrix, so brittle rupture happens at
the end of Linear Elastic (see Fig.1a). However, when the cement matrix fails, fibers will stop the
cement fragments from moving, making the cement matrix fracture gradually. Therefore, fibers
will make the stress-strain curves of EPS-C like those of elastic-plastic materials (see Fic.2b).
Moreover, with fiber applied, the Densification will become higher because fibers will stop the
samples lateral expansion and make the samples easier to be densified. This phenomenon is
more apparent when cement ratio is higher, owing to the fibers more firmly anchoring with
cement matrix.
With latex utilized, the Linear Elastic of stress-strain curves will turn similar to those of elasticplastic materials. Actually, latex is a kind of polymer material. It will give the cement matrix some
plasticity. Furthermore, the Densification will be higher with latex than that without. That is
because latex will enhance the interface between cement matrix and EPS, making the relative
displacement difficult to happen when the material is compressed.
Compared the samples with compress ratio of 0.60 to those with 0.75, it can be detected that
the stress-strain curves is higher in all three stages. That is because higher compress ratio
cause the materials to be denser and easier to be compacted.
When the samples are cured by steam, the Linear Elastic turns likely to that of elastic-plastic
materials (also illustrated in Fig.2b). With steam curing, the EPS bead in the surface will burst
making the surface of materials weaker. When the samples are compressed, the surface will fail
earlier, leading to a gradual fracture. So the failure mode of Linear Elastic is not elastic failure but
likely to elastic-plastic one. When the cement rate is higher, the burst of EPS beads upon steam
curing will affect the strength of surface scarcely. Therefore the failure mode will turn back to
elastic failure again. The surface conditions of samples with different curing method are shown in
Fig.4.
3.3 Compressive strength
In the stress-strain curves, the stress at the end of Linear Elastic is considered to be the
compressive strength. Actually, the compressive strength of cement matrix is far higher than that
of EPS beads. The cement matrix will make most contribution to the compressive strength of
EPS-C. The compressive strength is displayed in Table 1.
Obviously, with the cement dosage increase, the compressive strength will raise. When fibers
are added, the compressive strength gets a little higher. When a failure takes place in the
cement matrix, crack will appear at the weakest point. As is discussed in 2.3, fibers can stop the
fragments from moving. The unmoved fragments make it possible that stress could increase
again and cracks would happen in another place. When the cement dosage is higher, fibers are
anchored with cement matrix more firmly so the enhancement of fibers on compressive strength
is more distinct on high cement rate. Still, latex will enhance the interface between cement matrix
and EPS making the pore wall of cement matrix more difficult to bend and extend. An increasing
compressive ratio means cement matrix will account for more places. These two factors will both
benefit the compressive strength evidently. Lastly, it can be see that steam curing will improve
the compressive strength on high cement rate. Steam curing is usually thought to deteriorate the
15
compressive strength owing to the delayed ettringite formation (DEF) . DEF is believed to cause
expansion to concrete. But EPS-C is a kind of porous material. Cement matrix just surround the
EPS beads in thin layers. The expansion caused by steam curing might fill the cement into pores
more compact thus benefiting the compressive strength. However, as is discussed in 3.2, steam
425
curing will make the surface of samples weaker which is more obvious on low cement ratio. So
on low cement ratio, the compressed is not enhanced by steam curing.
(a)C200
(b) S200
(c) S400
Figure 4: Surface condition of samples with different curing method
3.4 Elastic modulus

The elastic modulus is treated to be the initial slope on Linear Elastic. It is shown in Table 1.
It can be seen that with cement dosage increase, elastic modulus increase remarkably. As is
referred to in 3.2, EPS beads has much lower elastic modulus than cement matrix. So the elastic
modulus depends mostly on the bending and extending of pore wall of cement matrix. An
increasing rate of cement will lead to thicker pore wall thus increasing the elastic modulus. By the
usage of fibers, elastic modulus on high cement dosage will increase a little because fibers can
stop the pore wall from moving while compressed. Latex will make big contribution to elastic
modulus because it can enhance the interface between cement and EPS and stop the pore wall
from bending and extending. A higher compress ratio is equivalent to a higher cement dosage
and increase the elastic modulus seriously. And steam curing will affect the elastic modulus on
low cement dosage. That is because steam curing makes the EPS beads on samples surface
burst and without the stick to EPS beads the pore wall will bend and extend easily.
When EPS-C is compressed, cement matrix comes to fail and the EPS beads start to deform.
In these two processes, the compress energy could be absorbed. The energy absorption is
defined by the following equation.
Where, W (MJ/m3) is the energy absorbed by unit volume, is strain, (MPa) is the
corresponding stress. The energy absorption is shown in Fig.5.
It can be found in Fig.5a that with the cement ratio increase, energy absorption will increase
apparently. That is because more cement can absorb more energy upon failure. In Fig.5b it can
be seen that energy absorption will be higher with fibers and latex applied. In fact, fibers will
extend, draw out or rupture when a lateral expansion happens to a sample. These processes will
absorb energy. Similarly, latex will enhance the interface between cement and EPS. More energy
will be needed to break this connection. When the compress ratio is switch from 0.75 to 0.60
(see Fig.5c), energy absorption will be a lot higher, on account of the higher cement proportion to
EPS beads. However, steam curing would not do much help the energy absorption because
steam curing will make the EPS beads burst though it can improve the strength of cement matrix.
426
(a)
(b)
(c)
Figure 5: Energy absorption
3.6 Energy absorbing efficiency

Energy absorbing efficiency describes the ratio of the energy absorption to the ideal energy
16
absorption which means the maximum energy absorption on a certain strain. It is calculate by
Where, E (MJ/m ) is the CEAR, max (MPa) is the highest stress from 0 to . Usually speaking,
a plastic material has invariable stress upon compression. The energy absorbing efficiency is 1
constantly. So a plastic material is treated to be the most efficient energy absorber. The energy
absorbing efficiency of EPS-C is shown in Fig.6.
It can be detected by Fig.6a that with the cement dosage increase, the energy absorbing
efficiency turns lower. In fact, the energy absorbing efficiency in Plateau is the highest in these
three stages because the stress keeps almost the same. The energy absorbing efficiency in
Linear Elastic is around 0.5 in Linear Elastic which is lower than Plateau. And that in
Densification will fall down because the stress increases with strain. Therefore, with the cement
dosage rate increase, the Linear Elastic becomes longer while the Plateau shorter. The energy
absorbing efficiency will be lower with the cement dosage higher.
From Fig.6b it can be seen that samples with fibers has lower energy absorbing efficiency.
Even though fiber will make the stress-strain curve in Linear Elastic become likely to that of an
elastic-plastic material, it lengthen the Linear Elastic thus bringing down the energy absorbing
efficiency apparently. Similarly, latex will have the same effect on the stress-strain curve except
for the shortening of Linear Elastic is small. So the energy absorbing efficiency of samples with
latex will be a little lower than those without.
427
(a)
(b)
(c)
Figure 6: Energy absorbing efficiency
In Fig.6c it can be found that when the compress ratio is 0.60, the energy absorbing efficiency
in Densification is lower since the Plateau is shorter and Densification comes earlier. By using of
steam curing, the energy absorbing efficiency in Linear Elastic and Plateau is lower because the
Linear Elastic is longer.
4
CONCLUSIONS
The stress-strain curve of EPS-C can be treated to be the complex of elastic porous materials
- EPS beads and an elastic-brittle porous material - porous cement matrix. The Linear Elastic is
in between those of the two materials, the Plateau and Densification is smooth and the
Densification is higher than cement matrix.
By using fibers, latex or steam curing, the Linear Elastic will become similar to that of an
elastic-plastic porous material. With the compress ratio of 0.60, the stress-strain curve is higher.
An increasing cement dosage, the application of latex and a compress ratio of 0.60 will all
contribute to the compressive strength distinctly. For the samples with high cement dosage,
fibers or steam curing will raise the compressive strength a little.
With a higher cement dosage, the use of latex and a compress ratio of 0.60, the elastic
modulus will be higher evidently. Fibers will only benefit the compressive strength and elastic
modulus on high cement ratio. Steam curing, however, will affect those on low cement rate.
The energy absorption will increase if the cement dosage is higher else if fibers, latex or a
0.60 compress ratio are applied. Steam curing will not influence the energy absorption.
With higher cement dosage, the energy absorbing efficiency is lower. By using fibers and
latex, the energy absorbing efficiency will turn lower, too. A compress ratio of 0.60 leads to lower
energy absorbing efficiency in Densification while steam curing leads to lower one in Linear
Elastic and Plateau.
428
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429
th
VALIDATION OF FLACS REGARDING THE CALCULATION OF

VAPOUR CLOUD EXPLOSION OVERPRESSURES ON
CONGESTED REGIONS
Jingde Li*, Guowei Ma and Madhat Abdel-jawad
*
School of Civil and Resource Engineering, The University of Western Australia,

35 Stirling Highway, Crawley WA 6009, Australia
e-mail: <jingde.li@research.uwa.edu.au>
Keywords: obstacles, VCEs, gas explosion, experiments, overpressure, calibration
Abstract The main purpose of this study is to present calibration data for the
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) based software FLACS against a widerange of experiments subjected to vapor cloud explosions (VCEs) done by TNO
Prins Maurits [1]. The gas of ethylene, methane and air are utilized in the
validations of both numerical simulations and experiments. The experimental
scenarios are simulated by using FLACS in this study; all configurations are
homogeneously modeled with same arrangement pattern of obstacles, while the
simulation scales and diameters of obstacles are varied according to the
arrangement of the experiments by TNO Prins Maurits. The fuel consumption, the
shape variation of gas cloud and the development of overpressure during
explosion are well illustrated in FLACS modeling, and the explosion
overpressures calculated by FLACS showed reasonably accurate agreement with
the experimental data by using different explosion sources at various
configuration scales and complexities.
1
INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, the search for cruel oil and natural gas and investments into the exploration of
these energy sources show a boom all over the world. In the oil and gas industry, one of the
largest risks to economy, environment and human life comes from the risks associated with the
explosive potential of the oil and gas related products being handled. Numerous explosions
including Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosions (BLEVEs), vapor cloud explosions (VCE),
and dust explosions etc. occur each year world-wide. Amongst the devastating vapor cloud
explosion, which is defined as an explosion resulting from an ignition of a premixed cloud of
flammable vapor, gas or spray with air, in which flames accelerate to sufficiently high velocities to
[2]
produce significant overpressure , represent one of the most catastrophic hazards in the
process industry.
In order to evaluate the vapor cloud explosion, so far, a series of experimental, analytical and
numerical methods have been utilizing. For example, the experimental-based approach in the
[3]
[4]
early days - the TNO multi-energy method originally drafted during the early-1980s , it was
found world-wide acceptance as the starting point for vapor cloud explosion blast modeling in
[5]
industrial hazard analysis
. The Multi-Energy Method, developed as a more reasonable
______________________________
School of Civil and Resource Engineering, The University of Western Australia,
e-mail: <ma@civil.uwa.edu.au>
GexCon Australia, 8/64 Fitzgerald Street, Northbridge WA 6003, Australia.
e-mail: <madhat@gexcon.com >
431
Jingde Li, Guowei Ma and Madhat Abdel-jawad
alternative for TNT-equivalency, is a simple method to model the blast from vapor cloud
[6].
explosions
The method recognizes a characteristic feature of vapor cloud explosions by
assuming that the overpressure and blast are generated only in the parts that are located inside
partially confined and congested areas. However, some weaknesses of this method are obvious,
first of all, it was calibrated based on experiments at limited scale, and was incapable or
inappropriate for scaled-up explosions; secondly, it has limited ability to take into consideration
directional effects, asymmetric explosions, or effects due to partial confinement; furthermore,
blast-wave interaction with structures in near- and far-field, or the effect of protection walls cannot
be predicted by using the multi-energy approach. On the other hand, using experiments to
evaluate risk can prove to be too expensive and prohibitive. Scale down and simplifications are of
limited value because validation of scaling often fails and it is difficult to know the impact of
simplifications. Further, it is often difficult to find experiments to represent the realistic hazard
situation, and the results obtained for a given experiment could be non-representative. Therefore,
it can be concluded that experiments are seldom an optimal way to evaluate a potential risk.
Therefore, at the present time, many of the vapor cloud explosion analyses are performed
[7]
using the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tools . CFD can be a tool to combine available
knowledge from both experiments and theoretical studies by developing physical models and
evaluating their predictions. CFD tools is robustly based on established conservation laws and
they have the potential to model the relevant physics of combustion process involved in safety
analyses to predict gas explosion overpressure. With CFD, it is possible to take account of effects
of buildings, mitigation measures, piping and vessel arrangements, etc. which have been found to
have a strong influence on the consequences of any accident or unwanted incident.
This article presents an overview of our efforts for validating the FLACS CFD tool against
experimental results regarding the gas explosion studies. The motivation behind the above
studies has been to improve the reliability, efficiency, and the applicability of FLACS.
2
In the validation study, a series of the experimental tests were extracted from the Research to
Improve Guidance on Separation Distance for the Multi-energy Method (RIGOS)-research
program corresponding to the numerical simulation cases as indicated in table 1.
A plastic sheet was used to cover the two obstacle configurations to contain a flammable fuelair mixture in the experiments which were performed on a concrete pad. And all the
configurations were set up exactly same as FLACS models in terms of the dimension of the
configuration, the volume blockage ratio of the obstacles and the fuel type, Figure 1. Nine
overpressure sensors were positioned in the configurations of the experiments at regular
distances along the axis of the donoracceptor configurations, and the overpressure measured
on the edge of the obstacles were compared with the numerical simulations, Figure 2.
Figure 1: Obstacle configurations in experiments
432
Figure 2: Test layout

Case
no.
Fuel
type
VBR
(%)
Cylinder
Diameter
(m)
0.0191
Pitch
(m)
Dimension of
the donor (m)
10.1
Separation
Distance
(m)
2.11
0.089
1.408
No. of
tubes
in a row
16
Ethylene
Methane
10.1
0.22
0.0191
0.089
1.76
20
Ethylene
10.1
0.70
0.0191
0.089
1.408
16
Ethylene
10.1
0.35
0.0191
0.089
1.408
16
Ethylene
10.1
1.60
0.0191
0.089
1.06
12
Ethylene
10.1
0.35
0.0191
0.089
1.408
16
Ethylene
10.1
0.27
0.0191
0.089
1.06
12
Ethylene
10.1
0.27
0.0191
0.089
1.06
12
Methane
10.1
0.35
0.0191
0.089
1.408
16
10
Methane
10.1
0.35
0.0191
0.089
1.408
16
11
Methane
10.1
1.50
0.0191
0.089
1.408
16
12
Methane
10.1
0.70
0.0191
0.089
1.408
16
13
Methane
14
0.20
0.0191
0.134
1.596
12
14
Methane
14
0.20
0.0191
0.134
1.596
12
15
Ethylene
4.6
0.33
0.0191
0.134
1.33
10
16
Ethylene
4.6
0.40
0.0191
0.134
1.596
12
17
Ethylene
4.6
1.33
0.0191
0.134
1.33
10
18
Ethylene
4.6
1.60
0.0191
0.134
1.596
12
19
Methane
4.6
0.40
0.0191
0.134
1.596
12
Table 1: Definition of the obstacle configurations

3
NUMERICAL MODEL
As seen in Figure 3, the test modules in the numerical simulations are modeled same as the
experimental configurations which consist of a number of tubes of circular cross-section. In
whose center at ground level the gas cloud was ignited, was referred to as the donor and the
other as the acceptor. For the donors in the simulations, all the cylinders, with the same
diameter of D=19.1 mm, are orientated orthogonally and regularly in the Cartesian coordination
system in FLACS. By varying the pitches of P=4.65D and P=7D, two different volume blockage
ratios of VBR = 10.1% and VBR = 4.6% modules are created, see Figure 3 (a) and (b), while the
third type of configuration is modeled by adding 24 regular-patterned vertical tubes of 114 mm
diameter, Figure 3 (c). The three obstacle modules were named as type 1, type 2 and 3,
respectively. Whereas acceptors in the configurations are modeled constant in all simulations
with the volume blockage ratios of VBR = 10.1% and pitches of P=4.65D.
433
(a)
(b)
(c)
Figure 3: Obstacle configurations in FLACS
Figure 4: Simulation model of two configurations with a separate distance
Figure 5: Gas cloud during explosion
434
Each simulation model in FLACS is consisted of two separate configurations of obstacles as

seen in Figure 4. The separate distances between the configurations are in the range of 0.20
2.11m, and the width and length of the donor are set equally from 1.06m to 1.76m by changing
the number of the cylinders in a row as seen in Table 1, while the height of the configuration is
half of the donor width.
4
VALIDATION RESULTS
In the numerical simulations, the configurations are fully encompassed by an equivalent

stoichiometric gas cloud, see Figure 5, and the fuel types in the modeling are pure ethylene and
pure methane in different tests. The equivalent stoichiometric volume is a measure of the
flammable part of an inhomogeneous gas cloud (namely, a flammable mixture of gas and air),
which can lead to build up of explosion overpressure when the cloud is ignited. All the explosions
are simulated by igniting the cloud in the center at ground level of the donors; for each simulation,
the consumption of the fuel is represented by the transformation of the gas cloud during the
explosion, as seen in Figure 5.
The overpressures were monitored in the center axis within the configurations as seen in
Figure 4, and in the comparison of the experimental and FLACS data, the overpressures were
obtained from the monitor points on the center edge of the donor and accepter in FLACS.
The development of the overpressure after ignition of the gas cloud is presented in Figure 6.
Very high pressures are observed at the boundaries of the obstacles, whereas the pressure buildup in the process of flame propagation drops when it is out of obstacles due to the fact that the
turbulence generative boundary conditions are lacking. A comparison of simulation and
experimental results for the measurement sensor at the edge of the donor is shown in Figure 7,
the maximum pressures and development of the pressure agree very well to the experiments
although the simulated arrival time is somewhat sooner than the experimental observations. As
seen in Figure 7 (d), the overpressure observed in the acceptor at point 9 is significantly greater
than the blast of the donor at point 1, and a very small time span is seen between the
development of blast in the donor and the acceptor due to the fact that the separate distance
between the obstacles is small enough which does not play a critical rule in the turbulence decay,
both numerical simulation and experiment observations illustrate the development of
overpressures well. By taking the maximum overpressure at the measurement sensor at the edge
of the obstacles, the comparison of the experimental and FLACS overpressure data is presented
in Figure 8 where a reasonably good agreement is seen.
Figure 6: Overpressure development during simulation
435

30
Experiment P1
25
70
Experiment P1
Simulation P1
Overpressure [kPa]
Overpressure [kPa]
20
50
30
10
Simulation P1
15
10
5
0
-10
-5
-30
-10
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
50
100
Time [ms]
(a) Case no. 1
200
(b) Case no. 2
75
55
Experiment P1
400
Simulation P1
350
Overpressure [kPa]
Overpressure [kPa]
150
Time [ms]
35
15
Experiment P1
Experiment P9
Simulation P1
Simulation P9
300
250
200
150
100
-5
50
-25
-50
20
40
60
80
100
10
20
Time [ms]
30
40
50
60
70
Time [ms]
(c) Case no.3
(d) Case no. 4
Figure 7: Experimental records of Overpressure-time paths and FLACS simulations results at

sensors
Experimental Overpressure (kPa)
1000
100
10
1
1
10
100
1000
FLACS Overpressure (kPa)

Figure 8: Comparison of experimental and numerical overpressures for different tests
436
CONCLUSION
The CFD approach was employed in this paper to perform the calculation of the overpressure
at the congested configurations. A series of the configurations, which were set up exactly same
as experimental models of RIGOS research program in terms of the dimension of the
configuration, the volume blockage ratio of the obstacles and the fuel type, were modeled by
using the CFD-coded software - FLACS.
The numerical simulations thoroughly demonstrated the combustion process regarding the
transformation of the vapor cloud and development of overpressure during explosion. And by
varying the parameters of the type of gas, the diameter of the obstacle and VBR, a wide-range of
overpressures determined by means of FLACS were compared with RIGOS test results. The
comparison data shows a remarkable agreement between the numerical simulations and
experiments.
REFERENCES
[1] A. C. van den Berg and A. L. Mos, "Research to improve guidance on separation distance for the
multi-energy method (RIGOS)," TNO Prins Maurits Laboratory, vol. RESEARCH REPORT 369,
Nov 2005.
[2] W. P. M. Mercx and A. C. van den Berg, "Chapter 5: Vapour Cloud Explosion, TNO Yellow Book:
Methods for the calculation of physical effects due to releases of hazardous materials (2nd
Edition)," TNO The Netherlands Organisation of Applied Scientific Research, 2005.
[3] A. C. Vandenberg, "The Multi-Energy Method - a Framework for Vapor Cloud Explosion Blast
Prediction," Journal of Hazardous Materials, vol. 12, pp. 1-10, 1985.
[4] Q. A. Baker, M. J. Tang, E. A. Scheler, and G. J. Silva, "Vapor cloud explosion analysis,"
Process Safety Progress, vol. 15, pp. 106-109, Sum 1996.
[5] J. S. Puttock, "Fuel gas explosion guidelines - The congestion assessment method," Major
Hazards Onshore and Offshore Ii, pp. 267-284, 1995.
[6] K. van Wingerden, O. R. Hansen, and P. Foisselon, "Predicting blast overpressures caused by
vapor cloud explosions in the vicinity of control rooms," Process Safety Progress, vol. 18, pp. 1724, Spr 1999.
[7] A. Marangon, M. Carcassi, A. Engebo, and S. Nilsen, "Safety distances: Definition and values,"
International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, vol. 32, pp. 2192-2197, Sep 2007.
437
th
NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF UNIAXIAL COMPRESSION AND

FOUR-POINT BENDING TESTS OF ULTRA-HIGH PERFORMANCE
CONCRETE
Jun Li*, Chengqing Wu*, Hong Hao and Yu Su*
*
School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering, the University of Adelaide,

SA, Australia 5005
e-mail: <cheng.wu@adelaide.edu.au>
Keywords: steel fibre, nano-additive, UHPC
Abstract. Concrete is known to be brittle and prone to tensile failure and cracks.
In order to improve the mechanical performance of concrete under tensile stress,
steel fibres and nanoscale additive had been added into the concrete matrix in
recent studies. A series of uniaxial compression and four-point bending tests had
been performed to get the material properties of this innovative concrete material.
Great improvement of the concrete uniaxial compressive strength and flexural
tensile strength was observed. In the present study, based on the available test
data, a numerical model is developed to reproduce the uniaxial compression and
four-point bending tests. Numerical simulations are carried out and the simulation
results are found to comply well with the experimental results. The verified
numerical model can be extended to predict performances of concrete structures
made of such material under different loading conditions.
1
INTRODUCTION
Although working as a widely used construction material, concrete is known to be inclined to

brittle damage with extensive cracks under static or dynamic loads. In the past several decades,
steel fibre has been added into the concrete matrix to enhance its ductility and serviceability. It
has been observed that steel fibre can bridge the cracks, provide the concrete with a residual
[1,2].
strength and better energy absorbing ability
Steel fibre reinforced concrete has been
[3]
[4developed and tested under extreme loading condition such as blast
or high velocity impact
6]
, it is demonstrated that steel fibre reinforced concrete is a promising construction material in
protective engineering.
On the other hand, nanotechnology is also receiving an increasing attention for a wide range
of applications. A growing interest has been placed on the use of nanoscale materials to improve
[7-9].
the performance of construction materials like concrete
It is believed that nanoscale material
which has much finer particles can improve the filler effect, and provide high pozzolanic action,
and these can be beneficial to the early age and matured strength of concrete material.
Recently, an innovative concrete material with addition of both the steel fibre reinforcement
and nanoparticle additive had been developed, and a series of uniaxial compressive and four
point bending tests were conducted in the laboratory to get the material properties. Great
improvement had been observed of the concrete strength, ductility and energy absorption ability.
_______________________
TCU-UA (Tianjin Chengjian University-University of Adelaide) Joint Research Centre

on Disaster Prevention and Mitigation
Department of Civil Engineering, Curtin University, WA, Australia

439
Jun Li, Chengqing Wu, Hong Hao and Yu Su
In the present work, based on the available test data, numerical model is developed in
commercial hydro-code LS-DYNA to simulate the laboratory tests. It is demonstrated that the
proposed numerical model can well predict the concrete mechanical behaviour. This validated
numerical model can be used to predict the performance of concrete structures made of such
material under different loading conditions.
2
EXPERIMENTAL TESTS
In the laboratory, concrete specimens with different nano-additives, and three different steel
fibres, namely waved steel fibre, twisted fibre and micro fibre, were created and tested. In total,
97 specimens were tested including 68 cubic specimens for compressive tests and 29 beam
specimens for flexural tensile tests.
In the present study, the numerical model is developed to predict the laboratory tests on the
micro steel fibre reinforced self-compacted concrete (SFRSCC) with one nano-additive only.
2.1 Materials
The cement used in the mix is Type SR Sulphate Resisting Cement (42.5 Grade) conforming
to China standard GB175-2007. The natural sand is used as the aggregate with aggregate size
between 0.16 mm and 2.5 mm. Silica fume is used as reactive material, silica flour is used to fill
in the voids which exist between the cement paste and aggregate matrix. Nano-particles is used
as nano-additive to accelerate the cement hydration process.
2.2 Compression tests
Quasi-static compression tests for SFRSCC specimens were conducted on a number of 100
mm*100 mm*100 mm cubes using a 3000 kN capacity computer-controlled electromechanical
servo hydraulic pressure testing machine conformed to the China standard GB/T 50081-2002.
Figure 1 illustrates a cubic specimen that was in the test. At both sides of the loading plate, there
was an axially oriented LVDT to record the test data. The test was displacement controlled.
Figure 1: Setup for compression tests

A total of 68 specimens were tested. Table 1 shows the average material properties of
SFRSCC samples with nanoscale additive obtained in the tests.
Density
Compressive strength
Elastic modulus
Flexural tensile strength
Steel fibre volume dosage
2501 kg/m3
160 MPa
18 GPa
36 MPa
2.5%
Table 2: Material properties for SFRC sample
440
Also from the uniaxial compressive test, the typical engineering stress-strain relationship for
the SFRC can be obtained as shown in Figure 2.
200
Stress (MPa)
160
120
80
40
0
0
0.01
0.02
0.03
0.04
0.05
Strain
Figure 2: Typical stress-strain relationship from uniaxial compression test

2.3 Flexural tensile tests
Four points bending tests were conducted on specimens with dimension of 100 mm*100
mm*400 mm as shown in Figure 3 to determine the flexural tensile strength of the material.
Figure 3: Setup of the flexural tensile tests

The spacing between load points was set to be 1/3 of the span. Within this span, no shear
acts and the specimens were solely subjected to bending moments. The central deflection was
measured by LVDTs at mid-span and at the supports. Strain gauges were installed along the
depth of the specimens at mid span to generate the experimental curvature profiles.
From the four point bending tests on 29 samples, the average flexural tensile strength of the
SFRSCC is found to be 36 MPa.
3
NUMERICAL SIMULATION
3.1 Material model and material EOS

It is known that LS-DYNA has built-in material models such as Concrete Damage Model,
Johnson-Holmquist-Concrete Model and Brittle Damage Model that can be used to simulate
the concrete mechanical behaviour under external loads. However, some of these models involve
too many parameters to be determined through simple material tests. It was also noted that these
models cannot well handle the concrete softening behaviour which is quite obvious and important
in the SFRSCC. Remarkably, the Elastic-Plastic Hydrodynamic Model (Material Type 10 in LSDYNA) is applicable to a wide range of materials including those with pressure dependent
yielding behaviours. It was reported in the previous work that this model was able to reproduce
441

[5, 6, 10]
the dynamic performance of SFRSCC

. Material Type 10 allows user defined effective
stress-effective plastic strain curve for defining the material nonlinear softening behaviour, and
this curve can be easily obtained from simple uniaxial compressive tests in the laboratory. In the
present study, the effective stress-effective plastic strain curve obtained from the tests is given in
Table 2, which is used to model the tested concrete material.
Point
Point
Point
Point
Point
Point
Point
Point
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Effective
plastic strain
0.000
0.002
0.003
0.004
0.005
0.006
0.007
0.008
Effective
stress (MPa)
161
170
173
171
167
155
146
143
Point 9
Point 10
Point 11
Point 12
Point 13
Point 14
Point 15
Point 16
Effective
plastic strain
0.010
0.012
0.015
0.018
0.022
0.025
0.027
0.030
Effective
stress (MPa)
140
136
130
121
115
110
108
104
Table 2: Effective stress-effective plastic strain data for describing SFRSCC softening
The effective stress,
, and the effective plastic strain,
, herein are defined as follows,
respectively:

= (

)
(1)

= ( ) (2)

where
represents the deviatoric stress tensor (
= /3), t is the duration time and

is the plastic strain rate.
To use the Material Type 10, an Equation of State is required in the LS-DYNA. In the present
study, the Gruneisen EOS is defined. With cubic shock velocity Vs-particle velocity Vp, the
Gruneisen equation of state defines pressure for compressed material as:
=
and for expanded material as:
%
'
[!"#!$ &$ ]
[!$() $!)$)
*
*,
$)
]
*+ , (*+)
+ (. + /0)1
(3)
= 2 3 0 + (. + /0)1
(4)
where C is the intercept of the Vs-Vp curve, S1, S2 and S3 are the coefficients of the slope of the Vs-Vp
curve; 0 is the Gruneisen gamma; a is the first order volume correction to 0; and =/0-1.
The parameter in the EOS used in the present study is shown in Table 3.
EOS
C0
S1
S2
S3
0
2100 m/s
1.4
0
0
2
Table 3: Parameter for the equation of state

3.2 FE modelling
To verify the analytical model and model parameters, performance of SFRSCC under uniaxial
compression and four points bending loads are simulated.
3.2.1 Compression tests
In the current analysis, the bottom plate is constrained with all degrees of freedom and the top
plate only allows displacement along the loading direction, i.e. Z-axis as shown in Figure 4. Both
plates are modelled using rigid body in LS-DYNA. The static displacement loading is applied through
BOUDARY_PRESCRIBED_MOTION_RIGID.
442
Figure 1: FE model of uniaxial compression test

Convergence test was conducted through comparison of simulation results obtained with 1 mm
mesh size, 2 mm mesh size and 5 mm mesh size. It was observed that, 1 mm and 2 mm mesh size
provide similar results, however, the computational cost for the simulation with 1 mm mesh size was
enormous, so in the present study, 2 mm mesh size was adopted. In total, the finite element model
has 135440 solid elements.
Figure 5 shows the results comparison between the FE simulation and laboratory test. It can be
noticed that the stress strain curve from the FE simulation coincides well with the test results, both the
peak and softening behaviour of the SFRSCC are well captured.
200
Experimental
Stress (MPa)
160
Numerical
120
80
40
0
0
0.01
0.02
0.03
0.04
0.05
Strain
0.06
0.07
0.08
0.09
Figure 2: Compression of stress strain curves obtained in laboratory test and numerical
simulation
3.2.2 Four points bending test
In this section, numerical simulation of the four point bending test is carried out using the material
model described above. , In order to simulate the contact between the specimen and the loading
apparatus, contact algorithm is applied, i.e., CONTACT_AUTOMATIC_SURFACE_TO_SURFACE is
added in the model. Static displacement loading through BOUDARY_PRESCRIBED_MOTION_RIGID
is applied on the specimen. Figure 6 shows the FE model, in total there are 532083 solid elements.
443
Figure 3: FE model for four points bending test

Figure 7 presents the simulated results and the test data of load-deflection curve. A relatively good
agreement is obtained between the numerical and experimental results.
160
Experimental
Numerical
Load (kN)
120
80
40
0
0
Deflection (mm)
Figure 4: Load deflection curve comparison

4 CONCLUSION
Steel fibre reinforced self-compacted concrete is a fast developing construction material with wide
application scope especially in the protective engineering. In recent studies, nanoscale additive was
added into the steel fibre reinforced self-compacted concrete matrix to accelerate the hydration
process, better performance was observed. In the present study, Finite element model was developed
to numerically simulate the laboratory compression and four-point bending tests on SFRSCC concrete
specimen. From the comparison between the numerical and experimental results, it can be concluded
that the developed numerical model can well predict laboratory tests. The model can be used to
predict responses of structures made of this unique SFRSCC material under different loading
conditions.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors gratefully acknowledge the ARC Discovery Grant DP140103025 and the National Natural
Science Foundation of China under Grant 51278326.
444
REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
P.S. Song, S. Hwang, Mechanical properties of high-strength steel fiber-reinforced concrete,

Construction and Building Materials, 18 (2004) 669-673.
Y. Hao, H. Hao, Dynamic compressive behaviour of spiral steel fibre reinforced concrete in split
Hopkinson pressure bar tests, Construction and Building Materials, 48 (2013) 521-532.
C. Wu, D.J. Oehlers, M. Rebentrost, J. Leach, A.S. Whittaker, Blast testing of ultra-high
performance fibre and FRP-retrofitted concrete slabs, Engineering Structures, 31 (2009) 20602069.
Q. Fang, J. Zhang, Three-dimensional modelling of steel fiber reinforced concrete material under
intense dynamic loading, Construction and Building Materials, 44 (2013) 118-132.
Z.L. Wang, J. Wu, J.G. Wang, Experimental and numerical analysis on effect of fibre aspect ratio
on mechanical properties of SRFC, Construction and Building Materials, 24 (2010) 559-565.
D.-Y. Yoo, Y.-S. Yoon, Influence of steel fibers and fiber-reinforced polymers on the impact
resistance of one-way concrete slabs, Journal of Composite Materials, (2013).
F. Sanchez, K. Sobolev, Nanotechnology in concrete A review, Construction and Building
Materials, 24 (2010) 2060-2071.
F. Pacheco-Torgal, S. Jalali, Nanotechnology: Advantages and drawbacks in the field of
construction and building materials, Construction and Building Materials, 25 (2011) 582-590.
M. Berra, F. Carassiti, T. Mangialardi, A.E. Paolini, M. Sebastiani, Effects of nanosilica addition
on workability and compressive strength of Portland cement pastes, Construction and Building
Materials, 35 (2012) 666-675.
T.-L. Teng, Y.-A. Chu, F.-A. Chang, B.-C. Shen, D.-S. Cheng, Development and validation of
numerical model of steel fiber reinforced concrete for high-velocity impact, Computational
Materials Science, 42 (2008) 90-99.
445
th
CATENARY ACTION ANALYSIS OF SIMPLY SUPPORTED STEEL

BEAMS FOR BI-LINEAR HARDENING MATERIAL
Liu-Lian Li*, Guo-Qiang Li and Yong Lu
*
College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China

e-mail: <54600942@163.com>
Keywords: Progressive collapse, catenary action, hardening material, limit strain.
Abstract Catenary action of beams is one of the most important load carrying
mechanism for preventing progressive collapse of building structures. However, the
catenary action of beams considering the material hardening and limit strain is not
reported. Based on bilinear stress-strain constitutive law = f (), the development
of a simplified explicit mode of catenary action of steel beams is presented for
hardening material with limit strain. Consideration is given to simply supported beams
under distributed load, allowing for the extension of the plastic zone at the beam
midspan. The present mode gives a direct connection between the the distributed load
and the midspan deflection, accounting for bending to tension-bending and final
tensile catenary action. It will be found that the catenary action of beam is dependent
of the hardening parameters q and limit strain lim. The results given by the simplified
explicit mode reduce to the ones for non-hardening material are in good agreement
with the existing results. Additionally, the proposed model is validated by FEM with
using software ABAQUS6.11, where it is shown to combine good accuracy with
simplicity.
1
INTRODUCTION
[1-3]
In the past several decades, several building collapses

have created an urgent need to
reduce the potential for progressive collapse under local damage of sturcture building. Progressive
collapse is a complex, dynamic nonlinear process, since it involves vibrations, inelastic behavior,
[4, 5]
large deformations and contact/impact of structural members
. The global collapse of a structure
will occur if damaged structure is unable to reach a new state of stable equilibrium.
By using the catenary action to assist a damaged structure to reach an alternative equilibrium
state is the most significant mechanisms thought. The term, catenary action refers to the ability of
beams to resist vertical loads through formation of a catenary-like mechanism (Fig.1). Compared
with the flexural action alone design, there are two important factors should be considered for
exploring catenary action. Firstly, beams need to developed large enough deformations such that
gravity and associated impact loads can mainly be resisted by the vertical components of axial
forces that develop in the beams. Secondly, the surrounding members of the beams must be
[4, 6].
designed to resist the axial forces in the beams
Institute for Infrastructure and Environment, School of Engineering, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9
3JL, UK
447
Liu-Lian Li, Guo-Qiang Li and Yong Lu
Figure 1: The catenary action of a frame

[7]
Under elevated temperatures, Yin and wang developed a general analytical method of
catenary action in steel beams of elastic-perfectly plastic material at large deflections. However, the
shortage of the analytical method of catenary action is that the axial reponse is assumed to be
elastic, while the bending response is considered to be elasto-plastic. The shortcoming leads to
inconsistencies in the mechanical model and significant overestimation of catenary action. Using
[8]
[9]
the simplified expressions for bending moment and axial load, Izzuddin and Li et al analyzed
the catenary action for the simply supported beams and the restrained steel beams subject to
uniformly distributed loading for elastic-perfectly plastic material. They obtained the bending
moment and axial force at the different stage according to the midspan displacement. These
catenary action analysis are based on the hypothesis of perfect plasticity and unlimited ductility of
the material. The limit analysis methods, namely the plastic hinge method, is based on the
assumption of a concentrated plastic zone without considering the the extension of the plastic zone
and limited strain. Although the hypothesis of elastic-perfect plastic material is very common in
[10].
practice, it presents several limitations regarding the actual material behavior
Therefore, it is
necessary to take into account the effects of the hardening with ultimate strain limit on the catenary
action of steel beams.
This paper presents a simplified explicit mode of catenary action for simply supported steel
beams under distributed load, allowing for the extension of the plastic zone at the beam midspan
which is strongly depends on the material hardening level. The effects of the limit strain of material
are also investigated. The results from the present approach are in reasonable agreement with
those from numerical calculations, showing that the approach is highly efficient and accurate
enough.
2. THE ANALYTICAL MODEL OF BI-SYMMETRICAL I CROSS-SECTION
Consider an simply supported beam of bi-symmetrical I-sections with elastic axial restraint at
supports subjected to uniformly distributed load (Fig. 2). To simplify the analysis of the deformation
process, the following assumptions are employed:
1. The steel beam with bi-linear hardening material. The stress-strain relation and plastic
[11]
interaction between axial force and bending moment are given by ;
2. The plastic zone only happen at the beam midspan;
3. The restraint of steel beam is symmetric and in elastic response;
4. Local bucklings are not considered in the analysis model.
Figure 2: Simply supported beam under uniformly distributed load

With increasing the uniformly distributed load, the behavior of steel beam will be divided into four
[8, 9]
: elastic stage, plastic bending stage, transient catenary stage and catenary action stage
stages
(Fig. 3).
448
Figure 3: Four stages of analysis model

2.1 the elastic stage
The load deflection and midspan moment response are linear, determined by the flexural rigidity
of the simply supported steel beam. The influence of bending on stretching can be ignored. In the
elastic stage, the midspan deflection v of beam under distributed loads can be given as following
formula
v=
5ql 4
384 EI
(1)
where, EI is the elastic flexural rigidity. The elastic stage is ended with the stresses at outer fibers of
the steel beam reached the yield point and the corresponding distributed load qb is,
qb =
where Me is the yield moment, M e = 2
8M e
l2
(2)
bh 2
y [11].
6
2.2 the plastic bending stage

After the elastic stage, the midspan zone of the beam develops plasticity and the midspan
moment is increasing due to the material hardening. Since larger plastic eformation is required to
allow the exploitation of the full strength, the midspan moment can not reachs to the limit bending
moment of the hardening material. During the plastic bending stage, the displacements can
become large, the influence of bending on stretching should be considered. However, the catenary
[8].
action is induced only after a specific midspan deflection
The maximum midspan plastic moment
of the simply supported steel beam under the distributed load may be equal to the the ultimate
plastic moment of steel beam for the elastic-perfectly plastic maerial.
M lp = m2 M e ,
m2 =
3 ( 2 )(1 ) + 3
22
where , and is the shape factors which can be found in
[11]
(3)
2.3 The transient catenary stage

At the transient catenary stage, the bending moments decrease and the axial forces increase for
midspan section. The plastic interactions between bending moment and axial force for the midspan
[11].
section are shown in Fig.4
For simplicity, we take the linear plastic interaction at the midspan
section. The whole elongation of the beam , including the spring elongation, can be written as the
function of midspan deflection v.
=2
449
v2
l2
(4)
Considering the influence of plastic axial deformation at the midspan zone of the steel beam p,
the elastic deformation and the axial force can be obtained as:
2v 2
2v 2
e = p = 2 p F = Ke 2 p
l
l
1.6
(5)
Hardening material
Nonhardening material
The numerical result
The simplified interaction
1.4
1.2
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
1.2
1.4
1.6
Figure 4: Plastic interaction between bending moment and axial force

The equivalent axial stiffness of the steel beam Ke is given as:
Ke =
1
1
1
l
+
+
K a EA K a
(6)
where Ka is the axial restraint spring stiffness; E is the elastic modulus of steel, A is the sectional
area of the steel beam, and l is the length of steel beam.
The plastic axial deformation at the midspan zone of the steel beam, p, and the tensile
increment in the axial force, F, can be obtained by the following equations and the plastic flow rule
applied along the simplified internal forces interaction curves as shown in Fig.4.:
p = rq p p
rq p = rp + 21rp p , p =
m1 =
M lp
4
m m2
, 1 = 1
, rp =
and
Ny
l
2 ( m2 1)
3 ( 2 )(1 ) + 2 (1 q ) + 2 q2 3 (1 q )
22 2
F = K e e =
(7)
4 v
4 v
K e v rp 21rp
>0
l
l
(8)
(9)
where Ny is the yield axial force, q is hardening parameter and is limit strain parameter. The m2 is
[11]
ratio of the maximum bending moment for hardening material and the yield moment
. It is
straightforward to see from Eq.(8) that 1 is a function of q and . This means that the plastic zone
at the beam midspan extends along the beam, which is strongly depends on the material hardening
level.
The condition in (9) can be reduced to v > rp, it means that the catenary stage commences when
the midspan displacement exceeds the rp. Integrating Eq.(9) from rp, the axial force, F, for the beam
in Stage 3 is acquired as
2 ( v rp ) 161rp
F = Ke
1
l
l
(10)
The axial force and moment of midspan section at the Stage 3 conform to the linear plastic
interaction, that is
M + F rp = M lp
(11)
450
Establish the equilibrium equation of the midspan of the beam as
M + F v =
ql 2
8
(12)
Substituting Eqs. (10) and (11) into Eq. (12), we have
2 K e ( v rp ) 161rp
8
q = 2 M lp +
1
l
l
l
(13)
The transient catenary stage ends when the axial force attains the yield axial force, with the
corresponding midspan deflection vd. By solving Eq.(10), we can obtain v d as
N yl
vd = rP +
2 K e (1 161rp l )
(14)
2.4 The catenary action stage

In the catenary action stage, for the midspan deflection exceeding v d, the axial force of midspan
section sustain the the yield axial force with a zero bending moment and the other sectional axial
force increases with increasing the distributed load. The equilibrium equation at the midspan
section is expressed as
8N v
ql 4
= N y v q = 2y
8
l
(15)
where v is the maximum deflection at the midspan.

The catenary action stage is ended with the maximun axial force of the beam reached the
ultimate axial force for the hardening material. The behavior of the stage is similar to the response
[12],
of cable subjected to uniformly distributed load along the span. According to the cable theory
provided that the horizontal component of axial force of the beam in the catenary action stage, H, is
constant and equals to the yield axial force Ny (Fig.5).
H=
1 + ( dy dx )
= Ny
(16)
where y is the beam deflection.
q
a
v
y
l/2
l/2
Figure 5: The beam deflection at the catenary action stage

Further define the beam deflection curve as
y = v(1
4 2
x )
l2
(17)
The axial force of the beam in the catenary action stage is
F = N y 1+
64v 2 x 2
l4
(18)
The maximum axial force of the beam can be obtained as
FA = FB = N y 1 +
451
16v 2
l2
(19)
In order to obtain the midspan deflection v at the end of the catenary action stage, according to
the volume-constancy condition, the area, A1, of the beam at the end of the catenary action stage
is,
A1 = A0
l
s1
(20)
where A0 and l are the original area and length of the beam respectively. s 1 is the beam length at the
end of the catenary action stage and the ultimate axial force of the beam at the end of the catenary
action stage is
N lim = A1 u =
l
1 + q ( 1) N e
s1
(21)
For simplicity, the curved beam length s 1 can be calculated by
l2
2v 2 2v 4
+ v2 = l +
3
4
l
l
s1 = 2
(22)
From Eqs.(19) and (21), the the governing equation of the midspan deflection v can be obtained
as
1 + 20 + 72 2 + 136 3 + 132 4 + 64 5 42 = 0
(22)
in which, the and 4 can be expressed as
v2
= 2 , 4 = 1 + q ( 1)
l
(23)
The midspan deflection v at the end of the catenary action stage for the hardening material from
the Eq(22) can be obtained. For example, for the bi-linear hardening material (q = 0.005 and lim =
0.15), the midspan deflection v is 0.214l at the end of the catenary action stage. The corresponding
distributed load q at the final catenary action stage can be obtained from the Eq(15).
3 NUMERICAL EXAMPLE
To validate the proposed simplified model in this paper, static elasto-plastic analysis is carried
out by using finite element software ABAQUS6.11. A simply-supported steel beam is considered
with (l = 6m), an I-section (300200810mm) and bi-linear hardening material properties (E = 210
Gpa, y = 345 Mpa, q = 0.005 and lim = 0.15), where the alternative axial support stiffnesses is
(full restraint). The large deformation effect is considered in the FEM analysis. In addition, to
improve the precision, quadric Timoshenko beam element B22 is adopted to consider the lateral
shear deformation. The result comparisons of FEM analysis and proposed formulas are shown in
Figs. 68.
Axial force of midspan section (N)
2500000
2000000
1500000
1000000
Proposed model
FEM analyis
500000
0
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
1.2
Midspan deflection v (m)
Figure 6: The axial force at the midspan section for proposed model and FEM
452
Beam deflection (m)
-3
0.0
-2
-1
Beam span (m)

0
1
0.0
-0.2
-0.2
-0.4
-0.4
FEM analysis
Proposed model
-0.6
-0.6
-0.8
-0.8
-1.0
-1.0
-1.2
-3
-2
-1
-1.2
Figure 7: The beam deflection at the end of the catenary action stage
600000
Distributed load(N/m)
500000
400000
300000
200000
Proposed model
FEM analysis
100000
0
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
1.2
Midspan deflection (m)
Figure 8: Distributed load and midspan deflection of proposed model

In general, the comparison between the simplified model and FEM analysis results is very good
for the varioud response of the beam under the distributed load. For the distributed loadmidspan
deflection curve, small discrepancies arise in the transient catenary stage, which are largely due to
the linear approximation of the plastic interaction between the moment and axial force. The
proposed simplified model can meet the accuracy requirement of projects and can be used in the
calculation of structures under distributed loading during progressive collapse.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Through the hereinabove study, the following remarks can be concluded as
1) With increasing the uniformly distributed load, the behavior of steel beam will be divided into four
stages as: elastic stage, plastic bending stage, transient catenary stage and catenary action
stage.
2) An explicit simplified model for the analysis the response of the simply supported beam ,is
presented based on the bi-linear hardening steel material.
3) During the transient catenary stage, the plastic zone at the beam midspan extends along the
beam, which is strongly dependent on the material hardening level.
4) At the catenary action stage, the midspan deflection v and uniformly distributed load strongly
depends on the hardening parameter and limit strain.
5) These proposed formulas are validated against finite element analysis carried out with
ABAQUS6.11. Good agreement between the results of the behavior of the simply supported
beams obtained by the formulas and FEM analysis is obtained.
453
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The study presented in this paper is finally supported by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China through the project with the Grant No.51120185001.
REFERENCES
[1]. Baant, Z. and Y. Zhou, Why Did the World Trade Center Collapse?Simple Analysis. Journal of
Engineering Mechanics, 2002. 128(1): p. 2-6.
[2]. Corley, W., et al., The Oklahoma City Bombing: Summary and Recommendations for Multihazard
Mitigation. Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities, 1998. 12(3): p. 100-112.
[3]. Pearson, C. and N. Delatte, Ronan point apartment tower collapse and its effect on building codes.
Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities, 2005. 19(2): p. 172-177.
[4]. Khandelwal, K. and S. El-Tawil, Collapse Behavior of Steel Special Moment Resisting Frame
Connections. Journal of Structural Engineering, 2007. 133(5): p. 646-655.
[5]. Starossek, U., Typology of progressive collapse. Engineering Structures, 2007. 29(9): p.
2302-2307.
[6]. Byfield, M. and S. Paramasivam, Catenary action in steel-framed buildings. Proceedings of the
Institution of Civil Engineers-Structures and Buildings, 2007. 160(5): p. 247-257.
[7]. Yin, Y.Z. and Y.C. Wang, Analysis of catenary action in steel beams using a simplified hand
calculation method, Part 1: theory and validation for uniform temperature distribution. Journal of
Constructional Steel Research, 2005. 61(2): p. 183-211.
[8]. Izzuddin, B.A., A simplified model for axially restrained beams subject to extreme loading.
International journal of steel structures, 2005. 5(5): p. 421-429.
[9]. Li, G.Q., et al., Catenary action of restrained steel beam against progressive collapse of steel
frameworks. Journal of Central South University, 2012. 19: p. 537-546.
[10]. Baptista, A.M. and J.-P. Muzeau, Analytical formulation of the elasticplastic behaviour of
bi-symmetrical steel shapes. Journal of Constructional Steel Research, 2006. 62(9): p. 872-884.
[11]. Li, L.-L. and G.-Q. Li, Formulation of the internal force relationship using bi-linear hardening
material on rectangular and I-section. steel and composite strucuture, 2014. submitted.
[12]. Irvine, H.M., Cable structures. 1992: Dover Publications. 259.
454
th
EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON THE CONFINED MASONRY WALL

SUBJECTED TO INSIDE GAS EXPLOSION
Zhan Li*, Yadong Zhang, Qin Fang, Li Chen and Shigang Yang
*
State Key Laboratory of Disaster Prevention & Mitigation of Explosion & Impact,
PLA University of Science and Technology
Nanjing, Jiangsu 210007, China
e-mail: <lz.9008@163.com>
Keywords: gas explosions, confined masonry wall, full-scale, in-situ tests
Abstract. Gas explosion is presently a common threat to the public safety. The
damage of structures subjected to inside gas explosion has drawn much attention
in the academic fields. In this manuscript, a specially designed experimental
device was firstly constructed in the field, and a series of full-scale in-situ tests on
confined masonry walls subjected to inside gas explosion was carried out. The
pressure-time histories, displacement-time histories and failure modes of the
confined wall specimens in the tests were registered. Experimental data show
that the blast loadings induced by the inside gas explosion usually exhibits a
single or double peak overpressure, which is sensitive to the testing
circumstances. The quasi-static character basically dominates the responses of
the tested masonry walls due to the long duration of overpressure. The
deformation characteristics of tested walls are varying with the peak value of blast
loading. The boundary conditions have significantly affected the dynamic
responses and failure modes of the tested confined masonry walls.
1. INTRODUCTION
The masonry structures are widely used in the construction of process industries and civil
architecture for the convenience of low-cost and commercial available. However, the masonry infill
wall is one of the most vulnerable components in frame structures subjected to blast loadings. Debris
generated from the failed masonry wall imposes significant danger to building occupants, and is one
of the primary sources of injuries and loss of lives in an explosion event. Due to the frequently
occurred gas explosion accidents in the modern society, it is very necessary to unveil the dynamic
behaviors and failure modes of masonry infill walls subjected to inside gas explosion.
In the past few decades, much work has been dedicated to study the behaviors of masonry
[1]
structure subjected to gas explosion. Ellis, Beak & Colwell carried out experiment studies on the
responses of masonry structures subjected to gas explosions under the support of Building Research
[2]
Establishment (BRE). C.W.Wong & M. Karamanoglu predicted the non-linear responses of masonry
panels subjected to gas explosions by using the finite element software package BERDYNE that was
improved by a developed material failure criteria. Considering the boom of gas turbulence, Y.L
[3][4]
Han
established a mechanical model of domestic gas explosion load, which is used to simulate the
behaviors and anti-blast characteristics of masonry walls subjected to gas explosions.
For the severe threat of terrorism and conventional weapons, most researchers focus their
attention on the behavior and response of masonry structures under explosive blast loading. The U.S.
______________________________
PLA University of Science and Technology, China

455
Zhan Li, Yadong Zhang, Qin Fang, Li Chen and Shigang Yang
[5][6]
Army Engineer Research and Development Center

conducted a series of field experiments to
determine the response of a one-way 1/4 scale concrete masonry unit wall under the detonation of an
explosive charge. Through a series tests of 1/2 scale masonry infill walls subjected to the detonator
[7][8]
explosion, L. Chen
analyzed the behavior of masonry infill walls and the retrofitted effect of carbon
fiber-reinforced polymer(CFRP) sheets, steel mesh and steel laminated sheets, the result showed that
the unreinforced masonry wall retrofitted with steel mesh performed the best anti-blast properties.
Basing on the rapid developing numerical simulation technology, many researchers have advanced
greatly in the study of dynamic response, damage level and retrofitting techniques for masonry
structures.
However, the public available literatures concentrated on the masonry walls are mostly focused
on the explosive detonation. Limited investigation especially the experiment research has been
carried out to unveil the behaviors of masonry structures to inside gas explosion, which is still unclear.
In this manuscript, a specially designed experimental device was firstly constructed in the field, and a
series of full-scale in-situ tests on confined masonry walls subjected to inside gas explosion was
carried out.
2. EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAMME
The test system was consisted of the RC enclosure, testing confined wall, data recording
instrument and gas introducing/mixing instrument. Fig.1 shows the detailed schematic diagram of the
experimental apparatus in the field test.
Figure 1: the schematic diagram of the experimental apparatus

2.1 RC enclosure and testing walls
The RC enclosure was constructed to simulate the actual inside room condition with the internal
dimensions of 3.0m2.0m2.0m as shown in Fig.2. There were two vent openings mounted on the
RC enclosure, one was used to install a window with the dimensions of 0.8m0.8m and the other one
of 3.0m2.0m was used to install the testing wall. Prior to filling the enclosure with gas, the test wall
was installed in the RC enclosure and the gap between the wall and the frame was stopped up by the
foam agglutinant. The venting window was perfectly sealed with 0.015mm thick polyethylene film or
5mm thick flat glass.
456
Figure 2: the view of house showing the window and venting opening which is used
to install the test walls
In order to reduce the testing period, three testing wall specimens were pre-constructed in the
concrete frames that were pre-designed with 20 holes of diameter 70mm to fasten to the RC
enclosure with bolts. Two of them were one-way infill wall and the right and left boundaries of them
were separated from concrete frame by the plastic film. The last one was a two-way infill wall with the
right and left boundaries bolted with frame by the steel bar at equal space of 50cm. The nominal
dimensions of each testing wall were 3.0m high2.0m wide0.24m thick. The walls were masoned up
basically in English pattern using factory Type P hollow brick bonded with type M5 mortar.
2.2 Gas introducing/mixing/igniting instrument
As the main component of natural gas, methane was chose as the flammable gas in the
experiments. The methane was introduced from the pre-designed pipe with a valve at the bottom of
the RC enclosure model. An electrical fan mounted on the ground mixed the flammable gas with air
homogeneously. The gas concentration was monitored at the bottom, middle and top of house. The
gas concentration sensor developed at the Han Wei Electronic Ltd. is based on detection of changes
in heat conductivity of the mixture. One minute before ignition, the fan was switched off and pulled out
from the enclosure through a pre-designed strobe to protect it. The mixture was ignited by an
electronic-igniting pill hung at the center of house. The igniting wire located in the house was
protected from being burnt by using the 704 agglutinant.
2.3 Data recording instrument
The recording items in the test incorporated overpressure of gas explosion, displacement and
failure modes of test walls. Ten pressure gauges separated by the window were mounted in pipe
inside the house in orthotropic pattern with the horizontal space of 250mm and vertical space of
300mm, as shown in Fig.3, which was designated from P1 to P10. In order to protect the pressure
gauges from being damaged by the heat of gas explosion, the water-cooling pressure sensors with a
range of -20 to 150kPa (CYG series of Kunshan Double-Bridge) were chosen. Six displacement
transducers designated from D1 to D4 were fixed to record the deformation histories. All of the
transducers were mounted on the pre-made steel angles on the behind of each masonry infill wall as
illustrated in Fig.4. Furthermore, a video camera mounted behind the test wall about 15meters away
registered the damage process of walls.
Signals from the pressure sensors and displacement transducers were logged on the DongHua
5927 data acquisition instrument, which was a 12 bit independent A/D conversion card with 32
synchronic channels sampling at a frequency of 100 kHz per channel.
457
window
Figure 3: position of pressure gauges
Figure 4: position of displacement gauges
2.4 Test scheme

The key parameters of the inside gas explosion i.e. gas concentration and venting pressure were
changed to capture different gas explosion loads. The venting pressure was varied according to the
failure strength of the enclosure on window. Obviously, the polyethylene film has much lower static
failure strength in comparison with the flat glass.
The temporal temperature of tests was recorded for the sensitivity of gas explosion loads to
circumstance. The testing wall specimens were designed and constructed into two groups, i.e. oneway and two-way respectively which were designated from Q1 to Q3. Q1 and Q2 were one-way; Q3
was two-way. According to the scheme, 8 tests were carried out, detailed concentration, enclosure of
window and temperature were listed in Table 1.
Q1
test1
Q1
test2
Q1
test3
Q1
test4
Q2
test5
Q2
test6
Q3
test7
Q3
test8
Temperature ( )
11.7
9.6
13
9.3
13
12.5
23.8
25.1
Gas concentration ()
9.5
9.5
10.5
11.5
9.5
10.5
9.2
9.2
Wall/test
enclosure of window
polyethyle
ne film
glass panel
polyethylene
film
Table 1 tested cases

3.RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
3.1 Gas explosion load
The key indexes of gas explosion loads are given in Table.2. The overpressure-time histories
were filtered by an adequate frequency to obtain proper average pressure of oscillatory peaks.
From the Table.1 and Table.2, it can be found that the gas explosion load is sensitive to test
conditions. The amplitude of pressure peak varies between 1.7 and 49.7kPa, and the duration of
pressure wave varies between 0.5 and 1.4s.In general, there are four basic peaks in the pressure458
time history of vented gas explosion. The failure of relief, combustion of unburned gas expelled from
the enclosure, increase and decrease of flame area and acoustically enhanced combustion process
result in the different peaks, respectively. The mechanisms of pressure generation were clearly
[9][10]
described distinctly by Cooper and Mercx
.
First Peak
Test
Magnitude
(kPa)
Increase
Duration(s)
Second Peak
Decrease
Duration(s)
Magnitude
(kPa)
Increase
Duration(s)
Decrease
Duration(s)
Test 1
1.72
0.190
0.070
0.61
0.430
0.211
Test 2
10.76
0.801
0.053
Test 3
13.80
0.196
0.045
15.09
0.133
0.082
Test 4
6.56
0.167
0.042
49.76
0.118
0.055
Test 5
7.31
0.821
0.055
Test 6
7.56
0.172
0.048
48.50
0.130
0.044
Test 7
1.10
0.132
0.034
46.86
0.096
0.040
Test 8
2.63
0.163
0.061
46.79
0.091
0.044
Table 2: Principal results of gas explosion load from tests

For test 2 and test 5, the pressure-time histories exhibit a single peak behavior. The glass panel
which represents a high failure pressure was used in these types of tests. For the small venting area
and high failure pressure of vent cover, less unburned gas is ejected from the house and the flame of
burned gas inside the house expands rapidly. The single peak is generated by the failure of vent
cover which couples with the combustion of external gas.
Being compared with the histories described previously, the pressure-time histories of the last
tests exhibit a double peak behavior. The polyethylene film which represents a low failure pressure or
a relatively high gas concentration was used in these tests. Then it induces that more unburned gas is
residual inside the house. Following the first peak generated by the failure of vent cover, the second
peak is brought about by the combustion of residual unburned gas which may be enhanced by an
acoustic wave.
Three experiments, test2, test4 and test6, have been performed to investigate the effect of gas
concentration on the pressure-time histories. The venting opening of these tests was sealed with
glass panel. Results are depicted in Figure 5.From the figure, it can be found that the curve of
pressure-time history changes from single peak to double peaks with the increase of gas
concentration, whats more, the curves of test4 and test6 are similar with each other despite the
difference of gas concentration. The reason of change of the pressure-time history may be that the
higher gas concentration leads to more resident unburned gas inside the house which is beneficial to
the generation of second peak; As to the similarity of pressure-time histories of those relatively high
gas concentrations, the strong oscillatory feedback mechanism in gas explosion may be responsible
for it.
Test1 and test2 have been performed to investigate the influence of the failure pressure of vent
covers (polyethylene film and glass panel) on the pressure-time histories. The gas concentration of
these tests was 9.5%. The effect of venting pressure on the pressure-time histories is illustrated in
Figure 6.The figure shows that there is a single peak of 11kPa in the pressure-time history of test 2
and the pressure-time history of test1 exhibits a double peak behavior, the value of the first peak is
1.7kPa, then the second one is 0.5kPa. The explanation of these is as follows, obviously, the value of
first peak is determined by venting pressure because when the pressure exceeds the venting
pressure, the vent cover is removed, allowing the mixture to escape from the house. A low venting
pressure in test means that less gas is burned in the early stage of combustion, then more unburned
gas is left inside the house, this contributes to the generation of second peak.
459
test2
test4
test6
test1
test2
10
Pressure(kPa)
Pressure(kPa)
40
20
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
1.2
0.0
0.4
0.8
1.2
1.6
2.0
Time(s)
Time(s)
Figure 5: Influence of gas concentration on

the pressure-time history
Figure 6: Influence of venting pressure on

the pressure-time history
3.2 The displacement of test walls

All the displacement-time histories registered by the displacement transducers on the test walls
are shown in Figure 7-Figure 10.
2
Displacement(mm)
Displacement(mm)
-1
D1
D2
D3
D4
D5
D6
-2
-3
-4
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
-2
-4
D1
D2
D3
D4
D5
D6
-6
-8
0.0
2.0
0.4
0.8
1.2
1.6
2.0
Time(s)
Time(s)
Figure 7: The displacement of Q1 in test 2
Figure 8: The displacement of Q1in test3
0.5
0.0
-0.5
Displacement(mm)
Displacement(mm)
-4
-1.0
-1.5
-2.5
-3.0
-3.5
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
Time(s)
D1
D2
D3
D4
D5
D6
D7
-12
D1
D2
D3
D4
D5
-2.0
-8
-16
-20
1.2
-24
0.00
0.05
0.10
0.15
0.20
Time(s)
0.25
0.30
0.35
0.40
First of all, comparing the displacement-time history and pressure-time history of the same test, it
can be found that the shape of the different histories is similar with each other and the maximum of
displacement is related to peak of pressure. The results illustrate that the walls during test process
dont response to the pressure acutely and, to a large extent, the response of walls performs a quasistatic feature. It is caused by the fact the duration of gas explosion overpressure is several times
longer than the vibration period of walls.
460
Then, the displacement of Q1 in test1 is shown in Figure 7. Little residual displacement

happened in Q1, and the maximum about 3.4mm elastic displacement occurred in the horizontal
midline area (D2 and D3) of the wall. At the same height, the displacement of walls is similar. It is the
vibration mode of one-way infill walls. Moreover, the displacements of other gauges reduced with the
increasing distance to the center and the displacement of upper one is larger in the gauges which are
the same distance to the center for the gravity and poor-construction of the joint between bricks and
the top concrete frame. A similar result is also received from Figure 8 which shows about 1mm
residual displacement in the center of Q1.The variation process of Q1 is shown in Figure 11 which is
drawn from the data of Figure 8. The fact that the poor-construction of joint has influences on the
response of walls can be further illustrated by the displacement of Q2 in test 5 shown in Figure 9. The
maximum displacement about 3 mm happened in the up-of-center instead the center of the wall Q2
for the weaker constraint of top joint.
Whats more, the response of test wall Q3 which is shown in Figure 10 should be mentioned as
well. The figure exploits that the maximum displacement occurred in the center of Q3 and the
displacement of wall declined with the decreasing distance to the boundaries of wall. It is the vibration
mode of two-way infill walls. As to the weak top boundary problem, it occurred in the two-way infill wall
Q3 as well.
t=0.205s t=0.303s
t=0.357s t=0.392s t=0.445s t=1.069s t=1.156s t=1.192s

Figure 11: The variation process of Q1 in test 3
3.3 The failure mode of test walls

In the experimental process of wall Q1, a slight through crack occurred at the horizontal midline
area of the wall due to the damage of interface between bricks and mortar after test 3. And no
significant crack was found in wall Q2. As to the two-way infill wall Q3, some noticeable damage
occurred after test 7 as shown in Figure 12. In the front of the wall which undertook the gas explosion
load directly, a crush area was observed at the top. Whats more, the shape of crack is similar to the
yield line of panels with three fixed boundaries. And the weak top boundary of confined walls which
was discussed previous lead to the fact.
461
Cracking
(a) Front
(b) Back
Figure 12: Damage of Q3 in test7

The test walls Q1, Q2 and Q3 fell down in test4, test6 and test8 respectively and the failure
processes were recorded by the camera laid behind the walls as shown in Figure 13-Figure 15.
The test walls Q1 and Q2 are typical one-way infill wall. Figure 13 and Figure 14 illustrate that at
the early stage of a devastating gas explosion, a through crack occurs at the horizontal midline area
of the one-way infill wall. Then the crack expands with the rise of overpressure inside the house and
divides the wall into two sections. At last, due to the effect of gravity, the wall flees away and falls on
the ground.
As to Q3, the typical two-way infill wall, a different collapse mode shown in Figure 15 is found. At
first, the cracks which were discussed previous occur. Then, the wall is divided into three sections by
the cracks or yield lines. At last, the wall falls down, unlike one-way infill wall, there are some residual
structure in the concrete frame for the different boundaries, as shown in Fig 16.
Figure 13: The failure process of Q1 in test4
462
Figure 16: The back view of Q3 after test8
463
4.CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, full-scale in-situ tests performed in a RC enclosure have been carried out to unveil
the properties of inside gas explosion load and the behavior of the confined masonry walls under the
gas explosion loading. The overpressure generated by gas explosion, displacement and failure
process of testing wall specimens were recorded and analyzed. It is found that the blast loadings
induced by the inside gas explosion usually exhibits a single or double peak overpressure, which is
sensitive to the testing circumstances. In particular, a lower venting pressure or higher gas
concentration is beneficial to the generation of second peak. The displacement of wall specimens is
quasi-static and associated with the boundaries. It is the horizontal midline area of one-way infill walls
at which the maximum displacement occurs, and the displacements in different positions of the same
height are similar to each other. It is quite different from one-way infill walls for the effect of right and
left boundaries. During the failure process of test walls, for the one-way infill walls, a through crack
occurs at the horizontal midline area and divides the wall into two sections. And the yield lines divide
the two-way infill wall into three sections. Although the properties of inside gas explosion load and
behavior of confined walls could be studied, additional experiments are need to research the gas
explosion load comprehensively and numerical simulations are need to analyze the anti-blast ability of
different confined walls as well.
5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This manuscript was sponsored by the National Basic Research Program of China
(No.2015CB058001, No.2012CB026204), National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.
51238007, No.51210012, No.51408608), National Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu (No.
BK20140067).
REFERENCES
[1] Ellis, B. R. Beak, M. & Colwell S., Testing masonry panels under explosive and static loading,
Building Research Establishment, Note N20/93 (1993)..
[2] Wong Cheewai and Mehmet Karamanoglu, Modelling the response of masonry structures to gas
explosions, Journal of loss prevention in the process industries, 12.3 (1999): 199-205.
[3] Han Yongli, Research on the Characteristics and the Protective Technology of Civil Building
Structures against Gas Explosion, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (2011).
[4] Han Yongli and Longzhu Chen. Mechanical model of domestic gas explosion load, Transactions
of Tianjin University (2008).
[5] Shearer, Murray J., Vincent HY Tam, and Brian Corr., Analysis of results from large scale
hydrocarbon gas explosions, Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, 13.2 (2000):
167-173.
[6] Davidson, James S., et al., Full-scale Experimental Evaluation of Partially Grouted, Minimally
Reinforced Concrete Masonry Unit (CMU) Walls Against Blast Demands, AUBURN UNIV AL
DEPT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING (2010).
[7] Chen Li, et al. Response and Damage Level of Confined Masonry Walls to Blast, DISASTER
ADVANCES, 6 (2013): 380-394.
[8] Chen Li, et al. Responses of Masonry Infill Walls Retrofitted with CFRP, Steel Wire Mesh and
Laminated Bars to Blast Loadings, Advances in Structural Engineering, 17.6 (2014): 817-836.
[9] Cooper, M. G., M. Fairweather, and J. P. Tite, On the mechanisms of pressure generation in
vented explosions, Combustion and flame, 65.1 (1986): 1-14.
[10] Mercx W., C. Van Wingerden and H. J. Pasman, Venting of gaseous explosions, Process Safety
Progress, 12.1 (1993): 40-46.
464
th
THE STUDY OF IMPACT LOADS ON DERAILED TRAIN

IMPACTING ADJACENT STRUCTURES
Yanhui Liu*, Chang Yang and Shichun Zhao
*School of Civil Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University
No. 111, North 1st Section of Second Ring Road, China 610031
e-mail: <liuyanhui00@126.com>
Keywords: Design values of impact load, posture of derailed train, high-speed railway
station
Abstract: With the development of high-speed railway station, derailed train

impacting adjacent structures has been an increasing serious problem. But
researches on this issue have been rarely published in relevant fields so far.
Based on nonlinear finite element method, the present paper focuses on the
impact loads that are applicable to Chinese high-speed rail station. Firstly, the
schedule distribution characteristics of impact load have been studied through
establishing finite element models of high-speed train and structural members.
And then, single variable analysis reveals the relationship between impact loads
and the influence factors including the speed of detailed train, the initial offset
angle of train, the friction coefficient between train and track bed as well as track,
etc... As the consequence of the above, the design values of impact loads have
been recommended. The results show that the lateral impact load is highly
affected by the lateral velocity of derailed train, and longitudinal impact load will
reach a plateau when the speed of derailed train is more than 50km/h.
1
INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, China owns the world's largest and fastest high-speed railway network, and in
recent years the construction of which is still on-going. The high-speed railway system requires
that the highest speeds of a train on reformed railway lines and new railway lines are not less
than 200 kilometers per hour and 250 kilometers per hour respectively. With this high speed,
trains have the higher possibility of derail when entering the station under the complicated
circumstance of the railway switches. Meanwhile, by analyzing several layouts of Chinese highspeed railway stations, one can concludes that the safety margin between rain sheds or station
structure columns and train is so narrow that the train is likely to hit the structural columns of rain
shed or station once it derails and causes serious damages. Compared with the traditional
railway station, the new generation of high-speed railway stations becomes the integration of
various kinds of transport hub, structure and facilities, which means that all the functional areas
such as waiting area, high-speed rail station, subway station, bus station, shopping malls and
other areas will be closer. or even in the same construction, as shown in Figure1. Therefore, the
______________________________
Corresponding author, Southwest Jiaotong University. e-mail: <yangchang327@126.com>
Southwest Jiaotong University. e-mail: <zhaosc1961@163.com>
465
Liu Yanhui, Yang Chang and Zhao Shichun
safety of high-speed railway stations with very complex function and highly centralized population
is significantly important.
Figure 1: Profile of some

high-speed station
(a) Canada
(b) Argentina
Figure 2: derailment accidents
With the development of railway, train derailment accidents all over the world happened
almost every year. In most of them, the derailed trains crashed the nearest building, which
caused huge casualties and economic losses, shown in Figure 2. The train derailment as a main
safety problem in railway transportation has been widely attention by design departments of
railway system. They successively study and improve tracks and trains aim to prevent derailment.
At the same time, railway ministries attach great importance to derailment problem, proposing
that the impact between derailed train and station structure should be taken into consideration in
design of large-scale passenger station. However, there are no relevant design standards in
China, and designers design just according to their engineering experience. In this aspect,
[1]
European countries have published some related standards. For example, EN1991-1-7 rules
that the impact load must be taken into consideration when derailed trains impacted their
[2]
adjacent structures. EN1991-2 rules the impact load between derailed train and bridge should
be considered if trains were derailing on the bridge. Those specific values of impact load mainly
[3]
[4]
refer to the research results of RSSB, UIC and Swiss scholar Josef Grob .
In order to provide a reference basis of impact load caused by detailed train for China's highspeed railway station design, the paper, Firstly, studies the necessary information of the posture
of detailed train with a numerical calculation method. And then, the paper discusses the law of
development of impact load of detailed train-structure respectively in different collision conditions.
Finally, the values of Chinese design standards will be recommended.
2
POSTURE OF DERAILED TRAIN
For affecting the impact state of derailed train and structure, the posture of derailed train
should be studied prior to impact load caused by derailed train. To analyze and summarize the
behavior of derailed train, three influencing parameters - friction coefficient, derailed speed and
angle - will be discussed one by one.
The posture of derailed train is mainly decided by the initial posture of train derailment. As
many reasons to induce train derailed and difficult to be done statistics, combined with previous
research, some simplifications and assumptions are made for derailed train, which is CRH2 EMU,
and its initial posture, as follows (Figure 3):
a) Before and after train being derailed, the train remains in the same horizontal plane.
Meanwhile, it assumes each vehicle of the derailed train before collision is considered as a rigid
body and the connection between the vehicles is articulated.
b) Applying the speed of vE which direction is to the head of train vehicle T1 induces train
derailment. Other vehicles are also applied horizontal velocity vE and the ranges 0 from 0.05 rad
[4]
to 0.10 rad .
c) As the friction coefficient of contact surface between train on the track and the derailment is
different, 1 is defined as the friction coefficient of train on the track, and 2 is the other one.
d) This paper will only discuss the case of the train derailment occurred on the straight.
vE
x
vE
T4
M4
M3
T3
T2
M2
M1
T1
Figure 3: Initial derailment gesture of model of CRH2 EMU

466
0
A
In the Figure 3, point A is the front point of vehicle T1 along the axis, while the point B is the
end one. Both A and B is to determine the position of T1 when being detailed. For facilitate unified
description, the paper sets provisions that parallel to the centerline of the track in x direction is
defined as longitudinal and perpendicular to the centerline of the track in y direction is laterally.
NO.
1-1
1-2
1-3
1-4
1-5
1-6
( 1,2 )
(0.1,0.5)
( 0.1,1.0 )
( 0.1,1.5 )
( 0.2,0.5 )
( 0.2,1.0 )
( 0.2,1.5 )
vE( km/h )
100
100
100
100
100
100
0 ( rad )
0.075
0.075
0.075
0.075
0.075
0.075
NO.
2-1
2-2
3-1
3-2
3-3
3-4
( 1,2 )
( 0.1,0.5 )
( 0.1,0.5 )
( 0.1,0.5 )
( 0.1,0.5 )
( 0.1,0.5 )
( 0.1,0.5 )
vE ( km/h )
100
80
100
150
200
250
0 ( rad )
0.05
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
Table 1: Research conditions of derailed train and its main parameters

Research method is used a single variable for each of the above three factors to analysis one
by one and the research overall of conditions are shown in Table 1.
The following conclusions are gained by comprehensive analysis of the results:
a) Among of the three influencing parameters, 0 is the greatest impact on the posture of
derailed train.
b) The postures of derailed train are similar under different initial detailed speed except
running time. Lateral derailed displacement y and v x of vehicle T1 are basically uniform trend with
time increasing.
/
14
12
= 1.44y
10
8
6
4
2
0
0
9
y/m
Figure 4: Variation of the derailment angle with the horizontal derailment displacement
Figure 4 presents the variation of derailed angle of T1 with its lateral displacement y.
Through data fitted, a function relationship between and y about T 1 will be introduced:
=1.44 y
(1)
c) The friction between derailed train and contact surface can dissipate the kinetic energy of
the train, while the specific values of (1, 2) have a little influence on deceleration of train within
the range of conditions studied.
d) Comprehensive the speed variation of derailed train under different conditions, the lateral
derailed velocity component vy is always small, while the vx direction of which is parallel to the
track is the main one for derailed train.
3
IMPACT FORCE BETWEEN DETAILED TRAIN AND STRUCTURE
Collisions between objects can be divided into central collision and side collision. Specific to the
impact of train and structural columns, it can be defined by illustrating in Figure 5.
467

y
y
train
train
y2
structural
column
structural
column
y1
y1
The center line of the track
The center line of the track
(a) Central
entral collision
y3
(b) Side
ide collision
Figure 5: Two types of impact between detailed train and structural

al column
What should be noted is, based on the previous research of the posture of derailed train, the
central collision showed in Figure
gure 5 is just geometry collision,, that is the velocity direction of
detailed train can not be its own longitudinal direction, and the so-called
called central collision can just
be guaranteed in geometry.
The impact force between detailed train and structure can be resolved into lateral one and
longitudinal one. It will be not difficult to infer referring to Figure 5: horizontal impact force
generated main by side collision, while longitudinal impact force by central collision. Accordingly,
the
he impact force of horizontal and longitudinal will be studied respectively by the analysis of side
collision and central collision.
[5-7]
Select the first four vehicles
of CRH2 as the derailing train,, and a rigid wall as impacted
body. Combined with the previously studied derailment posture results and layout
layou of the Chinese
high-speed
speed rail passenger station (horizontal spacing between structural columns and track), 2
is set to 0.5, impact angle is within the range of 25 (showed in Figure
gure 6). The materials of
vehicles are referring design requirement of CRH2 showed in Table 2.
(a) The whole model
(b) The first vehicle T 1
Figure 6: Finite element model

Material name
E (GPa)
fy (MPa)
(%)
Used part
A5083P-O
69
0.3
125
16
Front,
ront, end wall
Referred
norm
JISH4000
A6N01S-T5
69
0.3
205
10
Side
ide wall, roof
JISH4100
A7N01P-T4
69
0.3
195
11
einforcement plate of
Reinforcement
chassis
JISH4000
A7N01S-T5
69
0.3
245
chassis
JISH4100
Note: E- Young's modulus; -Poisson's

Poisson's ratio;
ratio fy-yield strength; -elongation
Table 2: Main parameters of CRH2 EMU

3.1 Longitudinal impact force
Combining Figure 5a, the longitudinal velocity component vx is the main cause of promoting
effect of train movement, while the lateral velocity component vy is the one to cause impact in the
condition of side collision. That is, vy can not be ignored in the condition of side collision.
Single variable method is still used to study the variation
variation of the lateral impact force. Some data
of (vx, vy) are chosen from the study results of the posture
posture of derailed train as impacting speed.
468
The research conditions are listed in Table 3,, and corresponding maximum impact force data is
shown in table 4.
Speed vx /vy (km/h)
66.0 / 8.5
114.8 / 14.8
166.0 / 21.2
216.3/ 27.3
0=10
1-1
1-2
1-3
1-4
0=15
2-1
2-2
2-3
2-4
0=20
3-1
3-2
3-3
3-4
0=25
4-1
4-2
4-3
4-4
Table 3 Research conditions

0=10
=10
2 -1
2 -2
2 -3
2 -4
The maximum impact force (MN)
1.88
2.91
3.49
5.00
0=15
=15
3 -1
3 -2
3 -3
3 -4
2.38
3.04
4.14
4.57
0=20
=20
4 -1
4 -2
4 -3
4 -4
2.04
2.89
4.44
4.70
0=25
=25
5 -1
5 -2
5 -3
5 -4
2.14
3.54
4.63
5.21
Table 4: Maximum
aximum impact force of research conditions
(a) Variation of the maximum impact force with derailed angle under different derailed speed
(b) Variation of the maximum impact force with derailed speed under different derailed angle
Figure 7: Variation of the maximum impact force in different conditions
469
Processing the data in table 4 and considering the average of the maximum impact force with
different impact angles as the statistical sample, the trend of maximum impact forces with
different impact speeds will be obtained, and can be fitted into a function equation as follow
(Figure 7):
(2)
F =0.02v+1
3.2 Longitudinal impact force
The valid range of impacting in the condition of central collision between vehicles and rigid
wall must be determined firstly. Combining the impacting duration of accident cases and the
mechanical characteristics of energy absorbing device in locomotive, there are two referring rules
as following:
a) The impact time of train derailment and rigid wall is within 0.05 s.
[8-9]
b) Assuming that the maximum deformation of locomotive T 1 is 0.5m
.
The final value of maximum impact load is the smaller one of the previous calculation.
Single variable method is still used to study the variation of the longitudinal impact force. The
calculation model is consistent with the lateral impact force model. Research conditions are
shown in Table 3, and the corresponding maximum impact force and trend line are shown in
Figure 8.
Case name
Case 1
Case 2
Case 3
Case 4
Case 5
Case 6
Impact speed(km/h)
20
50
100
150
200
250
Table 3 Research conditions of longitudinal impact force

Maximum impact load/MN
14
12
10
8
F max = 1.5 lnv + 2.88
6
4
2
0
0
50
100
150
200
250
Derailed speed / km/h
Figure 8: Maximum longitudinal impact forces and corresponding trend line

According to Figure 8 and calculation results showed in Table 3, under a assumption that
energy absorbing device in locomotive is the only dissipative element, it will reach the maximum
absorbing energy of train when impact speed is about 50 km/h, and the impact load of impact
surface 1 will basically stable even if impact speed is beyond 50 km/h. Fitting for a simple
calculation data, A formula about the maximum impact load with different impact speed is gained
Fmax=1.5 lnv+2.88
(3)
Note that this formula is only applied to the situations which impact velocity is more than 50
km/h. For the impact speed within 50 km/h, the formula result is partial conservative.
4
RECOMMENDED VALUE OF IMPACT LOAD IN DESIGN FOR CHINESE HIGH-SPEED

RAIL STATION
Due to the layout particularity of Chinese high-speed rail, and the maximum operating speed
in main lines not more than 200 km/h, if assuming that the impact occurred when lateral distance
of derailed train is 4m, the maximum value of lateral and longitudinal impact force will be
470
calculated respectively based on the previous research, that is 4.3 MN to lateral impact force and
14.8 MN to longitudinal one.
Considering the impacted body is given rigid material which lead to the calculation results
larger, the above calculation results are in the reduction of 5%. Finally, the value of impact load in
design for Chinese high-speed rail station will be recommended as following: the lateral maximum
impact force should not be less than 3.9 MN, while the longitudinal one not less than 14.1 MN.
REFERENCES
[1] European Committee for Standardization. BS EN 1991-1-7 Eurocode 1 - Actions on structures Part 1-7: General actions - Accidental actions. London: The British Standards Institute (BSI)
(2006).
[2] European Committee for Standardization. BS EN 1991-2 Eurocode 1 - Actions on structuresPart 2: Traffic Loads on Bridges.London: The British Standards Institute (BSI) (2003).
[3] International Union of Railways (UIC).UIC777-2R Structures built over railway lines construction
requirements in the track zone . Paris (2002).
[4] Grob, J., Hajdin, N.. Train Derailment and its Impact on Structures. Structural Engineering
International(1993).
[5] Lu. G. Energy Absorption Requirement for Crashworthy Vehicles.Journal of Rail and Rapid
Transit(2002).
[6] Zhao Honglun,et al. Design and research on crashworthiness of urban railcar sets. Rolling
Stock(2003).
[7] Dannawi M., Demonsant E., Wiart A..Absorption DEnergie Et Simulation Numerique De Choc.
Revue Generale des Chemins De Fer(1993).
[8] Hu Xiaochun. Model Selection and Design of Storage Batteries for 200 km/h Track Inspection
Cars. Rolling Stock(2011).
[9] Analysis of Buffer Device Coupler and its Performance of CRH2 EMU. Science & Technology
Information (2008).
471
th
EXPLANATION FOR DIFFERENT FAILURE MODES OF

SINGLE-LAYER RETICULATED DOMES SUBJECT TO INTERIOR
BLAST LOADING
1,2
Jialu Ma, 1Xudong Zhi, 2Chengqing Wu and 1Feng Fan
School of Civil Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China

School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering, The University of Adelaide,
Adelaide 5005, Australia
Keywords: Failure modes; Interior blast loading; Full-range analysis; Dynamic responses;
Counter-intuitive collapse
Abstract: The blast threats in a confined environment are paid more attention in
the whole world. Because of these uniquely large confined spaces, spatial
structures might become the perfect places of terrorist attacks. However, the
reasons of different responses of spatial structures under blast loading are not
clear. In this paper, the dynamic responses of single-layer reticulated dome
subjected to interior blast loads were investigated by considering the effect of static
preloading, which are much more realistic with the real situations. With the
full-range analysis methods, four different failure modes of reticulated dome were
identified. There are slight damage of members, local fracture of the dome,
counter-intuitive collapse of the dome and comprehensive failure respectively.
Finally, the reasons of different failure modes were explained with a mass-spring
system.
1. INTRODUCTION
With the high frequency of terrorist attacks occurring all over the world, more and more buildings
are threatened by interior explosions. The most dangerous inside bomb attack occurred in the
World Trade Centre (WTC, USA) in 1993, which was before the well-known 9/11 Incident. Although
the terrors failed to cause the WTC collapse from its inside under garage, it did kill six people and
injured more than one thousand.
Recently, more and more attention has been drawn to the blast-resistant analysis and methods.
Therefore, it is definitely important to study the structural responses when subjected to blast
[1]
loading. The UFC 3-340-02 guideline is almost the most famous empirical method. It provides
simplified analysis methods of blast loads, and introduces the blast-resistance design processes of
concrete structures, steel structures and masonry structures respectively. However, the UFC is
[2]
insufficient to consider reflections in complicated surroundings. Chen et al.
used ConWep to
apply the blast loading on the multi-arch blast-resistance door, and investigated the effects by
shape, dimension and support conditions of the door. The clearing effects of far-field blast loads
[3].
[4]
were also presented by Tyas and his colleges
Karagiozova et al. simulated the responses of
FibreMetal Laminates (FML) under localised blast loading. They used initial 2D analysis to study
[5]
the blast loading and applied them on FML components. Feldgun developed a simplified model to
deal the interior explosions in a room with an opening. The pressure venting process and the cover
movement have been studied as well.
473
However, these existing studies only focused on simple specimens or small dimensional
buildings.. Spatial structures, which are widely used for public facilities, are facing to more terrorist
threats than normal civil buildings. Therefore, it is urgent to study the dynamic responses of
single-layer reticulated domes under blast attacks.
Furthermore, the
he failure modes of single-layer
single layer reticulated domes under blast loads are not clear.
[6
Zhi ] distinguished two collapse modes of single-layer
single
reticulated domess by using structural
responses from sufficient
ficient samples at the failure states. Failure modes of reticulated domes
[7, 8]
subjected to impact loads were also pointed out by Fan
. Four failure modes were presented as
slight damage of member, local failure of dome, global collapse of dome and shear failure of
member. The final deformation of a single-layer
single
Kiewitt-8
8 reticulated dome was also classified by
mass and velocity of the impactor.
In this paper, the structural responses of the single-layer
layer reticulated domes subjected to an
interior blast have been investigated systematically. A reasonable method for considering the effect
of static preloading was raised to deal with the domes subjected to an interior blast.
blast Four failure
modes were distinguished form sufficient samples.
samples The reasons of different failure modes were
explained with a mass-spring
spring system. All these findings offered a way for blast--resistant design and
safety assessments of the spatial structures.
structures
2. METHOD AND MODEL
2. 1 Model of dome
single
Kiewitt 8 system reticulated dome iss shown in Figure 1. The
The model of a 40 m single-layer
dome is divided to six rounds, with a 1/7 ratio of rise to span. It is composed by circular steel tubes
which are connected by 169 welded hollow-spherical
hollow spherical joints. Each member in the model was
meshed to 3 beam elements with four integration points on their cross sections.
section The model has
[7, 8].
been validated yet in the previous research projects
Figure 1:
1 The single-layer Kiewitt 8 reticulated dome
In the model, the blast pressures were assumed to have a uniform distribution on each joint, and
the directions of impulses were applied to be perpendicular to the surface of the dome (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Schematic diagram of interior blast loading

In order to focus on dynamic responses of the dome, this study was based on the hypothesis
that the blast loads were transferred to the main structure totally.. Although the roof panels were not
set up in the numerical model,
model the equivalent blast loading on each joint was considered and
474
calculated according to the areas Sj involved. Thus, the equivalent dynamic force F(t) equals the
product of pressure p(t) and area Sj.
2. 2 Material Model
As the blast loads only lasted for such a short time with a fast speed and generated large
deformations in materials, the Johnson-Cook constitutive model for mild steel was chosen. This
model is especially useful for metal subject to large strain, high strain rates and high temperatures
[9]
. The flow stress can be expressed as
= ( A + B p )(1 + c ln )(1 T *m )
n
(1)
where A, B, c, n and m are constants; is the effective plastic strain; * is the effective strain
rate and T* is the homologous temperature. However, thermal effect is not the main factor for
far-field blast problems, especially for the tubes with thin-walled cross-sections. Therefore, the
simplified Johnson-Cook model in LS-DYNA was employed which is given by the following equation
[10]
= ( A + B p )(1 + c ln )
n
(2)
In this equation the thermal effect is ignored. The details of steel used in the model are
[11].
summarized in the Table 1
Table 1: Material properties of steel tubes
D
(kgm-3)
7850
E (GPa)
PR
A (MPa)
B (MPa)
PSFAIL
207
0.3
244.80
899.7
0.94
0.039
0.20
3. FAILURE MODES
[6, 12]
Similar to Ref.
, the FEA method for tracing the full-range structural dynamic responses was
used to study the dynamic collapse problems in this study.
A non-linear dynamic time-history response analysis was carried out by LS-DYNA. The
numerical samples of different ratios of rise to span, cross-sections, material models, static
preloads and interior blast excitations, were used to find the final statuses of the 40 m single-layer
Kiewitt 8 reticulated domes. Four failure modes were identified, which are slight damage of
members, local fracture of the dome, counter-intuitive collapse of the dome and comprehensive
failure respectively (Figure 3: Slight damage of members ~ Figure 6: Comprehensive failure).
Figure 3: Slight damage of members
475
Figure 4: Local fracture of the dome
Figure 5: Counter-intuitive collapse of the dome
Figure 6: Comprehensive failure
4. EXPLANATION OF COUNTER-INTUITIVE COLLAPSE OF THE DOME

It is understandable for the first two failure modes, which represent the minor and severe blast
loading respectively. However, the counter-intuitive collapse of the dome is still hard to understand,
[13-17]
even there are many simulation results and the validation tests of some components
. In this
section, the reasons of counter-intuitive behaviours are explained by a single degree of freedom
mass-spring system.
There is no doubt that a specific reticulated dome is a structure with multiple degrees of
freedom. In the vertical direction, however, the structure could be generally treated as the system
whose whole weight is supported by the supports and the stiffness itself. Consequently, the final
statuses of reticulated domes under the inner blast loading were interpreted with a mass-spring
system, which is shown in Figure 7a.
476
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
Figure 7: Four deformation stages of single degree of freedom mass-spring system
With the mass-spring system, it is much easier to explain the causes of different failure modes
than with a dome. Firstly, from the stage of Figure 7a to Figure 7b, the spring has an initial
compression deformation generated by gravity actions. Then, the inner blast loading was simplified
as a sudden upward impulse on the mass. Thus, the mass was lifted up. This is also a storage
process of potential energy in the system (Figure 7c). When the impulse vanished quickly, the mass
begins fall down with the acceleration of gravity. Finally, the mass-spring system stayed at a certain
position (Figure 7d). The final status is decided by the static pre-loading and the upward impulse
together.
When the static preloads were large enough, the system could reach the edge of failure before
any other excitations. For the mass-spring system, the failure might be the instability or the plastic
stage of the spring. If there was a tiny disturbance at the same time, the whole system could be
collapse or reach the failure criterions. Consequently, a small blast applied on the mass, the whole
system might fail and collapse downward as a result.
CONCLUSIONS
This study reported an urgent problem of the single-layer reticulated domes subjected to interior
blast loading, which has been originally pre-loaded by the live loads. Four failure modes were
identified from a huge amount of numerical samples. There are slight damage of members, local
fracture of the dome, counter-intuitive collapse of the dome and comprehensive failure respectively.
In particular, the reasons of different failure modes were explained with a mas-spring system, which
offers a much easily understandable explanation of the counter-intuitive behaviours.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The research presented in this paper was jointly supported by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (Grant No. 51078103) and the ARC Discovery Grant (Grant No.
DP140103025).
REFERENCES
[1] UFC 3-340-02, Structures to Resist the Effects of Accidental Explosions, Departments of the Army,
the Navy, and the Air Force, (2008).
[2] W. Chen, H. Hao, Numerical study of a new multi-arch double-layered blast-resistance door panel,
International Journal of Impact Engineering, 43 (2012) 16-28.
[3] I. Edri, V.R. Feldgun, Y.S. Karinski, D.Z. Yankelevsky, Afterburning Aspects in an Internal TNT
Explosion, International Journal of Protective Structures, 4 (2013) 97-116.
[4] D. Karagiozova, G.S. Langdon, G.N. Nurick, S. Chung Kim Yuen, Simulation of the response of
fibremetal laminates to localised blast loading, International Journal of Impact Engineering, 37
(2010) 766-782.
477
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dynamic actions, Thin-Walled Structures, 48 (2010).
[7] F. Fan, D. Wang, X. Zhi, S. Shen, Failure Modes for Single-Layer Reticulated Domes under Impact
Loads, Transactions of Tianjin University, 14 (2008) 545-550.
[8] F. Fan, D. Wang, X. Zhi, S. Shen, Failure modes of reticulated domes subjected to impact and the
judgment, Thin-Walled Structures, 48 (2010) 143-149.
[9] G.R. Johnson, W.H. Cook, A constitutive model and data for metals subjected to large strains high
strain rates and high temperatures [C], The Seventh Int Nat Symposium on Ballistics, (1983).
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Mechanics and Materials, 274 (2013) 463-466.
[12] S.Z. Shen, The Dynamic Stability Problem of Reticular Shells (Invited Lecture), IASS, APCS
symposium, Taibei, China, (2003).
[13] P.S. Symonds, T.X. Yu, Counterintuitive Behavior in a Problem of Elastic-Plastic Beam Dynamics,
Journal of Applied Mechanics, 52 (1985) 517-522.
[14] Q.M. Li, Q. Dong, J.Y. Zheng, Counter-intuitive breathing mode response of an elasticplastic
circular ring subjected to axisymmetric internal pressure pulse, International Journal of Impact
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783-802.
478
th
AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY TO ASSESS THE USE OF

CYLINDRICAL BARS AS BLAST BARRIERS
Jean-Eudes Niollet*, Steeve Chung Kim Yuen#, Gerald N. Nurick
and Gregory Girault
*
Promotion de Castelnau, Department of Mechanical Engineering,

Military Academy of Saint-Cyr, France
#
email: <steeve.chungkimyuen@uct.ac.za>
Keywords: Blast load, Disruption, Quadrangular plates
Abstract. This paper presents the results of an experimental study to assess how
cylindrical bars placed between an explosive source and a target plate disrupt the
blast wave impinging on the target plate. The blast mitigation capabilities of the
barriers are quantified by means of the deflection of the target plate. The blast
barriers disrupting the blast wave are made from 25mm diameter mild steel solid
bars and laid out in six different arrangements to provide different levels of
disturbance. The blast tests are carried out using a blast tube on a ballistic
pendulum with six different charges ranging from 20g to 70g used for each barrier
configuration. The target plates are square Domex 550 steel with a 2mm
thickness and an exposed area of 200 200mm. The results showed that placing
a barrier between a charge and a target structure may have attenuating effects or
more damaging effects depending on the location and number of barriers.
Increasing the number of bars had less significant attenuation effect than the
placement of the bars.
1
INTRODUCTION
Since 9/11 in particular, the general awareness and perception of the effects of explosive
attacks has dramatically changed. Well-placed explosive devices, whether delivered by personnel
or by vehicle, are commonly used weapon by many terrorists. As a result of this surge in
terrorism threat, blast protection has increasingly become an area of focus in building and
structure design with a view to protect not only the structure but also the occupants from the
effects of the high-pressure loads. It should also be noted that blast hazards are not only limited
to the target structure where the blast takes place but also to the surrounding area that is
impacted to varying degrees. Typically, blast waves generated from an explosion propagate
radially away from the source and impinge on the target. If there is no prior disruption or
amplification due to reflection the incident blast wave will be amplified and reflected when it
impacts the target surface. This type of loading usually occurs when the explosion occurs at a
distance above and adjacent to the target surface. Numerous studies have been reported on the
[1-9]
response of plates with different geometries (circular and quadrangular)
with different
Blast Impact and Survivability Research Unit (BISRU), Department of Mechanical Engineering, University
of Cape Town, Private Bag, 7701 Rondebosch, Cape Town, South Africa
Blast Impact and Survivability Research Unit (BISRU), Department of Mechanical Engineering, University
of Cape Town, Private Bag, 7701 Rondebosch, Cape Town, South Africa
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Military Academy of Saint-Cyr, France
479
Jean-Eudes Niollet, Steeve Chung Kim Yuen, Gerald N. Nurick and Gregory Girault
[10-13]
boundary conditions (clamped or built in)

subjected to blast load resulting from the
detonation of the explosion adjacent to the target surface. There are also studies pertaining to the
[14-16]
response of target plates subjected to far field blast load
. Any structures in the path of the
blast wave will not only be damaged to some extent but also either disrupts the blast wave
attenuating the blast load onto subsequent structures or reflects and amplifies incident blast wave
onto the target surface. Generally if there are no structures between the source of the charge and
the target the deformation for plate structures is characterised by a global dome when subjected
to uniform loading and an inner dome superimposing a global dome when subjected to localised
loading for large inelastic deformation. Depending on the type of loading, tearing is observed
either at the boundary or central area or both the boundary and central area of the target plate.
While total protection from bomb blasts and explosions is the ultimate goal and is not currently
possible there are different measures that can be taken to make the explosive load less severe
and decrease the likelihood of damage with the use of blast mitigators/attenuators. Various
lightweight cellular materials including metallic and polymer foams, ceramic, honeycombs and
micro-truss structures that have unique properties to certain blast situations are used for a variety
[17-20]
of blast mitigation applications
. When used for purposes of blast mitigation the cellular solids
collapse at a cellular level beneath the force of the blast, absorbing much of the blast energy and
effectively containing the damage.
Other methods to mitigate blast load include the application of commercially available
lightweight and frangible physical barrier or to disrupt the shock and pressure wave travelling
[21-24]
from the source of the explosion to the target. Langdon et al.
have reported on the use of
perforated plates as a mean to disrupt the blast wave travelling down a cylindrical tube towards a
target plate. Results from the experiments indicated that perforated plates can be used as a form
[25]
of passive mitigation reducing the deformation of the target plate. Igra et al.
presented an
overview of different methods to achieving shock/blast attenuation including change in geometry,
the introduction of small solid particles or liquid droplets or rigid barriers of different shapes and
orientations in the wave path. It was reported that fixed barriers reduced both the static and
reflected pressure while free obstacles enhanced the stagnation pressure acting.
This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation into the use of cylindrical bars
to attenuate the blast wave travelling down a square tube towards a square plate. The cylindrical
bars are laid out in six different configurations located either close to the explosive or to the target
plate and in different quantities to provide different levels of disturbance. The effectiveness of the
cylindrical bars to attenuate the blast wave is quantified by means of the deflection of the target
plate.
EXPERIMENTS
Six series of experiments differing in the configuration of the solid bars were carried out using
six different charges ranging between 20g and 70g for each series of test. The plastic explosive
PE4 (commonly known as C4) shaped into a cylindrical disk of diameter 40mm, was centrally
placed at one side of a blast tube to create the impulsive load. The blast tube, shown in Figure 1
with one bar fitted in the middle close to the charge (configuration S1), was made from 25mm
thick mild steel plate with an interior dimension of 200200200mm. The blast tube was designed
with thread holes on opposite sides to locate solid bars to disrupt the blast wave travelling to the
target plate in different experimental arrangement, changing either the number or positions of the
barriers. The holes where no bars were fitted were blocked with solid plugs. The 300x300mm
quadrangular target plate was made from 2mm thick Domex 550 steel with an exposed area of
200x200mm. The target plate located between the blast tube and a clamp was mounted onto a
ballistic pendulum that was used to determine the impulse imparted to the structure upon the
[1-5]
detonation of the charge, as previously carried out by Nurick et al. .
480
Jean-Eudes
Eudes Niollet, Steeve Chung Kim Yuen, Gerald N. Nurick and Gregory Girault
Figure 1 : Exploded view of the blast tube setup in configuration S1

2.1 Configuration of the blast barriers
In one set of experiments, series S0, the blast wave was allowed to progress unhindered down
the blast tube with no barriers to impinge upon the plate to provide
rovide baseline data to measure the
effectiveness of the blast wave barriers.
barriers In the other series, solid bars in different numbers and
layouts were placed between the charge and the target plate to disrupt the blast wave. Figure 2
illustrates the six different series with a schematic of a top-view
top view of the blast tube. In series S1 and
S2 one solid bar was used to disrupt the blast wave either close to the charge (S1 : 40mm from
the centre of the solid bar to the closest edge of the explosive cylinder) or close to the target
plate (S2 : 40mm from the centre of the bar to the closest face of the target plate). Series S3 and
S5 had similar configurations as series S1 and S2 but with three bars, located at the same
distance to the target plate. The distance between the centres of solid bars was 60mm. In series
S4, one bar was fitted as in configuration S1 (close to the explosive) and two bars were fitted at a
distance of 40mm from the target plate (as in series S5 without the middle solid bar). The solid
bar close to the
e charge was meant to disrupt the blast wave as it is formed while the two solid
bars closer to the target plate were meant to re-distribute
re distribute the blast wave approaching the target
plate.
(a) Series S0
(d) Series S3
(b) Series S1
(c) Series S2
(e) Series S4
(f) Series S5
Figure 2 : Schematic of the configurations carried out with the blast tube
481
Jean-Eudes
EXPERIMENTAL OBSERVATIONS
OBSERVA
3.1 Relationship between

n mass of explosive and impulse
Figure 3 shows the graph of the impulse versus the mass of explosive with an error bar to show
the experimental variation between the highest and lowest impulse measured for a given mass of
explosive. A general trend of increasing impulse with the increasing mass of explosive, as expected
and observed in past studies, was observed for all series irrespective of configurations of barriers.
The experimental variation for impulse measured was within 10% of
of the mean impulse for all the
different configurations highlighting no significant variation in the impulse between the different series.
The highest difference between the linear fit and the impulse values of the tests was for the series S4
at 60g with 6.8Ns under the linear fit.
Figure 3 : Graph of impulse versus mass of explosive

3.2 Relationship between mid-point
mid
deflection and impulse
The general deformation profile of the target plates were characterised by a symmetrical global uniform
dome with four plastic hinges running from the corner to the centre of the plate, reminiscent of the response
of square plates subjected to uniform blast load. After the blast tests, the target plates were sectioned in
halves along the centre. Figure 4 illustrates the superimposition of the deformed profiles of the sectioned
target plates for the six different configurations of barriers. For any specific configurations of the barriers, the
extent of deformation increased with increasing mass of explosive
e as expected. However
H
the
characteristics of the deformed profiles varied with the location and number of barriers.
arriers. For the baseline
series S0 where no barriers were placed between the charge and the target plate the mid-point
mid
deflection
ranged between 9.5mm for 20g of explosive and 28.5mm for 70g of explosive.
Max deflection 28.5mm
Min deflection 9.5mm
(a) Series S0
482
Jean-Eudes
(b) Series S1
(c) Series S2
(d) Series S3
(e) Series S4
(f) Series S5
Figure 4 : Superimposed cross-section deformed profiles
Linear fit regression were plotted in order to compare the trends of deflections of the different
configurations of barriers. It can be observed from Figure 5 that placing
acing either one or three bars close
to the target plate (series S2 and S5) had negative effects on the deformation of the target plates as
the midpoint deflection of these target plates were generally higher when
hen compared to the S0 series
where with no barriers
rriers were used for the same charge mass.. However when either one or three solid
bars were fitted close to the explosive (series S1 and S3) the resulting midpoint deflection was lower.
The mitigation effect of the one bar placed closed to the explosive (series
eries S1),
S1) however, became
insignificant at higher charge masses.
483
Jean-Eudes
(a) One barrier
(b) Three barriers
Figure 5 : Graph of midpoint deflection versus impulse for series with same number of bars located
in different plane
Figure 6 compares the deformed profiles of the target plates protected by either one or three barriers
located either close to the explosive or the target plates for two masses of explosive: 30g and 70g. The
profile of series S0 is also included as a baseline for comparison. The deformed profile of series S0 was
characterised by a uniform global dome with the maximum deflection occurring at the centre of the target
plate.
te. When the barrier was located close to the explosive (series S1) the deformed profile of the target
plates was similar to typical deformed profile of square plates subjected to localised blast loading with an
inner dome superimposing a global dome. This profile was more pronounced at higher charge masses. The
maximum midpoint
idpoint deformation was similar to the baseline series despite the difference in global shape.
The resulting deformed profiles of target plates protected by barriers placed closed to the target plates
(series S2) were more cone-like (with linear slope) in shape with higher mid-point
point deflection.
(a) One barrier
(b) Three barriers

Figure 6 : Superimposed cross-sectional
cross sectional deformed profiles of series with different numbers of bars
located in the same plane
The graphs of mid-point

point deflection vs impulse for different number of bars located in the same plane are
shown in Figure 7.. For the range of experiments
experiment carried out, a constant trend of decrease in mid-point
mid
deflection (when the bars are placed close to the explosive (series S1 and S3)) and increase in mid-point
mid
deflection (when the bars are placed close to the target plate (series S2 and S5)) when three bars were
used ass blast barriers in the same plane. At smaller charge masses, the response of the target plate
protected by one bar was similar to the target plate protected by three bars. However, when the charge
masses were increased the use of one bar appeared
appeare to enhance the blast pressure resulting in higher midmid
point deformation of the target plate.
484
Jean-Eudes
(a) Close to the explosive
(b) Close to the target
Figure 7 : Graph of midpoint deflection versus impulse for series with different number of barriers
located in the same plane
Figure 8 illustrates the cross-sectional
sectional deformed profiles of series carried out with different number of
solid bars in the same plane. For the current experimental arrangement and range of tests, the
number of barriers did not significantly affect the response of the target plate. It is evident from
Figure 8(a) that series S1 and S3
S had similar deformed profiles with the same midpoint
mid
deflection for
both 30g and 70g of explosive
e (when the barriers were located close to the explosive charge). Figure 8(b)
illustrates the deformed profiles of series carried out with the bars fitted close to the target plate. In both
series S2 and S5, the target plates exhibited larger plastic deformation in the central area of the plate than
series S0 when no barriers were used. At the higher charge masses, increasing the number of bars
appeared to have a mitigation effect as the maximum deflection
deflec
was less. Series S2 exhibited a
higher midpoint deflection than series S5.
(a) Blast barriers located close to the explosive charge
(b) Blast barriers located close to the target plate

Figure 8 : Superimposed cross-sectional
sectional deformed profiles of series with same number and
different positions of bars
In series S4, three bars were re-positioned
re positioned in such a way that one bar was located close to the
explosive and two bars were located in the same plane closed to the target plate. The results of the
configuration of series S4 are compared with Series S0, S1 and S5 in the graph shown in Figures 9
and 10. The results suggests that S4 have better blast mitigation effects compared with the other
configuration as the mid-point
oint deflection of the target plates protected by these barriers are always
lower than any other configurations. The deformed profile of series S4 was similar to the deformed
profile of series S1. The increasing difference between the profiles of series S1 and S4 became more
evident with increasing mass of explosive. Series S4 shared none of the characteristics of the profiles
of series S5. In general the amount of deformation along the profile of the target plates in series S4
was also less than the deformed
ed profile of the baseline series S0.
485
Jean-Eudes
S1
Figure 9 : Graph of midpoint deflection versus impulse for series S0, S1, S4, S5
Figure 10 : Superimposed
osed cross-sectional deformed profile of combined configurations
3.3 Deformation profile of the target plates
After the detonation of the explosive, there was generally a burnt marked on the loaded side of the
test plate because of the close proximity of the charge. Figure 11 compares the back plate of series
S0 to S5 when subjected to 30g of explosive. The baseline series S0 presented a circular uniform
burnt area (highlighted by the red circle). In series S1 and S3 a clean rectangular-like
rectangular
area
(highlighted by the green rectangle)
rectangle were observed in the region where the bar was located.
located Similar
observations were exhibited for series S4. It was observed that fitting bars close to the target plate
separated the burnt region into two distinct areas (highlighted by the black oval)) on each sides of the
bar (series S2 and S5). These burnt are indicative of the difference in the profiles of the target plates.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
Experiments (six different configurations) were carried out to assess how cylindrical bars
bar placed
between a target plate and an explosive charge disrupt the blast wave impinging on the target plate
and its blast mitigation capabilities by means of the deflection of the structure.
struc ure. The results showed
that the placement may have attenuating effects or more damaging effects. Placing a barrier close to
the explosive charge will dissipate some of the blast waves impinging on a target plate. However,
barriers close to the target plate appear to accentuate the intensity of the blast wave causing more
damage. Increasing the number of bars had less significant attenuation effect than the placement of
the bars. Validated numerical predictions of the experiments
experiments are currently underway and will provide
better insights
ights into the progression of the blast wave from the explosive source to the target plate and
its interaction with the blast barriers.
486
Jean-Eudes
Figure 11 : Photograph of the back plate of tests using 30g of explosive

5
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors wish to thank the staff at the Mechanical Engineering Workshop, University of Cape
Town for manufacturing the test rig.. The financial assistance of the University of Cape Town towards
this research is hereby acknowledged. Opinions
Opinions expressed and conclusions arrived at, are those of
the authors and are not necessarily to be attributed to the University of Cape Town.
Town
6
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488
th
3D SEISMIC RESPONSE ANALYSIS OF LARGE-SPAN SUBWAY

STATION IN SOFT SOIL AREA
Feiqi Oua*, Haitao Yub,c and Yong Yuand
a
Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
e-mail: <ofq0123@163.com>
Keywords: seismic response; large-span subway station; dynamic time-history analysis

method
Abstract: The seismic performance of subway station is raising more and more
attention from the engineering circle. At present, there are various seismic design
methods of different underground structures, each with its pros and cons. In this
paper, the 3D seismic response analysis of a large-span subway station with irregular
structure arrangement is conducted using the dynamic time-history analysis method.
Furthermore, the model with different seismic loadings is analyzed to study the
seismic responses of this structure, and the results indicate that the horizontal
transverse seismic motion has great effect on the structure and the most precarious
position occurs on the atrium section.
1. INTRODUCTION
Historically, underground structures have experienced a lower rate of damage than surface
structures, and it was believed that underground structures had good seismic performance.
Nevertheless, the significant damage in several recent large earthquakes shows that when subjected
to seismic loading, underground structures are not actually very safe. For instance, in the 1995
Hyogoken Nambu earthquake of Japan, underground structures in Kobe City, especially Daikai
subway station, were severely damaged. Therefore, plenty of researches in the safety of underground
structures during seismic events were started by scholars at home and abroad and lots of research
achievement was gained. However, most of them focused on subway stations with traditional form and
there were few researches with respect to special structures like subway station with a large atrium,
which is featured with a large span, a large opening and a capacious space. This paper studies the
seismic response of this sort of subway station by using numerical simulation.
2. SEISMIC ANALYSIS METHOD
2.1 Pseudo-Static Method
So far, several simplified seismic design methods of underground structures have been developed
and the pseudo-static method is a popular one, among which the seismic coefficient method and the
response deformation method have been widely applied.
_______________________________
b
Key Laboratory of Geotechnical and Underground Engineering of Ministry of Education, Tongji University,
Shanghai, 200092, China
c
d
489
(1) Seismic Coefficient Method

The seismic coefficient method is developed based on the static theory put forward by Fusakichi
Omori in 1899. The core idea of this method is to replace the time-dependent seismic loadings with
equivalent static seismic loadings, and then analyze the internal forces of the structure using the static
calculation methods. In the seismic coefficient method, only the horizontal seismic loading are
considered, including horizontal inertia force, elastic resistance of soil and lateral earth pressure
increment.
(2) Response Deformation Method
The response deformation method was put forward for the seismic design of linear underground
structures in the 1970s by a Japan scholar. The main idea is that the seismic response of underground
structures depends on the movement of surrounding strata and the relative displacement generated in
seismic events is exerted on the structures in the form of static loads from ground springs, thus
obtaining the internal forces of the structure. The keys to this method are the value of the stratum
deformation and the rigidity of ground springs.
2.2 Dynamic Time-history Analysis Method
The dynamic time-history analysis method is based on solving the kinematic equation of the
structure, and the record of actual earthquake acceleration time history were inputted as dynamic load.
After that, the seismic response of structure is analyzed and the displacement, speed, acceleration
and stress state of each node of the structure at each moment in the earthquake are calculated. The
kinematic equation of the structure is:
[ M] [ U&&] + [ C] [ U& ] + [ K ] [ U] = [ P]
Where
[ M] [ C] [ K ]
are the mass, the damping and the stiffness matrix, respectively;
(1)
[ U&&] [ U& ]
[ U]
are the mass, the acceleration, velocity and displacement vecto, respectively; [ P] is the load
vecto.
The pseudo-static method is widely used in seismic design of underground structures owing to its
simplified calculation, but it has limited application in sophisticated 3D modeling. In contrast, the
dynamic time-history analysis method can be utilized to analyze the seismic response of underground
structures under complex environment, topographical or geological condition. As for the dynamic
time-history analysis method, it is able to accurately simulate the earthquake process, and the
calculation results are accurate and reliable with consideration of the various nonlinear factors of a
structure. Besides, it is applicable in a complicated environment, topographical or geological condition
for the seismic response analysis of underground structures.
In this paper, the dynamic time-history analysis method and a 3D model are adopted to research the
seismic analysis of the subway station with a large atrium because of its irregular structure
arrangement, complex form, and sophisticated surrounding strata.
3. FULL 3D NUMERICAL MODEL FOR LARGE-SPAN SUBWAY STATION
3.1 The Large-span Subway Station Structure Model and Parameters
ratio is 0.2). In this model, the wall panels and
the tunnel linings are simulated with shell
elements, while beams and pillars are simulated
with beam elements. The finite element model is
shown as Figure 1.
The subway station is a two-floor underground

station with island platform, which located in the
soft soil area in Shanghai. This structure has a
total length of 355.7 m and a width of 21.34 m
with two standard parts and one atrium part. The
soil sickness is about 1.88m between the roof
and the ground, and the buried depth of the
platform center bottom is about 16.61m. There is
one end well at each side of the station, which is
connected to the tunnel. In this finite element
model of the station, the structure material is
concrete, and the constitutive model is elastic.
Concrete grade of the pillar is C40 (elastic
modulus is 3.25GPa, Poisson ratio is 0.2), the
rest is C35 (elastic modulus is 3.15GPa, Poisson
Figure 1: Structure Model

490
3.2 The Constitutive Model and Parameters of Soil

In this finite element model, dynamic interaction between soil and structure is not taken into
consideration. Soil is simulated with solid elements, and the constitutive model is elastic. The soil
parameters are shown in table 1.
soil
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Table 1: Physical properties of the soil

elasticity
3
modulus
thicknessm densitykg/m
MPa
2.14
1700
2.0
2.39
1880
2.0
3
1870
21.0
8.53
1760
10.2
21.17
1770
15
5.83
1970
19
7.65
1930
33
4.29
1900
27
15
1890
35
Poisson ratio
0.35
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.35
0.3
0.35
0.3
0.35
3.3 Calculation Area and Boundary

This model has a length of 405 m, a width of 250 m and a height of 70 m, and the distance between
structure and the boundary is ten times of D, which is the width of station. Furthermore, the size of the
smallest element is 2.5m, and there are about 150,000 elements in total. In order to eliminate the
reflection effect of the seismic wave, infinite element is applied as the lateral artificial boundary. The
model is shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2: The Whole Model

3.4 The Input Seismic Motions
Shanghai artificial wave (exceedance probability is 10% in 50 years) is applied on the bottom of
this model in different directions, and Figure 3 shows the time-history seismic acceleration. The
calculation cases are shown in table 2.
0.8
0.6
Acceleration (m/s2)
0.4
0.2
0.0
-0.2
-0.4
-0.6
-0.8
-1.0
0
10
15
20
Time (s)
Figure 3: Shanghai artificial wave
491
Table 2: Calculation cases

Seismic
wave
Shanghai
artificial
wave
Shanghai
artificial
wave
Shanghai
artificial
wave
Case
1
Direction
Remark
Horizontal
Horizontal
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Modal Analysis Results of The Station Structure
In this paper, the finite element software ABAQUS is adopted to simulate the seismic response of
the structure. Lanczos method was taken to do the modal analysis, and the top 10 natural frequencies
of the structure are shown in table 3.
Table 3: The top 10 natural frequencies of the structure
Mode
Frequency f / Hz
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
0.39954
0.61528
1.0397
1.5904
1.8130
1.8678
2.6408
2.7733
3.0007
3.3945
aThe first vibration mode
bThe second vibration mode
cThe third vibration mode
dThe fourth vibration mode
Figure 4: The first 4 vibration modes of the structure
492
From the analysis results of the structure mode, the first 10 vibration modes are participated by the
overall structure, which indicates that the integrated design of the station is reasonable. However, the
fourth vibration mode of the structure shows that stiffness of the atrium part is relatively small; it is
possibly caused by the big open hole in this part. Consequently,
Consequently, the stiffness of the station structure
changes along the longitudinal direction, and the atrium part may become unfavorable in the
earthquake.
4.2 Analysis of Seismic Action
ction
1 Maximum
aximum relative displacement between the top and the bottom slab
Table 4: Maximum relative displacement between the top and the bottom slab
Maximum relative displacement between the
Seismic direction
top and the bottom slab
mm
Horizontal transverse(Y-direction)
direction)
9.70
Horizontal longitudinal(X--direction)
0.21
direction)
1.49
The above result indicates that displacement responses
response of the structure are very different due to the
different directions of acceleration,
acceleration and it reaches the largest value when the model is subject to the
horizontal transverse(Y-direction)
direction) wave, while it is minimal under the longitudinal (X-direction)
(X
wave. It
is worth noting that, the maximum relative displacement between the top and the bottom slab occurs at
the atrium part in all cases.. As a result, the stiffness of the atrium part is relatively small.
Figure 5: Location with the maximum displacement between the top and the bottom slab
2 Internal force analysis of the station structure
By analyzing and comparing the results, the internal force of the atrium part is found to be larger
than that of the standard parts. Owing to the space limitations,
limitations, only the internal force of the atrium
part is given and analyzed in this paper. In order to make a clear comparison, three nodes of the
atrium section are selected,, as shown in Figure 6. Node 1 locates on the horizontal beam of the top
floor, node 2 locates on the horizontal beam of the second floor, and node 3 locates on the pillar of
the first floor.
Figure 6: Selected nodesatrium section
493
Seismic direction
Horizontal
Horizontal
Table 5: Maximum internal force of nodes

internal force
Node 1
Node 2
MomentkNm
312.1
770.0
Node 3
217.9
Shear forcekN
848.5
818
211.0
Axial forcekN
142.5
252.0
719.4
MomentkNm
129.5
164.4
110.4
Shear forcekN
Axial forcekN
101.2
118.1
137.4
249.9
48.5
119.7
MomentkNm
242.0
151.6
101.1
Shear forcekN
234.4
155.1
62.8
Axial forcekN
574.2
786.3
439.9
By analyzing and comparing the internal force of nodes from table 5, several conclusions can be
drawn as follow: 1 According to the moment and the shear force values, the horizontal
transverse(Y-direction) wave is most unfavorable to the structure, while the impact of the horizontal
longitudinal(X-direction) wave towards the structure is minimal; 2Compared with horizontal seismic
wave, seismic response of the structure caused by vertical wave should not be neglected;3
Concerning the internal force of different members, the seismic response of the horizontal beam in the
atrium part is relatively large. As a result, the design of the large-span subway station should focus on
the mechanical behavior of these members.
5. CONCLUSIONS
1 Compared to the pseudo-static method, dynamic time-history analysis method is more
appropriate to analyze seismic response of underground structures in complex environment,
topographical or geological condition;
2The modal analysis of the structure indicates that stiffness of the atrium part of the station is lower
than that of the standard part, the atrium part may become unfavorable in the earthquake ;
3Structural seismic response caused by the horizontal transverse(Y-direction) wave is the largest,
but the action of the vertical wave should not be neglected. Concerning seismic response of different
members, the horizontal beams in the atrium part are the most adverse members under earthquake.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
& 51478343). The authors acknowledge the support from the Fundamental Research Funds for the
Central Universities (2013KJ095), Shanghai Educational Development Foundation (13CG17), and the
National Key Technology R&D Program (2012BAK24B04).
REFERENCES
[1] Guang-bin Bai, Jie Zhao, Yu Wang etc. Seismic Analysis Methods Review of Underground
structure [J]. Journal of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, 2012, 28 (1) : 20 - 26.
[2] Hai-yang Zhuang, Shao-ge Cheng, Guo-xing Chen etc. Numerical Simulation and Analysis of
Earthquake Damages of Dakai Metro Station Caused by Kobe Earthquake [J]. Rock and Soil
Mechanics, 2008, 29 (1) : 245-250.
[3] Mao-song Huang, Hong-zhe Liu, Jie Cao etc. Transverse Seismic Design Analysis Methods and
Test of Shield Tunnels [J]. World Earthquake Engineering, 2011, 27(1):60-65.
[4] Qian Feng, Jiang Huang. Exploration of Disaster Characteristics and Damage Causes of
Large-span Underground Structure, Journal of Geodesy and Geodynamics 2009,29(z1):98-102.
[5] Xue-juan Tian. Seismic Analysis of Subway Station [J]. Railway Construction Technology,
2012,(6):67-73.
[6] Koji Ito, Satoru Ohno, Takashi Matsuda. Seismic Response of Underground Reinforced Concrete
Structure Centrifuge Model Test and Its Analysis Structure. Engineering and Earthquake
Engineering.2006, 23(1):117-124.
[7] Han-yu Lin. The Analysis of Seismic Response of City Subway Station Underground Structure [D].
Liaoning Project Technology University. 2012.
494
th
COST-BENEFIT AND RELIABILITY ANALYSIS OF CLIMATE

CHANGE EFFECTS ON CONCRETE STRUCTURES IN CHINA
Lizhengli Peng* and Mark G. Stewart
*
Centre for Infrastructure Performance and Reliability

The University of Newcastle
New South Wales, 2308, Australia
e-mail: <lizhengli.peng@uon.edu.au>
Keywords: Climate change, Concrete, Corrosion, Carbonation, Spatial modeling,

Adaptation measures, Cost-benefit analysis
Abstract. A changing climate may cause an acceleration of deterioration

processes and consequently a decline in the safety, serviceability and durability
of concrete infrastructure at a faster rate than expected. Carbonation-induced
deterioration to concrete structures in the Chinese city Kunming under a changing
climate is investigated in this paper. Two emission scenarios are considered RCP 8.5 and RCP 4.5, representing high and medium greenhouse gas emission
scenarios, respectively. The spatial time-dependent reliability analysis includes
not only the uncertainty of climate predictions, deterioration processes and
predictive models, but also the spatial variability in material properties and
dimensions. A reinforced concrete surface is discretized into a number of smaller
elements and random field methods are used to simulate the variability of the
concrete damage over the entire area. The likelihood and extent of corrosion
damage can be estimated by tracking the evolution of the corrosion process for
each element. A cost benefit analysis of climate adaptation strategies based on
spatial time-dependent reliability approach is also presented, which could provide
insights into this problem for policy makers and society.
1
INTRODUCTION
The deterioration rate of RC structures depends on the construction processes employed and
the composition of the materials used, as well as the environment. The influences of a changing
climate may be potentially important factors for asset management, because it may alter the
exposure environment of the structure, and change factors known to affect the corrosion of
reinforcing bar. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) fourth assessment
1
report indicated a significant increase of CO2 concentration in the atmosphere which will induce
temperature increases to at least 2C by 2100. Rising temperatures will increase rates of
carbonation penetration, as well as the corrosion rate. Changes in relative humidity (RH) will
2
affect corrosion process as well. Peng and Stewart improved carbonation models by taking into
account the effects of temperature and RH on diffusion coefficient, site-dependent CO2 levels,
and considering RH as a time-dependent variable. It was found that climate change can cause an
additional 7-20% of carbonation-induced damage by 2100 for RC buildings in temperate or cold
climate areas in China.
______________________________
Professor and Director, Centre for Infrastructure Performance and Reliability, The University of Newcastle,
New South Wales, 2308, Australia
495
Lizhengli Peng and Mark G. Stewart
However, due to the spatial variability of workmanship, environmental and other factors, it is
recognized that the material and dimensional properties of a concrete structures will not be
homogeneous. In this paper, spatial time-dependent reliability methods are employed, by
considering the spatial variability of concrete material properties and concrete cover, to predict
probability and extent of corrosion damage of RC slabs, roofs, floors, panels and walls etc.
subject to carbonation induced corrosion. Time-dependent RH effects on corrosion rate are also
included. Two emission scenarios are considered, i.e. RCP 8.5 and RCP 4.5 which represent
high and medium greenhouse gas emission scenarios, respectively. RC buildings constructed in
the southwest Chinese city Kunming are chosen as a case study. The spatial time-dependent
reliability analysis includes the time-dependent climate scenarios and deterioration processes, as
well as a large number of random variables and spatial random fields of material properties and
dimensions. The surface of concrete structures is discretized into a large number of elements and
the likelihood and extent of corrosion damage is calculated by tracking the evolution of the
corrosion process of each element using Monte Carlo simulation. A cost benefit analysis of
climate adaptation strategies based on spatial time-dependent reliability approach is presented,
which provide insights into this problem for policy makers and society.
2
CLIMATE PROJECTIONS
3
The IPCC Fifth Assessment Report uses Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) to
represent possible CO 2 emission scenarios. The four RCPs, RCP 2.6, RCP 4.5, RCP 6, and RCP
8.5, are named after a possible range of radiative forcing values in the year 2100 (2.6, 4.5, 6.0,
2
and 8.5 W/m , respectively). The scenarios RCP 8.5 and RCP 4.5 are used in this study,
representing high and medium emission scenarios, respectively. Additionally, an emission
scenario based on the Year 2010 CO 2 level of 389 ppm is also considered to provide a reference
for other emission scenarios. Note that a recent study shows that current emissions are tracking
4
slightly above RCP 8.5 . If this business as usual trend continues, then it is likely that CO2
concentrations will reach 1,000 ppm by the end of this century.
To project spatially dependent temperature increases in the future under different emission
scenarios, various climate models or Atmosphere-Ocean General Circulation Models (AOGCMs)
have been developed based on physical principles at the continental scale. To find the full range
of possible values, it is necessary to use multiple models to take into account the uncertainties of
2
models in any impact assessment . Six GCMs are used to project temperature and RH change
2
from 2010 to 2100 . Kunming city in China is selected. The projected annual average
temperatures and RH for the six GCM projections, for RCP 8.5 and RCP 4.5 emission scenarios
for Kunming are shown in Figure 1. It can be found that there is a large variability between model
projections, which makes climate projections particularly challenging. On the other hand, the
large variations could cover the full range of possible values.
85
Kunming
RCP 8.5
RCP 4.5
Year 2010
Relative humidity (%)
22
Temperature ( C)
24
20
18
16
14
2000
2020
2040
2060
2080
2100
Kunming
80
75
70
65
60
55
2000
Year
RCP 8.5
RCP 4.5
Year 2010
2020
2040
2060
2080
2100
Year
Figure 1: Projected annual average temperatures and relative humidity for the six GCM (BCCCSM1.1, MIROC5, IPSL-CM5A-LR, CSIRO-MK3.6.0, CNRM-CM5 and ACCESS1.0) projections
for RCP 8.5, RCP 4.5 and Year 2010 emission scenarios, for Kunming.
3
CARBONATION INDUCED CORROSION AND DAMAGE
Carbonation induced corrosion process normally consist of three stages: (i) corrosion initiation
(Ti , assumed as the time when carbonation depth reaches reinforcement bar); (ii) crack initiation
(T 1st, time to first cracking-hairline crack of 0.05mm width); (iii) crack propagation (T sev, time for
496
crack to develop from crack initiation to a limit crack width, wlim). Therefore, the time to corrosion
damage (severe cracking or spalling) T sp is the sum of Ti, T1st and Tsev.
3.1 Carbonation induced corrosion
The carbonation penetration process is simulated as a diffusion process, considering a wide
range of influencing parameters including CO2 concentration, temperature and RH etc. Peng and
2
Stewart considered the carbonation process as a steady state process modelled by Ficks First
Law, and considered time-dependent CO 2 concentration, temperature and RH effects. The
carbonation depth model is modified as
m
2D ( t ) t
t0
f
(
t
)
f
(
t
)
k
C
(
t
)
dt
T RH site CO 2 t 2009
a 2010
xc (t ) =
D ( t ) = D1 ( t 2009 )
a = 0.75CeCa O H
M CO2
M CaO
t 2010
(1)
nd
(2)
H 1 e3.38 w / c
(3)
where t is defined in calendar years starting from 2010, assuming the buildings goes into
service in the year 2010; x c(t) is the carbonation depth at time t; CCO2(t) is the time-dependent
-3
3
increase in atmospheric CO 2 concentration (10 kg/m ); k site is factor to account for increased
CO2 levels in non-remote environments; f T(t) is time-dependent change in diffusion coefficient due
to changes in temperature; f RH(t) is time-dependent change in diffusion coefficient due to changes
in RH; D(t) is CO2 diffusion coefficient in concrete calibrated for time period 2010 to t; D1 is CO2
diffusion coefficient at t=2010; nd is the age factor for the CO2 diffusion coefficient; t0 is one year;
3
Ce is cement content (kg/m ); CaO is CaO content in cement (0.65); H is a degree of hydration,
the degree of hydration for ordinary Portland cement (OPC) after more than 400 days is
5
estimated as Eq.(3) ; MCaO is molar mass of CaO and equal to 56 g/mol; and MCO2 is molar mass
of CO2 equal to 44 g/mol. The age factor for microclimatic conditions nm associated with the
frequency of wetting and drying cycles is nm=0 for sheltered outdoor, and nm=0.12 for unsheltered
2
outdoor exposures. The functions for k site, fT(t) and f RH(t) are detailed in reference .
3.2 Corrosion propagation
When carbonation depth reaches the reinforcing bar, corrosion initiates (Ti) where Ti is the
year when the carbonation depth exceeds the concrete cover. The corrosion rate is variable and
highly dependent on exposure conditions and atmospheric situations. For instance, the optimum
RH for corrosion is 70-80%, and then corrosion rate decreases as RH increases due to reduced
6
diffusion of oxygen through the concrete . A model that includes RH and temperature effects on
7
corrosion rate proposed by Breysse et al. shows that a lower RH will decrease corrosion rate
when RH is less than the reference RH:
icorr ( RH , T ) = icorr ref ( RH ref , Tref ) e
0.0312 RH RH ref
1
1
4736
273.15+T 273.15+Tref
(4)
where a reference state is RHref=80%, and T ref=20C.

In the present study, the reference corrosion rate is denoted as icorr-20 and is assumed
8
lognormally distributed with statistical parameters given by Duracrete , where a corrosion rate of
2
1 A/cm = 0.0116 mm/year. For sheltered moderate humidity exposure environment, the mean
2
2
carbonation corrosion rate (icorr-20) is 0.172 A/cm , and the standard deviation is 0.086 A/cm .
These values take into account the concrete grades suggested for the corresponding exposure
classes. This is likely to be a conservative assumption as corrosion rate will generally decrease
9
with time due to the build-up of rust products thus impeding the corrosion process .
3.3 Crack initiation (T1st), severe cracking (T sev) and corrosion damage (T sp)
The time to crack initiation, T 1st is estimated by a model proposed by El Maaddawy and
10
Souki . It should be noted, that the accuracy of the time to corrosion damage (Tsp,
Tsp=Ti +T1st+T sev) is dominated by the accuracy of time to corrosion initiation (Ti) and the time to
497
crack propagation (Tsev, time for crack to develop from crack initiation to a limit crack width, w
11
mm), and so damage risk predictions are relatively insensitive to the crack initiation model .
The definition of how excessive the crack width is depends on individual conditions and asset
owner policies; in this paper, concrete structures will be regarded as severely cracked when
12
crack width reaches a crack width of 1.0 mm. Mullard and Stewart have modelled rate of crack
propagation which enables the time for a crack to develop from crack initiation to a limit crack
width. Since corrosion rate is a time-dependent function of temperature and RH then time to
corrosion damage is corrected for a time-variant corrosion rate instead of a time-invariant
2
(constant) corrosion rate, for more details see reference .
4
SPATIAL TIME-DEPENDENT RELIABILITY ANALYSIS
Reinforced concrete construction involves various processes including concrete batching,

onsite dimensional set out, reinforcement placement, compaction of the concrete and curing. The
nature of these processes introduces the potential for substantial variability of concrete quality
due to variations in work practices. The spatial variability of concrete cover, concrete strength,
diffusion coefficient and binding capacity are included in the analysis.
Random field theory can be used to model the spatial variability of these parameters.
Therefore, a RC slab or a surface can be represented by a 2D random field. In a random field, the
surface is discretized into k identical elements of size and the random variables within the
13
random field are statistically correlated based on the corresponding correlation function . The
midpoint method is used to represent an element by the value at the centroid of that element and
this value is assumed to be constant within the element.
The spatial correlation between elements in a random field can be described by the correlation
function which defines the exact pattern of decay of the variance. The correlation function ()
determines the correlation coefficient between two elements separated by distance () and is
representative of the spatial correlation between the elements. As the distance between
correlated elements becomes smaller the correlation coefficient approaches unity as defined by
the correlation function, and likewise as the distance increases the correlation coefficient
reduces.
The Gaussian correlation function has been widely used in engineering applications, including
spatial modelling of RC structures, and as such it shall be used herein to model the spatial
14 , 15 , 16
correlation of elements within a random field
. The Gaussian (or squared exponential)
correlation function used herein is
2 2
y
( ) = exp x 2 2
d x d y

(5)
where dx=x/ and dy=y/ ; x and y are the scales of fluctuation for a two dimensional
random field in x and y directions, respectively; and x=xi -xj and y=yi -yj are the distances
between centroid of elements i and elements j in the x and y directions, respectively. Once the
stochastic random field is defined, Monte Carlo simulation methods are used to generate random
variables for each element and the spatially variable parameters of each element are then
defined using the correlation function. Monte Carlo simulation can also predict the deteriorated
state of each element (Ti, Tsp) at every time interval.
4.1 Proportion of a concrete surface subject to corrosion damage
Corrosion damage is defined as the time when concrete cover reaches a limit crack width of
1.0 mm. Therefore, the proportion of concrete surface severe corrosion damage at time t (dcrack)
for each Monte Carlo simulation realization is
d crack ( t ) =
n t > Tsp( j )
k
100%
(6)
where T sp(j) is the time to corrosion damage of element j, and n[] denotes the number of
elements for which t> T sp(j).
498
4.2 Probability that at least x% of concrete surface has damaged

The probability that at least x% of concrete surface has damaged at time t is
Pr ( dcrack ( t ) x% ) =
100%
x%
f dcrack ( dcrack , t ) d dcrack
(7)
where f dcrack(dcrack,t) is the multi-dimensional probability distribution of dcrack(t) obtained from

Monte Carlo simulation analysis for each time step t, a value of dcrack(t) is calculated and after
many simulations the probability distribution f dcrack(dcrack,t) for every combination of t and dcrack(t)
will be inferred. As will be shown later f dcrack(dcrack,t) is highly non-Gaussian and so percentile
11
values of f dcrack(dcrack,t) can only be predicted from simulation methods .
5
COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS OF ADAPTATION STRATEGIES
In addition to reducing environmental exposure as much as possible, practical adaptation

solutions in a new design may come from increasing cover and strength grade, or any
approaches that reduce material diffusion coefficient without compromising the reliability and
serviceability of concrete. A cost benefit analysis of increasing strength grade based on the
Chinese market price of construction is described here.
To do a cost benefit analysis of climate adaptation strategies, the cost normally refers to the
cost of adaptation strategies; and the benefit is the reduced corrosion damage. Because
carbonation induced corrosion usually takes decades to process, these climate adaptation
strategies are long term projects, or intergenerational projects. Therefore, it is important to
discount all costs and benefits to present value by a proper discount rate. In this case, the cost of
increasing strength grade is present value, while the reduced damage cost happens in the future
and needs to be discounted. If it is assumed that corrosion damage is always detected when the
structure is inspected then the expected damage cost Edamage(T) is the product of probability and
17
extent of corrosion damage and damage costs , i.e.,
T / t
Edamage (T ) = Ps ,i
i =1
Cdamage
(1 + r )it
(8)
where r is the discount rate, t is the time between inspections, n is the number of damage
incidents, i is the number of inspection, Ps,i(t) the probability of the damage incidence between
th
th
the (i-1) and i inspections, Cdamage is the cost of damage including maintenance and repair
costs, user delay and disruption costs, and other direct or indirect losses arising from damage to
2
infrastructure. For example, an asset owner should be able to quantify the unit repair cost ($/m ),
and if the area of damage is known then repair cost can be estimated.
Normally, the net present value (NPV) is used to make a decision. If the net present value of
adaptation is positive then the project should be adopted. So if NPV0, then the adaptation
measure is acceptable.
NPV (T)=Cbenefit (T) Ccost (T)

= ( Edamageexisting (T) Edamageadaptation (T)) Cadaptation
6
(9)
CASE STUDY: RC SLABS AND WALLS IN KUNMING
6.1 Structural configuration

Generally, codes require concrete covers ranging from 15 mm to 50 mm depending on the
grade of concrete, and the exposure class. Environmental exposures in China are classified for
18,2
three climatic areas, as severe cold area, cold area and temperate area . The selected site of
Kunming represents a temperate climate in the code. Because temperate climate zones have
large population densities, the results can be typical for most RC buildings in China. The results
for RC slabs can be applied to roofs, floors, panels and walls etc. Note that RC structures are
assumed to use OPC concrete, and standard formwork and compaction.
Concrete inside buildings in a dry environment, concrete surfaces subject to long-term rain in
unsheltered exposures, and RC permanently submerged in water generally have a low
carbonation rate. However, concrete inside buildings with moderate air humidity, and external
2
concrete sheltered from rain have higher likelihood of carbonation . After corrosion initiates, more
499
humid exposure increases corrosion propagation. The spatial time-dependent reliability analysis
to follow will focus on corrosion predictions for sheltered RC slabs herein. Note that RC buildings
without air conditioning are more critical, such as warehouses and factories, due to their
exposure to changes in the environment.
18
The Chinese durability design requirements relate to minimum concrete cover and concrete
compressive strength, and assume standard formwork and compaction. The durability
requirements for a RC slab of buildings in Kunming are shown in Table 1. The exposure
18,2
classification conditions can be referred from references . The exposure classifications for RC
slabs in the inland city of Kunming are exposure I and IIa for sheltered and unsheltered
environments, respectively. Note that the concrete compressive strengths in Chinese standards
are based on cube compressive strengths. The bar diameter is assumed to be 12 mm, in practice,
2
it can be other values of course, but corrosion damage risks are not sensitive to bar diameter .
b
Class w/c ratio
Ce (kg/m )
Mean D1
Mean nd
Dbar (mm)
Cover (mm)
F'c (MPa)
225
2.65
0.242
12
20
C20
0.60
IIa
0.55
250
2.22
0.240
12
25
C25
a
b
Note - : C represents cube compressive strength. : from AS 5100.5, GB50010-2002.
Table 1: Chinese durability design specifications
18
and deterioration models for building structures
6.2 Spatial and stochastic variables

A 2D random field is applied to the RC slabs considering the spatial variability of concrete
cover, concrete strength, and CO 2 diffusion coefficient and binding capacity. In this study, these
four parameters are modelled as stationary random fields with respect to space. Random and
spatial variables modelled as non-stationary can be included in the analysis if more realistic
structural configurations are to be modelled.
Data to characterize the spatial correlation of concrete dimensional, material property and
11,15,19.
corrosion parameters is limited
The scale of fluctuation, , defines the distance over which
13
correlation persists in a random field. Vanmarcke proposed various methods for the calculation
of the scale of fluctuation for stationary random fields. These methods, however, require large
amount of spatial data and although this has been collected in some cases, typically the scale of
fluctuation is estimated using engineering judgment. However, due to a scarcity of reliable field
data of concrete cover, concrete compressive strength, CO2 diffusion coefficient and binding
capacity, the scales of fluctuation in the x and y directions (x, y) are estimated based on
15,19
previous studies as summarized in Table 2
. Because the scales of fluctuation are not identical,
11
the four random fields need to be generated separately. Stewart and Mullard found that chloride
induced corrosion damage probabilities are not overly sensitive if the scale of fluctuation varies
from 1.0 to 3.0 m for concrete cover. Nonetheless, more effort is needed to characterize the scale
of fluctuation, as well as the shape of the correlation function, with more confidence.
Parameter
Distribution
Mean
COV
(m)
Concrete cover
Truncated normal
Table 3
Table 3
Concrete strength fc
Truncated normal
Table 3
Table 3
Diffusion coefficient D1
Lognormal
Table 1
=0.15
Binding capacity a
Lognormal
Eq. (3)
0.3
Table 2: Random field parameters

The size of the discretized element is usually defined based on practical and analytical
20
considerations. Sterritt et al. suggested that the element size should be in the range of 0.1 to
0.75 m. Therefore, element size =0.5 m is chosen herein. The RC slab is 6 m long and 6 m wide,
2
providing a total area of 36 m . Note that, the results for RC slabs can be applied to roofs, floors,
facade panels, balconies and walls etc., but with an adjustment in size.
To account for the random variation of basic parameters in structural analysis, the statistical
description of the variability of material properties of reinforced concrete slabs is required, see
Table 3. Concrete strength is time-variant, and the time-dependent increase in concrete
21
compressive strength after one year using the ACI method is f c=1.162f c(28) where f c(28) is the
28-day in-situ compressive strength. Time-dependent gains in strength beyond one year are not
500
considered in the present analysis. Only results for cast in-situ concrete are presented in this
22
paper. The statistics of concrete cover are based on Chinese field surveys , and the results are
also listed in Table 3.
Parameters
concrete cover
Mean
COV
Distribution
Reference
a
[22]
[2]
0.90Cnom
0.300
Truncated normal
C20
0.98F'c
0.221
Truncated normal
C25
0.90F'c
0.196
Truncated normal
[2]
0.13
Normal
[23]
0.12
Normal
[23]
fc(28)
0.53(fc)
ft
0.5
0.5
Ec
4600(fc)
nd
0.242
0.12
Normal
[24]
ME(rcrack)
1.04
0.09
Normal
[12]
15 m
0.1
Normal
[24]
[2]
ksite
Urban area
1.14
0.08
[2]
[2]
[2]
Truncated normal
Suburban area
1.07
0.06
Truncated normal
Rural area
1.05
0.04
Truncated normal
Notes - : truncated at 8 mm. : truncated at 0 MPa. : truncated at 1.0.

Table 3: Statistical parameters for corrosion parameters, material properties and dimensions
6.3 Cost of damage (Cdamage) and adaptation (Cadapt) in China and discount rate
The adaptation strategies can be various. Nevertheless, the costs of constructions, adaptation
and repair are different depend on structural component, local market price, and construction
methods and materials etc. Therefore, an accurate cost benefit analysis can be done for a
specific structure when exact information is available. In this paper, the cost benefit analysis of
increase of concrete strength will be presented. To be more specific, increase of concrete
strength refers to upgrade concrete from C20 to C25, and the other parameters except concrete
cover change from I to IIa accordingly.
2 25
The cost of repair or replacement of cast in-situ concrete slab is about $28/m
. Moreover,
user losses and other user disruption costs are site and structure specific, but for sheltered
components such cost are often much greater than direct repair, replacement and maintenance
costs. In this paper, the indirect cost is assumed as double as the direct cost. Therefore, the cost
2
of damage is about $84/m . According to budget quota of construction engineering of the
26
province Yunnan (where Kunming is the capital), the extra cost of using C25 instead of C20 for
2
construction of a 100 mm cast in-situ concrete slab is about $0.53/m . All prices listed above are
at 2010 prices. The discount rate is assumed to be 4%.
6.4 Results
To demonstrate the spatially-distributed carbonation induced corrosion progress on a twodimensional surface, the carbonation depth, time to corrosion initiation Ti, time to first cracking
T1st, and time to severe corrosion damage Tsp of each element are calculated. For details, see
2
reference . In this paper, only the mean proportion of surface corrosion damage for all emission
scenarios and expected net present value are presented.
Figure 2 presents the mean proportion of surface corrosion damage for RC slabs in Kunming
for durability design class I under all emission scenarios. The proportion of surface corrosion
damage for cast in-situ sheltered RC slabs in Kunming is about 17% under RCP 8.5 emission
scenario. Climate change may cause more severe corrosion damage. Compared to the reference
year 2010 emission scenario, RCP 8.5 and RCP 4.5 emission scenarios can cause extent of
damage to increase by 6.1% and 3.8% for cast in-situ sheltered RC slabs in Kunming,
respectively. In practical terms, this is equivalent to expecting that up to an additional 6% of all
concrete surfaces by 2100 will be damaged and in need of maintenance or repair, because of a
501
changing climate. Climate change impacts will vary widely with location, environmental exposure
and material design, for example, the additional mean corrosion damage caused by climate
2,27
change for RC slabs in Xiamen (China) can be as high as 20%
. Previous non-spatial results of
the mean proportion of surface corrosion damage for cast in-situ sheltered RC slabs in Kunming
2
are 25% , while the present spatial modelling predicts 17%. The differences are mainly due to
two reasons. The first one is the RH effects on corrosion rate. The newly introduced corrosion
rate model which considered not only temperature but also RH effects on corrosion rate reduces
the corrosion damage risks. On the other hand, this modelling introduced an additional random
variable: binding capacity a. The proportion of surface corrosion damage for cast in-situ sheltered
RC slabs in Kunming is about ten times higher than those in Australian city Sydney due to lower
28
durability requirements .
Mean d
crack
(t) (%)
20
RCP 8.5
RCP 4.5
Year 2010
15
10
0
2000
2020
2040
2060
2080
2100
Year
Figure 2: Mean proportion of surface corrosion damage for cast in-situ sheltered slabs in
Kunming under RCP 8.5, RCP 4.5 and Year 2010 emission scenarios.
Figure 3 shows the histograms of proportion of surface corrosion damage for cast in-situ
sheltered RC slabs in Kunming at 2100 under RCP 4.5. It can be seen that f dcrack(dcrack,t) is highly
non-Gaussian. The likelihood of no or little damage is significantly high, but it will decrease with
time. After 90 years (2100), the probability of significant damage is still low. The histograms of
proportion of surface corrosion damage for other type of slabs and other emission scenarios
28
show similar trends .
0.33
Probability
0.27
0.20
0.13
0.07
0
0
20
40
60
80
100
(t) (%)
crack
Figure 3: Simulation histogram of proportion of surface corrosion damage for cast in-situ
sheltered RC slabs in Kunming at 2100, under RCP 4.5 emission scenario.
Higher grade of concrete can slow down the penetration of CO 2 due to reduced diffusivity. The
simulation results show that the mean extent of severe corrosion damage is reduced from 17%
for C20 concrete to 14% for C25 concrete under RCP 8.5 emission scenario. The expected cost
2
2
of damage given by Eqn. (8) for C20 and C25 concrete slabs is $0.99/m and $0.86/m by 2100,
2
respectively. Therefore, benefit of increasing concrete strength is $0.13/m which is lower than
2
cost of adaptation $0.53/m . In other words, the NPV of increasing concrete strength is lower than
0, so this adaptation is not cost effective. However, if discount rate is 2%, then the mean benefit
2
becomes $0.71/m , and there is a 42.4% possibility that NPV is greater than 0 by 2100.
502
CONCLUSIONS
The paper has described a spatial time-dependent reliability analysis of the carbonation
induced corrosion deterioration of RC slabs under a changing climate. The spatial random fields
of concrete cover, concrete strength, CO 2 diffusion coefficient and binding capacity are included
whilst other material and corrosion parameters are treated as dependent spatial or random
variables. Time-dependent CO2, temperature and RH effects on carbonation depth and corrosion
rates are included. The results from the spatial time-dependent reliability analysis were presented
in terms of likelihood and extent of surface corrosion damage, for the Chinese city Kunming, as
well as different durability requirements, exposure conditions, emission scenarios and
construction methods. It was found that a changing climate can cause the extent of damage to
increase by up to 6% for RC infrastructure in Kunming. However, if an adaptation strategy such
as reduced concrete diffusivity by increasing concrete strength grade is adopted, then about 3%
of surface corrosion damage can be avoided. A preliminary cost benefit analysis of adaptation
strategy shows that there is a 42.4% possibility that benefit will be greater than cost. However,
the results are highly sensitive to discount rate. The findings can be used to develop climate
adaptation measures in the design stage, as well as a cost benefit analysis of climate adaptation
measures, which provide insights into this problem for policy makers and society.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors acknowledge the World Climate Research Programs Working Group on Coupled
Modelling, which is responsible for CMIP, and we thank the climate modelling groups (listed in
Figure 1 of this paper) for producing and making available their model outputs. For CMIP, the US
Department of Energys Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison provided
coordinating support and led the development of software infrastructure in partnership with the
Global Organization for Earth System Science Portals. The authors express their appreciation to
Xiaoming Wang and Stacey Dravitzki of CSIRO for providing climate data for Chinese cities.
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intergovernmental panel in climate change, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK (2007).
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[17] E. Bastidas-Arteaga and M.G. Stewart, Probabilistic cost-benefit analysis of climate change
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504
th
NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF PROGRESSIVE COLLAPSE OF

LIGHT STEEL FRAME STRUCTURE UNDER FIRE AND BLAST
Baoxin Qi*, Shi Yan, Xuelei Jiang and Wenxin Zhang
*
School of Civil Engineering, Shenyang Jianzhu University

9 Hunnan East Rd., Hunnan New District, Shenyang, Liaoning 110168, China
e-mail: <qibaoxin2005@163.com> webpage: http://tm.sjzu.edu.cn/info/1125/2350.htm
Keywords: light steel frame structure, progressive collapse, fire and blast, scaled
distance, evaluation level.
Abstract. Numerical simulation analysis for collapsing process and mechanism of

light steel frame structures under the combined effects of fire and explosion is
performed in this paper. First of all, a new steel constitutive model considering fire
(high temperature softening effect) and blast (strain rate effect) is established. On
the basis of the traditional Johnson-Cook model and the Perzyna model, the
relationship between strain and scaled distance as well as the EOUROCODE3
standard heating curve taking into account the temperature effect parameters is
introduced, and a modified Johnson-Cook constitutive model is established. Then,
the influence of considering the scaled distance is introduced in order to more
effectively describe the destruction and collapse phenomena of light steel frame
structures. Some conclusions are obtained based on the numerical analysis that
the destruction will be serious and even progressively collapse with decreasing of
the temperature of the light steel column for the same scaled distance under the
combined effects of fire and blast; the damage will be serious with decreasing of
the scaled distance of the light steel column under the same temperature under
the combined effects of fire and blast; in the case of the combined effects of fire
and blast happening in the side-spans, the partial progressive collapse occurs as
the scaled distance is less than or equal to 1.28; in the case of the combined
effects of fire and blast happening in the mid-span, the collapse of the overall
continuity occurs as the scaled distance is less than 0.8; six kinds of damages
which are no damage, minor damage, moderate damage, severe damage, critical
collapse, and progressive collapse.
1
INTRODUCTION
Light steel structure is a new kind of steel structures, and it has been developed and applied in
industrial, residential and public buildings. However, there is insufficient of the light steel structure with
the disadvantage of small lateral stiffness, weak fire resistance performance. It can be seen, fire and
______________________________
School of Civil Engineering, Shenyang Jianzhu University, China.
State Key Laboratory of Explosion Science and Technology, Beijing University of Technology, China.
Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Environmental Impact and Structural Safety in Engineering, China University of
Mining & Technology, China.
505
Qi Baoxin, Yan Shi, Jiang Xuelei and Zhang Wenxin
blast often occur in combination, therefore, it is significance of researching the progressive collapse of
building structures under fire and blast.
1, 2
In abroad research field, Izzuddin et al. first attempted to take blast and fire into account at the
same time. They made use of adaptive mesh finite element analysis software to develop a
3-6
comprehensive analysis of the steel frame under the fire and blast loading. Liew performed an
implicit dynamic analysis using ABAQUS software on a two-dimensional steel framework under the
combined effects of the blast and fire. They found that the cause of the collapse of the steel frame
7
structure was due to the failure of the key pillar of under fire. In domestic research field, Li took a
numerical analysis, using ABAQUS finite element analysis software and considering the influence of
the high strain rate effect on the material cumulative damage, on the dynamic response and failure
modes of both a steel column and a steel plane frame under blast loadings according to typical blast
8
overpressure curve in the case of the diffusion limited gas. Qian studied the dynamic effect resulted
from the initial damage of the structure during progressive collapse, and the lumped plastic hinge
model and the instantaneously applied load method were adopted to perform the elastoplastic
dynamic response analysis of a multi-story plane steel frame and a multi-story spatial steel frame
9
corresponding to various demand capacity ratios (DCR) respectively. Ma studied the fire assistance
performance of steel structures by numerical simulation method after shocking loads, and the study
showed that an increase in fire protection through appropriate thickness can effectively control the
internal temperature of the steel components, so that the critical temperature can effectively increase
10
structural fire assistance. Fang studied the resistance fire limit problem under the combined effect of
11
fire and blast, proposed that the blast loads will reduce the resistance fire of beams. He also used
ABAQUS software on the deformation and failure characteristics of steel columns under the combined
effects of fire after the blast, results showed that the blast reduced the refractory limit of steel columns.
12
Xu used ANSYS software on reasonable failure mode of steel beams in separate fire, separate blast
and fire and blast, discussed influences of the different rotational constraint, axial constraint, load ratio
and high span ratio of several parameters effects of interaction of steel beams under fire and blast.
13
Tan applied ABAQUS finite element software for numerical simulation analysis to determine the
failure criterion of steel beams and portal frame, and discussed the impact of temperature on the P-I
curve, and pulse peak load impact on Tcr-I curve.
In recent years, light steel structures are widely used in the construction of public buildings,
residential buildings, and industrial warehouses and so on. However, there are few researches in this
area, whitch reaearch on the mechanism of light steel frame structure collapsed under fire and blast.
Through the establishment of a new steel constitutive relation of considering the thermal effect and
high-speed strain rate effect, damage assessment methods to establish the role of the light steel
frame structure under fire and blast is established for the research of the collapse process the light
frame structure.
2
CONSTITUTIVE RELATION MODEL OF STEEL UNDER FIRE AND BLAST
2.1 Relationship between strain rate and scaled distance

The strain rate is a reflection of the physical performance of material deformation speed; the strain
rate can be derived by Equation 1.
& = ( t + t - t ) / t
where t is the strain at time t;
(1)
t + t is the strain at time t + t ; & is the strain rate at time
t + t ; the traditional method for determining the strain rate is showed as Equation 2.
v0
l0
(2)
where v0 is the impact velocity; l0 is the initial length of the component.

Blast may mainly cause injury between the quality of explosives and the target distance of
explosive point. Therefore, the scholars believe that the scaled distance can be used to effectively
evaluate the blast shock load. The scaled distance can be derived by Equation 3.
506
z=
R
3
w
(3)
where R is the standoff distance of blast; w is the weight of the explosive.

Strain rate response of light steel columns under the twelve different kinds of scaled distances can
be calculated through numerical simulation method, and the different parts of the strain rate values for
the top, mid-span and bottom of the column can be extracted. For a greater safety margin for the
results, this paper takes the maximum strain rate in response.
After data fitting through practical software ORIGIN8.0, the proportion of the relationship between
distance and strain rate can be expressed by Equation 4.
&( z ) = 1241 exp ( 2 .065 z )
(4)
2.2 Relationship between temperature and ignition time

For an actual process of fire, the increase of indoor temperature has a great of randomness. In
order to accurately describe the situation temperature development with time, the standard heating
14
curve recommended by ISO834 was used as follows
Tg (t ) = 345 log10 (8t + 1)
(5)
where t is time from the beginning to end of fire; the unit is mm.
2.3 A modified J-C constitutive model
Based on JC model and Persyna model, an improved constitutive model combined with the results
of this paper which the relationship between the scaled distance and strain rate, and the relationship
between time and temperature are taken into account is established in this paper. The modified model
is showed in Equation 6.

N
1 + ln( &(Z )) 1 - (T *(t ))m
y = 0 + B N
(6)
N
&0
K +
where
y is
the yield strength after fire and blast effects;
is the initial yield strength; is the
strain; B, n, K are the strain hardening coefficients, respectively; m is temperature coefficient of

softening; &(Z ) is the strain rate under different scaled distance; &0 is the reference stain rate, in
( )*
this paper &0 =0.0001s-1; T t
is the dimensionless temperature, determined by Equation 7.
T (t ) =
*
Tg (t ) Tr
Tm
(7)
Tr
where Tr is the room temperature; Tm is the material melting temperature; Tg(t) is different time
temperature, determined by Equation 5.
Tanking parameters of Q235-B steel as an example, the modified J-C constitutive model can be
expressed by Equation 8.

&
1.686
1 + ln((Z)) 1 - (T *(t )) 0.02
y = 0 + 35677.019
1.686
1.686
&0
0.029
+
(8)
THE FINITE ELEMENT MODEL OF LIGHT STEEL FRAME STRUCTURE
3.1 Spatial finite element model of light steel frame structure

The plane layout of the frame structure is shown in Figure 1, in which, the distance between
columns are 6mx8m, and the story height is 3.6m; The dimensions of the light steel column and beam
are showed in Table 1.
3
The steel grade is Q235-B with the density of 7.8kg/m . The modified J-C constitutive model is
used by changing the parameter of the Cowper-Symonds model of the ANSYS/LS-DYNA finite
element software to realize the influence of the high temperature softening and high strain rate on the
507
yield stress and elastic modulus. In order to simplify the calculation and save the computational time,
the Beam 163 element is used for the steel column, girder and beam, respectively. Frame nodes are
connected by a common node, and fixed to the foundation at the bottom of column. As Figure 2
shown, the finite element software ANSYS/LS-DYNA is used to establish four layers of light steel
frame structure model.
Component type
Serial number
BZ
ZZ
BL
ZL
HL
Frame column
Frame beam
Sectional dimension/mm
4003001216
5003001216
3002001014
3502001216
2502001014
Table 1: Section sizes of columns and beams

Based on the four-story of light steel frame structure, the loading are divided into two conditions:
one condition is that fire and blast occurred in the side spans; the other condition is that fire and blast
occurred in the mid-span. For the two different cases, the numerical simulation analysis of steel frame
collapse and the damage degrees are performed. As shown in Figure 2, the isothermal temperature
field is generated after exposure to fire, and the blast loadings are applied in the middle of building
and the simulation is performed.
3.2 Spatial steel frame calculation assumption
As simulating the light steel frame structure under fire and blast, the following basic assumptions
are made.
(1) For the light steel frame structure, the fire is happening in one room and the thermal effects are
considered for the element related to the room; for each cross section of the element, the same
temperatures are supposed.
(2) The light steel frame structure is considering the local fire and blast effect, and the other part is
passively vibrating.
As shown in Figure 3, the blast load is applied at the given position.
Figure 1: Plane layout of the light steel frame

structure
Condition I
Figure 2: Finite element model of the

light steel frame structure
Condition II
Figure 3. Calculation cases of the light steel structure under fire and blast
508
The blast happened in an instant, the action time is only a millisecond level, the air blast wave
propagation in the form of a spherical wave propagation, due to the fire and blast occurred inside the
building structure, so the role of blast loading in light steel columns, primary beam, secondary beam
simplify the uniform distribution of the column, pillar, secondary beams welcome burst surface.
3.3 Fire loading method
The proposed steel constitutive model expressed as Equation 8 considering softening and strain
rate effect is used for the numerical simulation.
The yield strengths of steel under different temperature conditions are calculated and the results
are shown in Table 2. According to the European standard, the modulus of elasticity under high
temperature may reduce and express by the reduction coefficient. The calculated modulus of elasticity
of steel under different temperature conditions is shown in Table 3.
Temperature/
fy,T/MPa
200
388
300
306
500
194
600
156
700
101
Table 2: Steel strength values under high temperatures

Temperature/
ET/MPa
200
189
300
168
500
126
600
0.065
700
0.027
Table 3: Modulus of elasticity of steel under high temperatures in EUROCCODE3

3.4 Blast loading method
The time curve of blast loading is calculated by the finite element software ANSYS/LS-DYNA, in
order to quantify the effect of blast loading, the introduction of scaled distance z, expressed as
Equation 3. According to the conditions, numerical simulation of the blast load-history time curve
when the scaled distances were 2.11,1.67,1.46,1.33,1.28,1.23, 0.98, 0.95, 0.92, 0.90, 0.87, 0.85, 0.84,
0.80.
The scaled distance z is calculated, used numerical simulation method. Respectively, blast load
curve is calculated by finite element AYSYS/LS-DYNA software, when the scaled distance are
2.11,1.67,1.46,1.33,1.28,1.23, 0.98, 0.95, 0.92, 0.90, 0.87, 0.85, 0.84, 0.80. According to the
condition I and condition II as shown in Figure 3, the blast load curve of light steel frame column and
beam in different scaled distances can be obtained.
4 ANALYSES ON DAMAGE AND COLLAPSE OF THE LISHT STEEL FRAME STRUCTURE
UNDER FIRE AND BLAST
In order to obtain the failure modes of light steel frame structure of side span in the action under
fire and blast. Analysis of temperature field in region affected by blast load with the columns (BZ (1-3),
ZZ (1-3)), main beam, secondary beam (BL (1-2), HL (1-3), ZL (1-3)) internal forces of change
process, member forces tension is positive. The position of member is shown in Figure 1.
4.1 Condition I describes damage and collapse analysis on the light steel frame structure
When z=1.46 and temperature is 200 , fire and blast occurred, the failure mode of steel frame
structure is shown in Figure 4, cross border bottom column and two column are plastically deformed.
The steel column BZ(2) breaks from the connection point between the edge beams and longitudinal
beam. Side column BZ (1), BZ (3) bears internal force passed by light steel frame structure after
removing the steel column BZ(2).
When z=1.33 and temperature is 200, fire explosion occurred, as shown in Figure 5, steel frame
structure crosses border bottom frame node, finding local cracking and damaged. Beam ZL (1), HL (3),
ZL (3), ZL (2) are bending and damaged seriously. BL (1) and B (2) plastically deform centered on the
bottom column BZ (2) along the X direction. Across the floor while column BZ (1), the beam-column
joints of the BZ (3) bottom are pulled by the underlying beam ZL (1), ZL (3), BL (1), BL (2) and
produce plastic hinge at the top of the column.
509
Figure 4: The axial stress distribution of

light steel structures (z=1.46, temperature
is 200)
Figure 5: The axial stress distribution of

light steel structures (z=1.33, temperature
is 200)
4.2 Assessment level of the light steel structure under fire and blast
As Figure 6 (a) ~ (c) shown, it describes the light steel frame structure destructs and collapses
because of fire blast, when z is 1.33 and the temperature is 700 . Firstly, under the blast load, the
joints point between the bottom side span column BZ (3) and beam BL(1)BL(2) tears. Secondly,
under the blast load, cross border bottom side column BZ (1), BZ (2) topples, causing the beam
column node tearing. That makes bottom side column of the light steel frame structure removed.
Finally since the bottom side span does not have the carrying capacity; it will make light steel
structure collapse along the side span.
As Figure 6 (d) ~ (f) shown, it describes damaged and collapsing process of the light steel frame
structure under fire blast when the z is1.28 and the temperature is 200 . Under the blast load, firstly
the joints point between the bottom side span column BZ(1)BZ(2)BZ(3) and beam BL(1)BL(2)
tears. Secondly, as side span two storey side column BZ (1), BZ (2), BZ (3) column are pulled by the
joints point between bottom side beam BL (1), BL (2)and stringer ZL(1)ZL(2)ZL(3), two layers
side column overturns, which makes two layers side column removed . That causes three layers
column bottom of light steel frame structure doesnt have load-bearing elements. Finally that causes
the three floor and four floor of the light steel structure, along the side span partially collapse.
(a) The axial stress distribution of light

steel structures (z=1.33, temperature is
700, time is 0.119s)
(b) The axial stress distribution of light

700, time is 0.299s)
510
(c) The axial stress distribution of light

700, time is3s)
(d) The axial stress distribution of light

200, time is 0.119s)
(e) The axial stress distribution of light

200, time is0.299s)
(f) The axial stress distribution of light

200, time is 3s)
Figure 6: The axial stress distribution of light steel structures
Scaled distance z
z>1.46
z=1.46
z=1.33
z 1.28
When the blast temperature/

200~700
200-~700
200~600
700
200~700
Degree of injury
Minor damage
Moderate damage
Severe damage
The partial progressive collapse
The partial progressive collapse
Table 4: Damage of the light steel frame structure under fire and blast (Condition I)
Through the simulation numerical analysis on damaging and collapsing process of edge across the
bottom of light steel frame structure under the effect of fire blast, the proportion of the distance is the
key factor to affect light steel frame structure under fire blast, as shown in Table 4. After a fire, the
light steel frame structure within forms the temperature field with a certain temperature. Blast in such
temperature field will cause the beam - columns near by to be under the effect of blast loads. From
the above analysis, collapsed process of the light steel frame structure under the effect of fire blast is:
511
firstly, secondary beam and girder connection point fault caused the floor crushing destruction.
Secondly, the column and beam column connection point fracture, finally removed from the overall
light steel frame, leads to the redistribution of steel frame structure internal force. Finally, because the
bottom column load capacity weakens, it causes the collapse of steel frame structure. Therefore,
based on the numerical simulation results, the main reason for the collapse of the light steel frame
structure is that The underlying string bends, shears and deforms under explosive load. Light steel
column and beam connection point shears and cracks under explosive load, which leads to the loss of
carrying the upper structure capacity of steel column.
4.2 Condition II describes damage and collapse analysis on the light steel frame structure
In order to obtain failure modes of the steel frame structure under the role of fire blast, analysis the
changes of internal forces of (ZZ (1-6)), girder, secondary beam (ZL (4-6), HL (1, 2), HL (4-6))
affected by the blast load within the temperature field. Internal forces of which rod is pulled is positive.
Component position is shown in Figure 1. Because the fire blast area is in the middle of light steel
frame structure, light steel frame structure and components internal force are symmetric distribution.
Therefore, considering the light steel column and beam mechanical performance, we only need to
consider the load bearing capacity of symmetric side Column, beam etc. component.
(a) The axial stress distribution of light

200, time is 0.059s)
(b) The axial stress distribution of light

steel structures (z=0.85, temperature is 200
, time is 0.179s)
(c) The axial stress distribution of light

200, time is 3s)
Figure 7: The axial stress distribution of light steel structure
As Figure 7 shown, it is damaging and collapsing process of the light steel frame structure under
the action of fire blast when z is 0.85 and the temperature is 200 . When the temperature is 200 ,
512
blast takes place. Its loads impact on the light steel frame structure, as shown in Figure 1. In condition
II, fire blast effect area is in the red frame area of light steel frame structure. ZZ(2)ZZ(5) are affected
by combination of fire and blast load. ZZ(1)ZZ(3)ZZ(4)ZZ(6)ZL(4-6)HL(1,2)HL(4-6) are
affected by blast shock loading. First of all, under the action of the fire blast, the joint between light
steel frames beam ZL (6) and beam-column shears and cracks. Joint of ZL (6) and HL(4) shears and
cracks. Joint of ZL(4)ZL(5) , Cross boundary pillar and beam shears and cracks. ZZ(2)ZZ(5) Mid
span bends and is damaged and has severe plastic deformation. Secondly, at the top and bottom of
ZZ (2), ZZ (5) light steel frame column cracks under the action of shear force. The bottom column ZZ
(2), ZZ (5) is completely damaged. That causes light steel frame structure across space progressively
collapses as shown in Figure 7 (b), 7 (c).
As shown in Figure 8, when the temperature is 400 , under the condition of different proportion
on the distance z, for the light steel frame column in the area of fire explosion , when it is midspan
displacement, it is shown as curve. The smaller relative distance under effects of fire explosion is, the
greater midspan displacement of light steel frame column is. When the temperature is 400 and
ratio distance is z=0.95, midspan displacement of light steel frame column reaches the maximum of
0.345m. Displacement and deformation of steel column ZZ (2) to opposite direction of blast reaches
the maximum 0.797 m. That means light steel column is badly damaged and loses bearing capacity.
Thus, when the temperature is 400 and ratio distance is z 0.98, the light steel column under
effect of fire explosion will produce plastic deformation, but has a certain bearing capacity. When
Proportional distance is z 0.95, light steel column suffers serious damage and loses bearing
capacity.
Figure 8: Mid-span displacement curves

of the light steel frame structure at
different relative distances under fire
and explosion (temperature is 400)
Through numerical simulation for light steel frame structure across the bottom of the combined
effects of fires and blasts in the destruction and collapse process analysis , can be drawn from the
impact of the relative degree under the combined effects of fire and blast destroyed the light steel
frame structure , as shown in Table 5.
Scaled distance z
z=2.11
1.87 z<1.33
z=1.33
z=1.23
0.8<z 0.98
z=0.8
0.8<z<0.95
z=0.95
z<0.8
When the blast temperature/

200~700
200-~500
600~700
200~700
200400
500~600
700
200~700
700
200~700
Degree of injury
No damage
Minor damage
Moderate damage
Moderate damage
Severe damage
On the verge of collapse
Progressive collapse
Severe damage
On the verge of collapse
Progressive collapse
Table 5: Damage of the light steel frame structure under fire and blast (Condition II)
513
CONCLUSIONS
Acrroding to the above, this paper used numerical simulation of progressvie colappse of light steel
frame structure under fire and blast, exploring at different temperatures , damage assessment under
blast loading level of light steel frame structure , draw the following main in conclusion:
(1) Some conclusions are obtained based on the numerical analysis that the destruction will be
serious and even progressively collapse with decreasing of the temperature of the light steel column
for the same scaled distance under the combined effects of fire and blast.
(2)The damage will be serious with decreasing of the scaled distance of the light steel column
under the same temperature under the combined effects of fire an blast;
(3) In the case of the combined effects of fire and blast happening in the side-spans, the partial
progressive collapse occurs as the scaled distance is less than or equal to 1.28;
(4) In the case of the combined effects of fire and blast happening in the mid-span, the collapse of
the overall continuity occurs as the scaled distance is less than 0.8;
(5) Six kinds of damages which are no damage, minor damage, moderate damage, severe
damage, critical collapse, and progressive collapse.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was supported in part by the State Key Laboratory of Explosion Science and
Technology under Grant No. KFJJ10-14M, the Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Environmental Impact and
Structural Safety under Grant No. JSKL2011YB01, and Liaoning Province Doctor Startup Foundation
under Grant No. ******.
REFERENCES
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Research, , 53(1): 87-111 (2000).
[2] Song L, Izzuddin B A, Elnashai A S. Integrated adaptive environment for fire and explosion
analysis of steel frames. part I: analytical models, Journal of Constructional Steel Research,
53(1): 63-85 (2000).
[3] Liew J Y R, Chen H. Direct analysis for performance-based design of steel and composite
structures, Progr. Struct. Engrg. Mater., 6(4): 213-228 (2004).
[4] Liew J Y R, Chen H. Explosion and fire analysis of steel frames using fiber element approach,
Journal of structural engineering, 130(7): 991-1000 (2004).
[5] Chen H, Liew J Y R. Explosion and fire analysis of steel frames using mixed element approach
Journal of structural engineering, 131(6): 606-616 (2005).
[6] Liew J Y R. Survivability of steel frame structures subject to blast and fire J. Constr. Steel Res.,
64: 854-866 (2008).
[7] Z. X. Li, Z. X. Liu, Y. Ding. Dynamic responses and failure modes of steel structures under blast
loading, J. Building structures. 29(n4): 106-111 (2008).
[8] J. R. Qian, X. B. Hu. Dynamic effect analysis of progressive collapse of multi-story steel frames, J.
Earthquake engneering and engeering vbration. 28(n2), 8-14 (2008).
[9] Ma Chenjie. The research of the fire resistance of steel frames after subjecting to impact loads,
Dissertation for the Master Degree of Engineering of Harbin Institute of Techonoly, (2006).
[10] Fang Qin, Zhao Jiankui, Chen Li. (2010). Numerical simulation of fire resistance of steel beams
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[11] Fang Qin, Zhao Jiankui, Chen Li, Li Dapeng. (2013). Numerical simulation of defor-mation and
failure of steel columns subjected to blast and fire. Journal of PLA University of Science and
Technology (Natural Science Edition), 14(4), 398-403.
[12] Xu Wenjing. Research on response of restricted steel beam under elevated temperature and
blast loading, Dissertation Submitted to Shanghai Jiao Tong University for the Degree of Maste
(2013).
[13] Tan Yinghua. Dynamic responses of steel structures under blast and fire loading, Dissertation
Submitted to Shandong Jianzhu University for Degree of Master, (2013).
[14] ISO834. Fire-resistance tests elements of building construction, International Standard ISO834,
Geneva, (1975).
514
th
TESTING APPARATUS FOR THE SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL

PRESSURE MEASUREMENTS FROM NEAR-FIELD FREE AIR
EXPLOSIONS
S. E. Rigby*, A. Tyas*, S. D. Clarke*, S. D. Fay*, J. A. Warren*, I. Elgy and M. Gant
*
University of Sheffield, Department of Civil & Structural Engineering, Sir Frederick

Mappin Building, Mappin Street, Sheffield, S1 3JD, UK
e-mail: <sam.rigby@shef.ac.uk> webpage: www.cmd.shef.ac.uk
Keywords: Blast, Dispersion Correction, Experiment, Hopkinson Pressure Bar, NearField
Abstract. Accurate quantification of the loading on a structure resulting from the

impingement of a blast wave following a high explosive detonation is crucial if
analysts are to be able to determine the viability of protective structures. This is of
particular importance in the case of near-field explosive detonations, where the
magnitude of the loading is extremely high, and highly spatially non-uniform over
the face of the target. This loading can result in localised failure of structural
targets due to brisance or rear-face spalling (predominantly load magnitude
related phenomena) or shear failure due to spatially non-uniform impulse take-up
of the target (predominantly impulse related phenomenon). However, no clear
and simple guidance exists on how to define the magnitude and spatial variation
of very near-field blast loading. Whilst it is possible to use numerical modelling
approaches to simulate the detonation, air-shock propagation and shock-structure
interaction, little definitive, well controlled experimental data exists to validate
such models.
This paper presents an experimental methodology that has been developed in
part to enable such experimental data to be gathered. The experimental rig
comprises an array of Hopkinson Pressure Bars, fitted through holes in a target,
with the loaded faces of the bars flush with the target face. Thus, the bars are
exposed to the normally or obliquely reflected shocks from the impingement of the
blast wave with the target. Pressure-time recordings are presented along with
associated Arbitary Langrangian Eulerian modelling using the LS-DYNA explicit
numerical code. A new finite element based method is introduced which allows for
correction of the effects of dispersion of the propagating waves in the pressure
bars, enabling accurate characterisation of the peak pressures and impulses from
these loadings.
______________________________
Blastech Ltd., The BioIncubator, 40 Leavygreave Road, Sheffield, S3 7RD, UK
Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), Porton Down, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP4 0JQ, UK.
515
S. E. Rigby, A. Tyas, S. D. Clarke, S. D. Fay, J. A. Warren, I. Elgy and M. Gant
INTRODUCTION
When a mass of explosive material detonates it releases a vast amount of energy into the
surrounding air. The compressible nature of air causes it to shock up as it is displaced away from the
[1]
source, forming a blast wave a near-discontinuous increase in pressure, density and energy . This
blast wave can impart stresses that may exceed material strength by several orders of magnitude,
thus it is vital for the analyst to be able to accurately quantify the blast load in order to determine the
viability of protective structures.
If the explosive is located a large distance from the target, the blast wave will arrive relatively
uniformly across the loaded face and impart an effectively spatially uniform, temporally decaying
pressure, as in Figure 1(a). Providing there are no obstructions between the target and explosive, and
that the reflecting surface is orthogonal to the direction of travel of the blast wave with effectively
[2]
infinite lateral dimensions, then the semi-empirical blast predictions of Kingery and Bulmash can be
used to characterise the form of the blast load. These semi-empirical relationships are incorporated
[3]
[4]
[5]
into the UFC-3-340-02 design manual , the ConWep computer code and the *LOAD_BLAST module
of LS-DYNA, and have been shown to match closely controlled experimental tests with remarkable
[68]
accuracy .
However, if the blast is located close to the target, the interaction between blast wave and
structure and hence the imparted load is more complex near-field loads are typically characterised
by extremely high magnitude, highly spatial and temporally non-uniform loads, as in Figure 1(b). This
loading can result in localised failure of structural targets due to brisance or rear-face spalling
(predominantly load magnitude related phenomena) or shear failure due to spatially non-uniform
impulse take-up of the target (predominantly impulse related phenomenon). It has been reported that
[9]
the Kingery and Bulmash (KB) semi-empirical relationships are less accurate in the near-field and
no clear and simple guidance exists on how to define the magnitude and spatial variation of very
near-field blast loading.
Shock front
Shock front
Target
Target
Arrival time
Arrival time
Pressure and impulse
Pressure and impulse
Distance from centre
Distance from centre
(a) Far-field
(b) Near-field
Figure 1: Blast interaction diagram and loading parameters associated with (a) far-field and (b)
near-field blast loading
Whilst it is possible to use numerical modelling approaches to simulate the detonation, air-shock
propagation and shock-structure interaction, little definitive, well controlled experimental data exists to
validate such models. Owing to the extremely onerous conditions near to the source of the explosion,
close-in experimental blast parameter measurements are typically conducted by measuring the
residual momentum and hence inferring the imparted impulse of a small, rigid metal plug
[10,11]
embedded within a larger target surface
. The impulse plug method has been shown to reduce
test-to-test scatter and gives an indication of the imparted load at discrete points on the target. What
the method does not offer, however, is sufficient temporal resolution of the applied blast pressure,
which is a necessary requirement in order to discern the mechanism of near-field loading scenarios
and to provide data for stringent validation of numerical modelling approaches.
This paper presents the results from experiments conducted as part of a detailed test series of
spatial and temporal measurements from near-field free air explosions. The methodology and results
described herein will provide useful insights into the mechanism of loading for extremely close
detonations, and will provide data to both validate numerical modelling and offer more complete
guidance for predicting the blast load a target will be subjected to. The results are presented along
with associated Arbitary Langrangian Eulerian (ALE) modelling using the LS-DYNA explicit numerical
code.
516
EXPERIMENTAL METHOD
2.1 Rig design

An experimental methodology has been developed to capture data from extremely aggressive
[12]
blast events, such as shallow buried land mines and near-field bare explosive charges . This
necessitated the fabrication of a purpose-built testing rig. The testing rig consists of two steel fibre and
bar reinforced concrete frames spaced 1 m apart, with each frame comprising two 500 mm square
columns with a 750 mm deep, 500 mm wide concrete beam spanning between the two columns. A 50
mm thick steel acceptor plate was cast into the underside of each of the beams to allow a 1400 mm
diameter, 100 mm thick mild steel target plate to span underneath. A central 10.5 mm hole was drilled
through the thickness of the target plate with subsequent holes at 25 mm spacing (centre to centre)
parallel and perpendicular to the span of the concrete beams. The test rig is shown schematically in
Figure 2.
Hopkinson
pressure bar
array
Bar assembly receiver
Steel acceptor plate
Reinforced
concrete frame
Target plate
Stand-off
Centre of explosive
Elevation
Bar holes at
25 mm spacing
Plan
Figure 2: Schematic of the test frame

10 mm diameter, 3.25 m long mild steel Hopkinson Pressure Bars (HPBs) were inserted through
the bar holes and suspended from a receiver frame placed atop the main reaction frame such that
their ends sat flush with the target face. Perimeter-mounted strain gauges were located 250 mm from
the loaded face of the bars an axial stress pulse propagating along the length of the bar will cause a
change in strain at the perimeter as it propagates over the gauge, hence the strain gauges can be
used to measure the temporal variation of blast pressure at discrete points on the target face. Up to
20 bars can be used in any given test, located within a 100 mm radius circle. An in-house
interpolation routine enables a detailed description of the spatial variation of blast to be inferred from
[12]
the array of pressure-time readings , which vastly improves the usability of the results when
[13,14]
compared to previous trials involving a similar experimental approach
. Strain data was recorded
using a 14-Bit Digital Oscilloscope at a sample rate of 1.56 MHz, triggered via a voltage drop in a
breakwire embedded in the charge periphery to synchronise the recordings with the detonation. A
small sacrificial timber sling was hung underneath the target plate for each test to hold the charge in
position. The detonator was placed into the bottom of the charge through a hole in the timber sling, as
a preliminary study showed that this arrangement is preferential over a top-inserted detonation
because of the risk of the signal cable or breakwire coming into contact with the face of one of the
[12]
bars and contaminating the data .
517
2.2 Example results

Figure 3 shows the recorded pressure-time and impulse-time histories arising from the detonation
of a 100 g spherical PE4 charge located at a normal distance of 75 mm from the target face. For this
test, a single HPB was located directly in line with the centre of the charge (Bar 5) with four bars (Bars
1-4) located at 100 m distance away from the central bar (giving a slant distance of 125 mm and an
angle of incidence of 53). The impulse was given by numerically integrating the pressure signals with
respect to time. The time datum has been shifted such that = 0 corresponds to the arrival time of the
stress pulse at the gauge location in Bar 5.
300
5
Bar 5
Bar 4
Bar 3
Bar 2
Bar 1
200
Bar 5
Bar 4
Bar 3
Bar 2
Bar 1
4.5
4
Impulse (MPa.ms)
Pressure (MPa)
250
150
100
50
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
-50
-0.01
0
-0.01
0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1
Time after arrival (ms)
0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1
(a)
(b)
Figure 3: (a) Experimental pressure-time histories and (b) experimental impulse-time histories
3
NUMERICAL MODELLING
3.1 Model setup and far-field validation

[15]
Numerical analyses were conducted using the LS-DYNA explicit finite element (FE) software . In
this study, the explosive and surrounding air were modelled using axi-symmetric multi-material ALE
[16]
elements. The explosive was modelled using the Jones-Wilkins-Lee (JWL) equation of state
and
*MAT_HIGH_EXPLOSIVE_BURN material model (Table 1). The air was modelled using a linear polynomial
equation of state and *MAT_NULL material model.
PE4
Air
*MAT_HIGH_EXPLOSIVE_BURN
1601
8193
2.80E10
*EOS_JWL
609.77E9 12.95E9
4.50
*MAT_NULL
1.225
*EOS_LINEAR_POLYNOMIAL
0.0
0.0
0.0
1.40
0.25
9.0E9
0.0
0.4
0.4
0.0
253.4E3
Table 1: Material model and equation of state parameters for air and PE4 (SI units)
The numerical model was validated against the experimental measurements of far-field reflected
[17]
pressure acting on a rigid, semi-infinite target . This validation was conducted before the main
numerical study to give confidence that the physics are well captured in a relatively simple scenario
before the more complex issues associated with near-field loading were addressed, and also because
better quality experimental results are available in the far-field.
A 250 g hemispherical PE4 charge was detonated 4 m away from and normal to a pressure gauge
located just above ground level embedded in the exterior of a reinforced concrete bunker wall. The
518
charge was detonated on a flat, level, rigid ground slab and was assumed to behave as a
hemispherical surface burst. The detonation and initial blast wave propagation was modelled using a
radially symmetric mesh, which was then mapped on to a regular grid mesh 7.1 ms after detonation
(immediately prior to reaching the target) to allow the rigid structure to be modelled as nodal-point
constraints whilst minimising the second order advection error associated with transporting material
[18]
diagonally across elements .
Figure 4 shows experimental and numerical pressure-time and impulse time histories, along with
[4]
ConWep semi-empirical predictions for comparison. The numerical model is in excellent agreement
with both the experimentally measured and predicted blast load.
100
80
ALE
Experiment
ConWep
90
80
60
Impulse (kPa.ms)
70
Pressure (kPa)
ALE
Experiment
ConWep
70
60
50
40
30
20
50
40
30
20
10
10
0
-10
7.5
8.5
9.5
10
Time after detonation (ms)
7.5
8.5
9.5
10
(a)
(b)
Figure 4: Numerical, experimental and empirical (a) pressure-time and (b) specific impulse-time
histories for far-field loading
3.2 Numerical results
A numerical analysis was conducted again using axi-symmetric multi-material ALE elements. A
100 g spherical PE4 charge was detonated 75 mm from the target face, as per the example
experimental results, with the initial detonation and propagation represented by a radial mesh
comprising 506,800 elements with a maximum element side length of 0.3 mm. At 11 s after
detonation, information from this analysis was remapped on to a 0.25 mm x 0.075 mm grid mesh,
comprising 833,500 square elements with a 0.15 mm side length, and the blast wave was allowed to
interact with the target simulated using a rigid boundary. Figure 5 shows the numerical, experimental
and ConWep pressure-time and specific impulse-time histories for the normal (in line with the charge)
and oblique (100 mm along the target face) HPB locations. Henceforth, oblique experimental results
are only shown for Bar 2 for clearer presentation.
4
DISCUSSION & INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS
Generally the impulse is in very good agreement between numerical, experimental and ConWep
results for both normal and oblique traces, with ConWep predicting a slightly higher impulse in both
cases. What is clear, however, is that the form of the near-field blast load may not be as simple as the
exponential Friedlander decay assumed by ConWep which has been shown to be accurate for farfield loading.
In the ALE model, a secondary shock arrives almost immediately after the primary shock front,
resulting in peak reflected pressures in excess of 300 MPa. This is caused by reflection of the shock
wave off the boundary between the expanding detonating products and the shocked air and is
[13]
consistent with behaviour observed by Edwards et al. This effect may, however, be exaggerated in
the numerical model as a result of simplification of the turbulent mixing and Rayleigh-Taylor
[19]
instabilities which are known to cause non-spherical expansion of the detonation products . It is
hypothesised by the current authors that mixing at the explosive/air interface will result in lower
magnitude and longer duration reflected shock fronts caused by a gradual change in impedance
between the two products.
Another salient feature of the normally reflected ALE load, which again is not represented in the
ConWep predictions, is the temporary plateau in pressure (between 0.00 and 0.01 ms), followed by a
gradual leaking of pressure along the face of the target (0.02 ms onwards). This is the result of
519
300
5
ALE
Experiment
ConWep
ALE
Experiment
ConWep
4.5
4
200
Impulse (MPa.ms)
Pressure (MPa)
250
150
100
50
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0
-50
0.5
0
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.1
0.02
(a)
0.06
0.08
0.1
0.08
0.1
(b)
60
1
ALE
Experiment
ConWep
50
ALE
Experiment
ConWep
0.9
0.8
40
Impulse (MPa.ms)
Pressure (MPa)
0.04
30
20
10
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0
-10
0.1
0
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.1
0.02
0.04
0.06
(c)
(d)
Figure 5: Numerical, experimental and ConWep pressure-time and specific impulse-time histories for
near-field loading. (a) Normal pressure, (b) normal impulse, (c) oblique pressure, (d) oblique impulse
shocked air being trapped between the target and the detonating products before it is allowed to vent
laterally. Despite the experimental results offering valuable information in terms of total impulse
imparted to the target, it is difficult to discern any of these features from the experimental data.
As a stress pulse propagates along a cylindrical bar, Pochammer-Chree dispersion causes higher
frequency components of the signal to travel at lower velocities than lower frequency components.
The result of this is, for a signal recorded at some distance along the bar, certain frequencies will have
fallen out of sync. This can be seen clearly by the oscillatory nature of the experimentally recorded
pressure signals. Frequency domain phase-shift methods have been shown to be limited to a
[20]
bandwidth of 1250/ Hz, where is the bar radius in mm . For blast loads, the instantaneous rise to
peak pressure contains a significant high frequency content, hence existing methods of dispersion
correction may not be appropriate for this study.
Instead, a new method is introduced, based on backward dispersion of the signal using an FE
model. Consider an idealised stress pulse containing only two frequency components. If this signal
were recorded at some distance along the bar, the time by which the two signals will be out of sync
will be proportional to the distance the pulse had travelled and the relative phase velocities of the two
frequency components. If the signal was then propagated backwards along an identical HPB (i.e.
reversing of the time datum of the recorded signal), then the frequency components would fall back in
sync after travelling exactly the same distance that they had originally travelled (i.e. the distance from
the face of the bar to the strain gauge).
With reference to Figure 6, the new FE backward dispersion method proposed in this article is
implemented in the following way:
a) Take the experimental pressure-time history recorded at a distance away from the face
of the HPB
b) Reverse the time datum of the signal
520
c) Apply this as a force-time history to the end of an FE model of a HPB

d) Record the numerical pressure-time history recorded at a distance away from the face of
the HPB (it is preferential to record nodal velocities, , and calculate the magnitude of
stress, , from the expression = , where and are the HPB density and elastic
wavespeed respectively)
e) Reverse the time datum of the signal to get the FE backward dispersion corrected signal.
(c)
p
(a)
(b)
(d)
(e)
Figure 6: The process of FE backward dispersion correction

Figure 7 shows numerical, ConWep and FE backward dispersed experimental pressure-time
histories for the normal and oblique HPB locations. The HPBs were modelled with density, Youngs
1/3
modulus and Poissons ratio of 7850 kg/m , 210 GPa, and 0.3 respectively.
300
60
ALE
Experiment
ConWep
200
150
100
50
0
-50
ALE
Experiment
ConWep
50
Pressure (MPa)
Pressure (MPa)
250
40
30
20
10
0
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
-10
0.1
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.1
(a)
(b)
Figure 7: (a) Normally reflected and (b) oblique pressure-time histories with FE backward dispersion
correction applied to experimental results
It is immediately clear that this method has effectively removed a large proportion of the
oscillations in the experimental data, allowing for more accurate characterisation of peak pressures
and impulses. From the dispersion corrected normally reflected data it appears as though features
such as the double shock front (0.00 to 0.01 ms) and subsequent pressure venting (0.01 ms onwards)
are in fact genuine features which are captured by the experimental setup. For both normal and
oblique shots, it appears as though the experimental pressure-time histories are in better agreement
with the form and magnitude of the ALE results ahead of the ConWep predictions. This gives
confidence that the experimental approach is sufficient to (a) investigate the form of the near-field
blast pressure load and (b) provide data for validation of numerical modelling approaches.
5
SUMMARY
Accurate quantification of the loading on a structure resulting from the impingement of a blast
wave following a high explosive detonation is crucial if analysts are to be able to determine the
viability of protective structures. This paper presents an experimental methodology that has been
developed to gather experimental data for research into near-field blast loading and to provide data
for validation of numerical modelling approaches. The experimental rig comprises an array of
Hopkinson Pressure Bars fitted through holes in a target with the loaded faces of the bars flush with
521
the target face. Thus, the bars are exposed to the normally or obliquely reflected shocks from the
impingement of the blast wave with the target.
Pressure-time recordings are presented for a 100 g sphere of PE4 detonated at 75 mm normal
distance from the rigid target plate. Numerical analyses are conducted using LS-DYNA, and the form
of the near-field blast pressure load is discussed. A new method for dispersion correction is
introduced, which is based on sending the dispersed pulse backwards through a finite element model
of a Hopkinson Pressure Bar. The results show promise, and indicate that the experimental apparatus
can accurately capture the salient features of near-field blast loading.
REFERENCES
[1] W. E. Baker. Explosions in air. University of Texas Press, Austin, TX, USA, 1973.
[2] C. N. Kingery and G. Bulmash. Airblast parameters from TNT spherical air burst and
hemispherical surface burst. Technical Report ARBRL-TR-02555, U.S Army BRL, Aberdeen
Proving Ground, MD, USA, 1984.
[3] US Department of Defence. Structures to resist the effects of accidental explosions. US DoD,
Washington DC, USA, UFC-3-340-02, 2008.
[4] D. W. Hyde. Conventional Weapons Program (ConWep). U.S Army Waterways Experimental
Station, Vicksburg, MS, USA, 1991.
[5] G. Randers-Pehrson and K.A. Bannister. Airblast loading model for DYNA2D and DYNA3D.
Technical Report ARL-TR-1310, U.S Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground,
MD, USA, 1997.
[6] D. D. Rickman and D. W. Murrell. Development of an improved methodology for predicting
airblast pressure relief on a directly loaded wall. Journal of Pressure Vessel Technology,
129(1):195204, 2007.
[7] A. Tyas, J. Warren, T. Bennett, and S. Fay. Prediction of clearing effects in far-field blast loading
of finite targets. Shock Waves, 21(2):111119, 2011.
[8] S. E. Rigby, A. Tyas, T. Bennett, S. D. Clarke, and S. D. Fay. The negative phase of the blast
load. International Journal of Protective Structures, 5(1):120, 2014.
[9] D. Bogosian, J. Ferritto, and Y. Shi. Measuring uncertainty and conservatism in simplified blast
models. In 30th Explosives Safety Seminar, pages 126. Atlanta, GA, USA, 2002.
[10] Ewing W. O. Huffington, N. J. Reflected impulse near spherical charges. Technical Report BRLTR-2678, Ballistic Research Laboratories, MD, USA, 1985.
[11] Veldman R. L. Chen C. C. Lawrence W. Nansteel, M. W. Impulse plug measurements of blast
reflected impulse at close range. Propellants, Explosives, Pyrotechnics, 38(1):120128, 2013.
[12] S. D. Clarke, S. D. Fay, J. A. Warren, A. Tyas, S. E Rigby, and I. Elgy. A large scale
experimental approach to the measurement of spatially and temporally localised loading from the
detonation of shallow-buried explosives. Submitted for possible publication in Measurement
Science and Technology, 2014.
[13] D. H. Edwards, G. O. Thomas, A. Milne, G. Hooper, and D. Tasker. Blast wave measurements
close to explosive charges. Shock Waves, 2:237243, 1992.
[14] S. A. Mullin J. D. Walker B. L. Morris J. E. Drotleff, C. T. Vincent. Research in close-in blast
loading from high explosives. Technical Report ARL-CR-308, Army Research Laboratory, MD,
USA, 1996.
[15] J. O. Hallquist. LS-DYNA Theory Manual. Livermore Software Technology Corporation, CA,
USA, 2006.
[16] E. L. Lee, H. C. Hornig, and J. W. Kury. Adiabatic expansion of high explosive detonation
products. Technical Report TID 4500-UCRL 50422, Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, University of
California, CA, USA, 1968.
[17] S. E. Rigby, A. Tyas, and T. Bennett. Single-degree-of-freedom response of finite targets
subjected to blast loading - the influence of clearing. Engineering Structures, 45:396404, 2012.
[18] S. E. Rigby, A. Tyas, T. Bennett, S. D Fay, S. D Clarke, and J. A Warren. A numerical
investigation of blast loading and clearing on small targets. International Journal of Protective
Structures, 5(3):253-274, 2014.
[19] G. S. Doronin D. I. Matsukov A. V. Morozov, E. I. Ermolovich. Configuration of a cloud of
detonation products during expansion in air. Combustion, Explosion and Shock Waves,
27(4):500504, 1992.
[20] Tyas A and Watson A J. An investigation of frequency domain dispersion correction of pressure
bar signals. International Journal of Impact Engineering, 25(1):87101, 2001.
522
th
VALIDATION OF SEMI-EMPIRICAL BLAST PRESSURE

PREDICTIONS FOR FAR FIELD EXPLOSIONS IS THERE
INHERENT VARIABILITY IN BLAST WAVE PARAMETERS?
S. E. Rigby*, A. Tyas*, S. D. Fay*, S. D. Clarke* and J. A. Warren*
*
University of Sheffield, Department of Civil & Structural Engineering, Sir Frederick

Mappin Building, Mappin Street, Sheffield, S1 3JD, UK
e-mail: <sam.rigby@shef.ac.uk> webpage: www.cmd.shef.ac.uk
Keywords: Blast Parameters, Blast Variability, Experiment, Far-Field, Validation
Abstract. A considerable amount of scientific effort has been expended over

many decades on developing means of predicting the loading generated when a
blast wave impinges on a structure. Semi-empirical look-up predictive methods,
such as those incorporated in the UFC-3-340-02 manual, the ConWep code or
the *LOAD_BLAST module of LS-DYNA, offer a simple means for predicting the
blast loading generated in geometrically simple scenarios. However, reported test
data frequently show considerable spread and lack of repeatability, which is often
attributed to some inherent variability in the blast waves developed from
detonations, although no definitive physical interpretation has been forwarded as
to the source of such inherent variation. As such, the semi-empirical predictions
are often viewed as only ball-park or order of magnitude estimations.
This paper presents experimental measurements of reflected pressure-time
histories from a series of well-controlled small scale blast tests. Data fitting
techniques are used to obtain experimental reflected pressure and impulse values
which are compared to corresponding semi-empirical predictions. We find that it is
possible to produce reliable and highly consistent, repeatable results that match
predictions remarkably well and therefore show that existing semi-empirical blast
predictions can be used with confidence as a first-order approach for quantifying the
blast load a structure will be subjected to. Our results presented here suggest that
for small scale far-field loading in simple geometrical scenarios, test-to-test
variability can be reduced by ensuring that test parameters are tightly controlled.
1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
The pressure resulting from a high explosive detonation is characterised by an abrupt increase
in pressure above ambient conditions, , to a value of peak over-pressure, given as , for
incident (or side-on) blast waves and
, for reflected blast waves. Following this neardiscontinuous increase in pressure is a temporal decay back to ambient conditions, the duration
of which is known as the positive phase duration, . Over-expansion of the air following the
shock front causes a period of negative (below atmospheric) pressure known as the negative
______________________________
Blastech Ltd., The BioIncubator, 40 Leavygreave Road, Sheffield, S3 7RD, UK

523
S. E. Rigby, A. Tyas, S. D. Fay, S. D. Clarke and J. A. Warren
phase, with peak values of , and

, for incident and reflected waves respectively, acting
over a duration of . An ideal blast wave is shown in Figure 1, where the impulse, , is defined as
the integral of the pressure with respect to time, i.e. the area under the pressure-time curve.
p
pr
p r,max
pso
ir
iso
iso ir
p r,min
p0
t
ta
td
td
Figure 1: Idealised pressure-time profile for a blast wave

A considerable amount of scientific effort has been expended over many decades on
developing means of predicting the loading generated when a blast wave impinges on a
[1]
structure. Esparza provides some 23 references to blast trials dating back to 1946, with the
[2]
most widely known study being the 1984 compilation by Kingery and Bulmash , hereby referred
to as the KB method. This semi-empirical predictive method utilises curves fit to a compilation of
data based partly on computer analyses and partly on measurements from a number of medium
to large-scale experimental blast trials, and enables the pressure, impulse, arrival time and
1/3
duration to be predicted for values of scaled distance, , between 0.067 and 39.67 m/kg . The
scaled distance is given as = / / , where is the length from the blast source to the point
of interest (also known as the stand-off), and is the mass of explosive, expressed as an
equivalent mass of TNT.
The positive phase of the blast load is well understood, with the KB positive phase blast
parameters well-established in the current literature and widely accepted as standard practice for
[3]
predicting blast loads KB predictions are implemented into the UFC-3-340-02 manual , the
[4]
[5]
ConWep computer code and the *LOAD_BLAST module of LS-DYNA.
[6]
The positive phase of the blast load can be described by the modified Friedlander equation

=
, 1

(1)
where " is known as the waveform parameter and controls the decay of the pressure-time curve.
The KB method presents a relationship for " in terms of , however it is usually recommended that
this parameter is determined from the integral of the Friedlander equation
!

= #
$ =

,
" 1 +
"%
(2)
which, given knowledge of ', ', ()* and $, can be solved to find " for any scaled distance of
interest. Positive and negative phase blast parameters are typically presented in the form of design
[3]
[7]
charts or tabulated data . Whilst inclusion of the negative phase is important for low stiffness
systems where the characteristic response time of the structural system is long, and hence the
[8]
negative phase loading can commence before the structure has reached maximum deflection , it is
not considered in this article.
1.2 Blast parameter variability
Despite the fact that the KB predictions have been available for three decades, there is still
uncertainty in published literature as to their accuracy. Reported test data frequently show
considerable spread and lack of repeatability, with some researchers demonstrating variations in
pressure of 70-150% and variations in impulse of 50-130% for nominally similar tests when
524

[9]
compared to the KB predictions .

[10]
In a review of predictive methods, Bogosian et al.
showed that there was generally good
correlation between the KB predictions and compiled data from blast trials, but with some
[11]
considerable spread. According to Smith
it is evident that even nominally identical, wellcontrolled experiments involving explosives can produce results with a significant spread, whilst
[12]
Netherton
states it is readily observed via physical testing that the blast load experienced by a
target structure for apparently similar circumstances will not always be the same.
[13]
Borenstein
conducted a sensitivity analysis on blast loading parameters, citing random
characterization associated with the explosives as a reason for uncertainty in blast loading.
However, no compelling physical reason has been put forward for the purported inherent
variability and uncertainty in the blast load parameters. Furthermore, other researchers such as
[14]
[15]
Rickman and Murrell
and Tyas et al.
observed no such variability and demonstrated
remarkably good test-to-test repeatability and correlation between empirical data and the KB
predictions.
This presents a question, which becomes the focus of this of this article: is there inherent
variability in the parameters of blast waves from nominal identical explosive events? This
question will be investigated through experimental measurements of reflected pressure-time
histories from a series of well-controlled small scale blast tests. Data fitting techniques will be
used to obtain positive phase pressure and impulse parameters in order to discern whether it is
possible to produce reliable and highly consistent, repeatable results that match predictions
remarkably well, or if there is indeed some inherent variability in the blast waves produced from
nominally identical high explosive events.
2
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
A number of blast trials were conducted at the University of Sheffield Blast & Impact Laboratory,
Buxton, UK. as part of a wider study into the effects of angle of incidence. Hemispherical PE4
explosive charges were detonated orthogonal to a Kulite HKM 7 bar pressure gauge embedded at
ground level within the external wall of a reinforced concrete bunker. A further three pressure gauges
were embedded in the wall: two at ground level, 2 m and 3 m horizontal distances along the bunker
wall (away from the line of the centre of the explosive), and one 2 m above ground level, directly in
line with the centre of the explosive. The pressure gauges were embedded flush with the surface of
small steel plates which were affixed to the bunker wall to ensure a smooth and regular reflecting
surface. The test arrangement can be seen in Figure 2.
Pressure gauges
Charge
Breakwire
Figure 2: Pressure gauge location and general test arrangement.
The bunker formed a large, effectively rigid target such that fluid-structure-interaction effects could
[16]
be ignored . The charges were detonated on a 50 mm thick steel plate, placed on a level, flat
concrete ground slab which was swept clean after each test, enabling the detonation to be considered
525
as a hemispherical surface burst propagating over a rigid ground surface.

The experimental trials were conducted with charge masses ranging from 180 to 350 g PE4, and
with stand-offs ranging from 2 to 6 m, giving a range of scaled distances between 5.39 and 10.02
1/3
m/kg , with angles of incidence ranging between 0 and 56.3. 82 pressure-time histories were
recorded in total. Pressure was recorded using a 16-Bit Digital Oscilloscope at a sample rate of 200
kHz, triggered via a voltage drop in a breakwire embedded in the charge periphery to synchronise the
recordings with the detonation. The distance from the centre of the charge to the bunker wall was
measured for each test using a Hilti laser range meter and was triangulated against two points on the
bunker wall to ensure the charge was orthogonal to the bottom-centre pressure gauge.
3
RESULTS
3.1 Example curve fitting

An exponential Friedlander curve (equation 1), was fit to each pressure-time trace in order to
negate the effects of sensor ringing and any electrical noise which may have been recorded. The
arrival time and positive phase duration, ta and td respectively, were given by the experimental
recordings, and pr,max and b were determined from a least squares fit to the recorded data. To
prevent any early spurious sensor ringing from contaminating the trend line, only data from
~0.25td onwards was used for the curve fitting. The impulse was then determined from integrating
the fitted curve (equation 2), rather than temporally integrating the recorded pressure-time signal,
again to prevent the spurious oscillations from contaminating the results.
70
70
p
= 61.1 kPa
r,max
t = 8.38 ms
a
t = 2.49 ms
60
50
Pressure (kPa)
Pressure (kPa)
50
b = 0.763
i = 59.9 kPa.ms
40
30
20
30
20
10
0
8
8.5
9.5
10
10.5
-10
11
b = 0.771
i = 60.0 kPa.ms
40
10
-10
p
= 61.2 kPa
r,max
t = 8.40 ms
a
t = 2.47 ms
60
8.5
(a)
10.5
11
70
p
= 60.1 kPa
r,max
t = 8.22 ms
a
td = 2.48 ms
50
50
b = 0.723
i = 59.5 kPa.ms
40
30
20
30
20
10
0
8.5
9.5
10
10.5
-10
11
b = 0.721
i = 60.4 kPa.ms
40
10
p
= 58.4 kPa
r,max
t = 8.23 ms
a
td = 2.59 ms
60
Pressure (kPa)
60
Pressure (kPa)
10
(b)
70
-10
9.5
8.5
9.5
10
10.5
11
(c)
(d)
Figure 3: Pressure-time histories and best fit curves recorded 4 m orthogonal distance and 2 m along
bunker wall from 250 g hemispherical PE4 charge
Figure 3 shows pressure-time histories and best fit curves recorded for four repeat tests with 250
g hemispherical PE4 charges. In these tests, the charge was located 4 m orthogonal distance from
the bunker wall and recordings are shown for the pressure gauge located 2 m along the bunker wall
526
away from the line of the centre of the charge, giving an angle of incidence of 26.6 and a slant
1/3
distance of 4.47m (6.68 m/kg assuming a PE4 equivalence of 1.2). The notion of a peak recorded
reflected pressure is clearly not valid because of limitations of the instrumentation, however it can be
seen that the exponential curve fit can be used to accurately approximate the form of the positive
phase of the blast load. With the peak pressures differing by no more than 2.8 kPa, and the impulses
differing by no more than 0.9 kPa.ms, excellent test-to-test repeatability has been shown for this
example.
3.2 Compiled data comparison against ConWep
Incident and reflected arrival times and positive phase durations of the blast load are identical
and hence these parameters are not a feature of angle of incidence. This is not the case for peak
reflected pressure and impulse, which will display some dependency on the angle at which the
blast wave strikes the target. Hence, whilst it is appropriate to compare time parameters against
ConWep (KB empirical predictions) for all normal and obliquely reflected data, limitations in
existing empirical predictions prevent the same comparisons being presented for pressures and
impulses. Instead, only normally reflected pressures and impulses can be validly compared
against empirical data.
Scaled positive phase duration (ms/kg1/3)
Scaled arrival time (ms/kg1/3)
40
ConWep
Experimental
35
[15]
Tyas et al.
30
[17]
Rigby et al.
25
20
15
10
5
0
10
12
14
16
2
ConWep
Experimental
[17]
Rigby et al.
0
Scaled distance (m/kg1/3)
10
12
14
16
(a)
(b)
Figure 4: (a) Scaled arrival times and (b) positive phase duration for experimental trials compared to
[15]
empirical (ConWep) predictions. Positive phase durations are not available from the Tyas et al.
dataset due to the presence of clearing waves from target edges.
90
ConWep
Experimental
80
Tyas et al.
Scaled reflected impulse (kPa.ms/kg1/3)
Peak reflected pressure (kPa)
100
[15]
[17]
Rigby et al.
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
10
12
14
16
130
120
ConWep
Experimental
110
Tyas et al.
100
Rigby et al.
[15]
[17]
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
10
12
14
16
(a)
(b)
Figure 5: (a) Peak reflected pressure and (b) scaled peak reflected specific impulse for experimental
trials compared to empirical (ConWep) predictions for normally reflected pressure recordings
527
Figures 4(a) and 4(b) show scaled arrival times and scaled positive phase durations for the
entire data set respectively. Figures 5(a) and 5(b) show peak reflected pressure and scaled peak
reflected specific impulse for the normally reflected recordings only. ConWep predictions are
[15]
shown in both plots, along with parameters from curves fit to data from Tyas et al.
and Rigby et
[17]
[15]
al.
In the experimental work of Tyas et al. , the reflected pressure was measured on a finitesized target, and hence clearing relief waves were seen to arrive at the pressure gauge locations
during the positive phase. For the purpose of this study, curves were fit to data recorded prior to
the onset of clearing. Hence positive phase durations are not available for this dataset due to the
reduced duration of loading caused by clearing.
Peak pressure and impulse data are summarised in Table 1 and Table 2 respectively, along
with ratios of experiment/ConWep for comparison.
R
(m)
W
(g PE4)
W
(g TNT)
Z
1/3
(m/kg )
4
4
4
6
6
6
8
10
350
250
420
300
5.34
5.98
180
350
290
250
216
420
348
300
6.67
8.01
8.53
8.96
250
250
300
300
11.95
14.94
ConWep
88.5
71.8
59.3
44.0
40.0
37.1
24.5
18.1
Peak Reflected Pressure (kPa)

Test 1
Test 2
Test 3
pr,max
pr,max
pr,max
Ratio
Ratio
Ratio
91.3
73.9
70.9
*
76.8
60.9
42.0
39.8
36.1
*
39.2
*
26.1
*
18.3
1.03
1.03
0.99
1.07
1.03
0.95
1.00
0.97
1.06
1.06
1.01
87.6
69.5
70.3
*
74.5
56.2
42.7
39.3
36.5
*
38.1
*
24.5
*
19.1
0.99
0.97
0.98
1.04
0.95
0.97
0.98
0.98
1.03
1.00
1.06
75.1
36.9
23.2
16.8
1.05
0.99
0.95
0.93
Table 1: Experimental and ConWep peak reflected pressures and ratio of experiment/ConWep for
normally reflected pressure recordings
*
[15]
Curves fit to data from Tyas et al.
[17]
Curves fit to data from Rigby et al.
R
(m)
W
(g PE4)
W
(g TNT)
Z
1/3
(m/kg )
4
4
4
6
6
6
8
10
350
250
420
300
5.34
5.98
180
350
290
250
216
420
348
300
6.67
8.01
8.53
8.96
250
250
300
300
11.95
14.94
1/3
Scaled Positive Phase Reflected Impulse (kPa.ms/kg )

ConWep
Test 1
Test 2
Test 3
1/3
1/3
1/3
ir/W
Ratio ir/W
Ratio ir/W
Ratio
116.7
103.2
91.6
75.1
70.3
66.6
49.1
38.8
120.7
102.7
109.3
*
106.0
93.3
74.5
70.1
67.2
*
69.4
*
50.5
*
38.1
1.03
1.00
1.06
1.03
1.02
0.99
1.00
1.01
1.04
1.03
0.98
121.6
106.0
108.4
*
102.1
92.8
78.1
68.8
67.8
*
65.7
*
48.6
*
38.7
1.04
1.03
1.05
0.99
1.01
1.04
0.98
1.02
0.99
0.99
1.00
99.3
65.8
48.2
36.1
Table 2: Experimental and ConWep scaled positive phase reflected impulse and ratio of
experiment/ConWep for normally reflected pressure recordings
*
[15]
Curves fit to data from Tyas et al.
[17]
Curves fit to data from Rigby et al.
528
0.96
0.99
0.98
0.93
3.3 Compiled data comparison against mean values

To give an indication of the repeatability of the test data, the mean values of peak pressure, scaled
impulse, scaled arrival time and scaled duration were evaluated for each set of pressure-time
recordings with a common scaled distance and angle of incidence. This varied between 28 individual
pressure-time recordings per set, depending on the gauge configuration and number of repeat tests.
Figures 69 show the mean-normalised arrival time, duration, pressure and impulse respectively
for the entire test series, where, for example, the mean-normalised pressure was evaluated by taking
the peak pressure of a particular test and dividing it through by the mean peak pressure of the data
[15, 17]
set of which it belongs to. Again, the data also includes results from previous trials
.
Mean-normalised arrival time, at /mean(ta)
1.3
1.2
1.1
0.9
0.8
0.7
10
12
14
16
1/3
Mean-normalised positive phase duration, dt/mean(td)
Scaled distance (m/kg )

Figure 6: Arrival time normalised against mean values for each set of repeat tests
1.3
1.2
1.1
0.9
0.8
0.7
10
12
14
16
1/3

Figure 7: Positive phase duration normalised against mean values for each set of repeat tests
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
Figures 4 and 5 show that the experimentally measured blast parameters are generally predicted
to a high degree of accuracy by the ConWep code, based on the KB data Tables 1 and 2 show a
maximum difference of 7% between the experimental data and ConWep predictions. Interestingly, the
mean value of the ratio between these two values is 1.00 for peak pressure and 1.01 for peak impulse
for the entire test series. The results presented here, therefore, suggest that for far-field loading in
simple geometrical scenarios, existing semi-empirical blast predictions are in fact remarkably accurate
and can be used with confidence as a first-order approach for quantifying the blast load a structure
will be subjected to.
529
Mean-normalised peak pressure, pr,max/mean(pr,max)
1.3
1.2
1.1
0.9
0.8
0.7
10
12
14
16
1/3

Figure 7: Peak pressure normalised against mean values for each set of repeat tests
Mean-normalised peak impulse, ri/mean(ir)
1.3
1.2
1.1
0.9
0.8
0.7
10
12
Scaled distance (m/kg
14
16
1/3
Figure 8: Positive phase impulse normalised against mean values for each set of repeat tests
Figures 6, 7, 8 and 9 show that there is very good test-to-test consistency in the experimentally
measured arrival time, and reflected peak overpressure and impulse. Typically, these values are
within a range of +/-68% of the mean values for reflected pressure and impulse, and +/-2.5% for
arrival time. The recorded positive duration shows a slightly higher variability, with one value ~12%
higher than the mean, but all others lie within the range +/-9% of the mean value.
The consistency of the experimental results presented here is both striking, and at odds with other
reported experimental data. This raises a question which goes to the heart of scientific research in this
area: are the parameters of blast waves essentially deterministic, or is there an inherent variability
which requires the use of a stochastic approach? The importance of this question cannot be
overstated, since its answer it will provide a direction for future research work in this field.
If there is little inherent variability in the output of nominally identical detonations, it suggests that in
small-scale, well-controlled experimental blast testing, we should expect a high degree of consistency
in experimental data relating to both blast wave parameters, and the response of well-characterised
structures exposed to blast loading. This would provide the possibility of developing a dataset of
experimental results at small scale, which could then be used for validation and/or calibration of
modelling approaches to both blast loading parameters and structural response. If, however, there is
an inherent and significant variability in the blast waves generated by nominally identical explosive
events, then the extent of this variability must be identified and taken into account when appraising
the accuracy of any modelling approach. There is also the challenge of identifying the underlying
530
physical processes which result in such an inherent variability.

[14, 15]
The opinion of the authors is that the consistency of the results reported here and in Refs.
,
and the remarkable similarity between these experimental results and KB-based predictions is unlikely
to be coincidence. We hypothesise that there is little if any inherent variation in the blast wave
parameters and that test-to-test variations are due to issues related to control of test variables and/or
instrumentation. If such a hypothesis is correct, we should expect to see repeatable results from
small-scale, well-controlled tests and these can be used for deterministic appraisal and validation of
modelling approaches. Of course, it is much more difficult to retain careful control of all test
parameters in larger scale tests, and in attempting to predict the output of detonations in terrorist
attacks we have even greater uncertainty over the precise composition, size, shape and position of
the explosive charge.
This suggests that there are two pressing and somewhat different problems for the research
community. The first is to definitively establish a commonly agreed dataset of blast wave parameters
from small-scale, very well-controlled tests. The second is to definitively identify the effect of
parameter uncertainty on the blast wave parameters resulting from the detonation of larger-scale or
improvised explosive devices.
REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
[11]
[12]
[13]
[14]
[15]
[16]
E. Esparza. Blast measurements and equivalency for spherical charges at small scaled
distances. International Journal of Impact Engineering, 4(1):23-40, 1986.
C.N. Kingery and G. Bulmash. Airblast parameters from TNT spherical air burst and
hemispherical surface burst. Technical Report ARBRL-TR-02555, U.S Army BRL, Aberdeen
Proving Ground, MD, USA, 1984.
US Department of Defence. Structures to resist the effects of accidental explosions. US DoD,
Washington DC, USA, UFC-3-340-02, 2008.
D.W. Hyde. Conventional Weapons Program (ConWep). U.S Army Waterways Experimental
Station, Vicksburg, MS, USA, 1991.
G. Randers-Pehrson and K.A. Bannister. Airblast loading model for DYNA2D and DYNA3D.
ARL-TR-1310, U.S Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, USA, 1997.
W.E. Baker. Explosions in air. University of Texas Press, Austin, TX, USA, 1973.
S.A. Granstrm. Loading characteristics of air blasts from detonating charges. Technical Report
100, Transactions of the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, 1956.
S.E. Rigby, A. Tyas, T. Bennett, S.D. Clarke, and S.D. Fay. The negative phase of the blast load.
International Journal of Protective Structures, 5(1): 1-20, 2014.
M.D. Netherton and M.G. Stewart. The Variability of Blast-loads from Military Munitions and
Exceedance Probability of Design Load Effects. In 15th International Symposium on the
Interaction of the Effects of Munitions with Structures (ISIEMS), Potsdam, Germany, 2013.
D. Bogosian, J. Ferritto, and Y. Shi. Measuring uncertainty and conservatism in simplified blast
models. In 30th Explosives Safety Seminar, Atlanta, GA, USA, 2002.
P.D. Smith, T.A. Rose, and E Saotonglang. Clearing of blast waves from building faades.
Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Structures and Buildings, 134(2):193-199,
1999.
M.D. Netherton and M.G. Stewart. Blast Load Variability and Accuracy of Blast Load Prediction
Models. International Journal of Protective Structures, 1(4):543-570, 2010.
E. Borenstein and H. Benaroya. Sensitivity analysis of blast loading parameters and their trends
as uncertainty increases. Journal of Sound and Vibration, 321(3-5):762-785, 2009.
D.D. Rickman and D.W. Murrell. Development of an improved methodology for predicting airblast
pressure relief on a directly loaded wall. Journal of Pressure Vessel Technology, 129(1):195-204,
2007.
A. Tyas, J. Warren, T. Bennett, and S. Fay. Prediction of clearing effects in far-field blast loading
of finite targets. Shock Waves, 21(2):111-119, 2011.
N. Kambouchev, L. Noels, and R. Radovitzky. Numerical simulation of the fluid-structure
interaction between air blast waves and free-standing plates. Computers & Structures, 85(1114):923-931, 2007.
531
[17] S.E. Rigby, A. Tyas, T. Bennett. Single-degree-of-freedom response of finite targets subjected to
blast loading the influence of clearing. Engineering Structures, 45:396-404, 2012.
532
th
THE RECENT STUDIES OF ENERGY ABSORPTION UNDER

DYNAMIC LOADING
Changjian Shen and Guoxing Lu*
*
School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University,

Singapore 639798, Singapore
e-mail: <gxlu@ntu.edu.sg>; Phone: +65-6790 5589
Keywords: Hollow beam; blast loading, energy absorption, local deformation; global
deformation
Abstract. This paper presents the summary of our recent work on the energy
absorption of the material/structure under dynamic loading. Two kinds of
specimens are involved. One is the graded cellular material and the other one is
the thin-walled hollow beam. For the graded cellular material, attention is put on
its deformation processes, energy absorption capacity and the transmitted force.
Three kinds of gradients are involved in the studies, including the stress, density
and cross-section. For cellular materials with the stress and density gradient, the
material property (i.e. stress, density) changes along the loading direction; while
for the cellular block with varying cross-section, homogenous metal foam is
employed. For the hollow beam under blast loading, two-phase analytical models
were proposed hollow beam, analytical models, involving the strain rate effect,
are proposed to describe the response of the structure. Two kinds of hollow
beams are considered with different cross-sections. The 1st one is the beam with
square cross-section while it has a circular cross-section for the 2nd beam.
1
INTRODUCTION
In the recent years, research interests have been attracted to protective structures against
impact and blast loadings due to the enhanced chance of terroristic attacks and accidents. In an
attempt to protect the key equipment and people from those disasters, protective constructions as
energy absorbers are widely used. Unlike the traditional structures which undergo linear elastic
deformation, the protective constructions have to sustain intense impact or blast loads. Hence
nonlinear geometric changes, strain-hardening effect, strain-rate effect and various interactions
1
among different deformation modes are involved in the corresponding plastic deformation and
failure history.
Due to their high stiffness to weight and strength to weight ratios, cellular material are widely
2
used in engineering applications, especially under dynamic loading conditions . For cellular solids,
a gradual variation in the cell size distribution or material strength can influence many properties
such as mechanical shock resistance and thermal insulation. Up to now, few experiments and
numerical simulations on non-homogenous cellular structures have been reported. Therefore, it is
worthwhile to further explore the mechanical properties of graded cellular structures under
dynamic loading. In general, the stress-strain curve of cellular material possesses the feature
sketched by the fine line in Fig. 1 and it is characterized by three stages, including a short elastic
______________________________
* School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798,
Singapore
533
Shen Changjian and Lu Guoxing
stage, a long plateau stage and finally a densification stage. The response to dynamic loadings is
very different from that to the quasi-static due to inertial effect. After impact, the compaction
waves travel through the cellular material, resulting in enhancement of the strength and energy
3, 4
absorption . Various methods have been proposed to explain such features in the dynamic
3, 5-9
10, 11
loading, including the shock wave theory
and spring mass models
. Analytical models
12
based on the experimental stress-strain curves were proposed by Karagiozova et al. . Some
13-15
debates
have taken place due to the application of the different methods. Clarification has
9
been provided by Harrigan et al. by comparing these methods of analysis for two impact
scenarios, which shows the applicability of the simple shock theory. Most of the analytical models
16
for the dynamic behavior of the cellular material were reviewed by Zhu et al. . In the recent years,
the concept of the graded cellular structures has attracted much research interest. Until now,
most studies were based on the finite element simulations and few experimental or analytical
17
works were found in literature. Ali et al. studied the response of a honeycomb block with
18
different wall thickness when the impact velocity is low (up to 20m/s). Ajdari et al. employed
Voronoi structures to study the uniaxial and biaxial compressive behavior. Later, they also
19
investigated density gradient in the regular honeycomb structures . Both works focused on the
20
elastic response under low velocity impact. Shen et al. studied honeycombs with gradient in the
yielding strength of the material, under various impact velocities, and they summarized a map of
21
the deformation mode. An experimental study on density gradient was carried out by Zeng et al. ,
employing the polymeric hollow sphere agglomerates with variation in wall-thickness. Their
results showed that a negative gradient in the density benefits in reducing the force at the distal
end. However, the basic deformation modes or the energy absorption capacity was rarely
discussed.
Figure 1: General stress-strain relationship for the cellular material and the R-PP-L material
model
Thin-walled members with various cross-sections including hollow sections are used
extensively in the construction, offshore, mining and safety shelters. Blast loading due to extreme
operation condition or accidents can cause unacceptably large permanent deformations and even
total failure so that it is essential to analyze the hollow sections deformation mechanism under
intensive dynamic loading. Although numerical analyses can provide valuable information on the
details of the response of structural members with more complex material properties, the
analytical models, which retain the characteristic features of the structural response, can reveal
important relationships between the structural and loading parameters. Analytical models of the
response of metal beams with solid sections subjected to transverse blast loads have become
classical guidelines in analyzing the influence of different factors on the behavior of these
members. Among the analytical studies on the axial membrane and bending response of rigidplastic beams subjected to transverse impulsive loads the notable work includes that by Symonds
22
23
and Mentel on pinned and clamped beams, Jones on beams and plates, Symonds and
24
Jones on the combined effect of finite deflections and strain rate. These studies have shown the
importance of retaining the axial membrane force in the yield condition and the beam response,
particularly for beams with large length/depth ratios that respond with finite transverse deflections
greater than the beam depth. The developed analytical models are predominantly focused on
solid metallic cross-sections. The investigations of impulsively loaded beams of other sections
534
are limited to sandwich beams with different core configurations and more recently analyses are
carried out on the deformation of hollow beams with square sections. The behavior of an
impulsively loaded simply supported steel beams with a hollow square section was studied by
25
Wegener and Martin . A semi-empirical analytical solution was derived with a partial use of a
numerical analysis to determine the deformation modes of the beam. Experimental work on steel
26
hollow and steel concrete filled sections was reported by Bambach et al. and on aluminium
27
hollow section beams by Bambach . An extensive experimental program on the blast impact of
28
clamped hollow beams with square sections was carried out by Jama and the major results from
29
this study were published by Jama et al. .
This paper presents a summary of our recent research progresses on the graded cellular
material and the response of the thin-walled hollow beam under dynamic loading condition. The
research on the graded cellular material is carried out from three aspects, namely finite element
(FE) simulations, analytical modeling and experimental study. Two kinds of cellular material are
investigated in our study, which are the graded honeycomb structure and graded foam material.
The research work of the thin-walled hollow beam involves two kinds of hollow beam with
different cross-sections, which are square and circular. Analytical models are presented for the
study of the hollow beam, proposing a two-phase method. The analytical predictions agree
reasonably well with the experimental results reported in the above references, and the model is
also capable of estimating the energy absorbed during the response.
2
GRADED CELLULAR MATERIAL
2.1 Graded honeycomb structure
20
At the beginning, Finite Element (FE) simulations of graded honeycomb structures under
impact are carried out by using ABAQUS/EXPLICIT. As the first step, only stress gradient in the
yielding stress of the parent material is introduced into the honeycomb block (shown in Fig. 2a).
In each layer, the material property is the same except that the yielding stress varies layer by
layer (Fig. 2b). It is defined that the gradient is positive when the weakest layer is placed at the
impinged end while it is negative when the strongest layer is impinged at the beginning.
140
X2
=-2MPa/layer
=-5MPa/layer
=-8MPa/layer
Yield Stress(MPa)
120
average stress
100
X1
80
60
40
20
1
Layer
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Figure 2: a) Finite element model; b)yield stress distribution of the material

30
Similar to the work of Ruan et al. , the deformation modes are observed under a constant
impact velocity. Two types of deformation modes have been observed when the gradient is
positive while three types of deformation modes exist when the gradient is negative. The
deformation modes are nearly the same when the velocity is either small or sufficiently high,
whether the gradient is positive or negative. V shaped band initiates from the weakest layer at
the low velocity impact while I shaped band occurs from the loading end at the high velocity
impact. A transitional mode is present when the velocity is intermediate and the gradient is
negative. More deformation has been found at the loading end with the increase of the impact
velocity. A map has been constructed showing the critical velocities, which is shown in Fig. 3.
Empirical equations for critical velocities are summarized in terms of the gradient, thickness ratio,
average yielding stress and the density of the parent material. Furthermore, one dimensional
shock wave theory is employed to predict stresses at the proximal and distal ends. The limitation
of the simulation is that the honeycomb block is a two-dimensional structure, resulting in
deformations in the X2 direction. As a result, some deviations are expected between the
theoretical and FE result.
The analysis of the stresses indicates that the shock wave theory is applicable only when one
compaction fronts appear. The reaction stress at the supporting end is equal to the quasi-static
535
plateau stress of the layer under collapse; the stress at the loading end is the dynamic stress at
the compaction front. Densification velocity of the GHS is not only related to the mass ratio but
also the stress gradient. The investigation of the energy absorption shows that the positive
gradient enhances the energy absorbing capacity of the GHS.
2.5
<0
>0
"I" mode
Critical velocity ( cr )
2.0
Vcr2
"I" mode
1.5
1.0
"VL" mode
Vcr1
0.5
"V" mode
"VS" mode
0.0
-2.0
-1.6
-1.2
-0.8
-0.4
0.0
0.4
0.8
1.2
1.6
2.0
Gradient ( )
Figure 3: Non-dimensional critical velocities versus gradient

2.2 Analytical work of the cellular material with stress gradient
31
To avoid the effect of the boundary and Poisson effect, finite element work of the onedimensional cellular chain are employed in the numerical simulations. The observation of the
deformation profiles confirms the existence of Double Shock (DS) fronts in a cellular rod with a
negative gradient. On the other hand, in the cellular rod with positive gradient, only one Single
Shock (SS) occurs. According to these basic deformation modes, one-dimensional analytical
models are proposed by using the simple shock theory. To build an analytical model, a graded
cellular rod, whose quasi-static plateau stress varies along the axial direction, is supposed to be
impinged by a rigid mass G with initial velocity V0 . Only one shock front appears when the
gradient is positive, while two shock fronts appear in the rod with negative gradient. Typical
deformation processes are shown in Fig. 4a and Fig. 4b for the single shock mode and double
shock mode, respectively.
Figure 4: a) single shock mode; b) double shock mode

Closed form solution is found for the single shock (SS) mode, while finite difference method is
employed to obtain solutions for the double shock (DS) mode. Densification velocity, at which the
graded rod is just fully crushed at the end of its dynamic response, is determined; and
accordingly, the maximum energy-absorbing capacity of the graded cellular rod is determined.
The weakest part of the graded rod is suggested to be placed at the impact end to achieve higher
energy absorption. The theoretical models are then extended to the second scenario in which the
graded cellular rod together with attached mass G impinges onto a rigid target. Similar to
Scenario I, the gradient significantly influences the capacity of the graded cellular rod when the
ratio of mass G to the mass of the rod is relatively small. The comparison between the FE
536
simulation results and analytical predictions shows good agreement, which validates the
theoretical model.
Fig. 5a summarizes the deformation modes and phase for the graded cellular rods under the
impact Scenario I. The DS mode occurs when the gradient is negative, while SS mode takes
place when the gradient is positive. If the initial velocity is lower than the densification velocity,
the initial kinetic energy will be exhausted before the cellular rod is fully densified. The DS mode
contains two deformation phases, which are characterized by double shock fronts and a single
shock front, respectively. If the initial velocity is higher than the densification velocity, not the
entire initial kinetic energy is dissipated at the end of the crushing of the rod. Fig. 5b depicts the
deformation modes and phases for the graded cellular rod under the impact Scenario II. For
Scenario II, a critical gradient is obtained in terms of the mass ratio. Beyond the critical gradient,
the DS mode appears. The densification velocities are also found for this impact scenario. Similar
to Scenario I, the DS mode may also contain two deformation phases.
Figure 5: a) A map showing various deformation histories in Scenario I.
p denotes the
velocity, beyond which Phase II does not appear for the DS mode while does not exist in the SS
mode; b) A map showing various deformation histories in Scenario II.
The analysis for both the scenarios shows that the gradient significantly influences the
dynamic energy-absorbing capacity of the graded cellular rod when the mass ratio is small. To
achieve higher energy absorption, the weakest part of the graded cellular material is suggested to
be placed at the impinged end.
2.3 Analytical work of the cellular material with stress gradient
32
Subsequent work aims to investigate a more realistic case, with the gradient in the initial
density of the cellular material. Compared with the stress gradient in previous study, the density
gradient not only influences the quasi-static plateau stress but also the dynamic enhancement.
General solution is derived to determine the basic deformation mode. Similar to the case with
stress gradient, the DS and SS modes exist in the graded cellular rod with initial density gradient.
The essential reason of the appearance of the DS mode is the difference in the quasi-static
plateau stress between the proximal and distal ends. By using the finite difference method, the
influence of the initial density gradient on the dynamic stresses, instant velocity of the impinging
mass and the energy absorption capacity are investigated. Furthermore, the effect of the initial
density gradient is decoupled into two parts, namely quasi-static plateau stress and the dynamic
enhancement effects. FE simulations are carried out with the practical metal foam (Alporas foam).
The time histories of the velocity of the impinging mass are compared with those from analytical
studies. The FE curves show the same trends but with some deviation in the final displacement,
caused by the simplification of the R-PP-L material model.
The energy absorption capacity of the gradient cellular rod and the transmitted force on the
protected structure are investigated. The investigation shows that, for the velocity range
considered, the SS mode has almost no influence on the energy absorption while the DS mode
weakens the energy absorption significantly. In view of the dynamic stress imposed on the
protected structure, however, the stress induced by the DS mode is lower than that by the SS
mode. This suggests that in practice the weakest end should be placed as the impinged end in
537
order to maximize the total energy absorbed by the cellular rod. However, if possible excessive
force at the support or transmitting to the protected structure is of main concern, the strongest
end should then be the impinged end, at a small sacrifice of energy absorption
2.4 Experimental work on the aluminum foam block with varying cross-section
33
The plastic crushing response is studied for a foam block of varying cross-section under end
impact. The influence of the gradient in the cross-section is investigated. Based on the onedimensional shock theory, an analytical model is proposed to investigate an impact scenario, in
which a foam block with a gradient in its cross-section together with a rigid mass impinges onto a
rigid support (shown in Fig. 6). Because of the change in the cross-sectional area along the
length, two possible deformation modes are present, namely the double shock mode and the
single shock mode. When the largest cross-section is impinged, two compaction zones in the
foam block are found, while only one compaction zone appears from the impinged end when the
smallest cross-section is impinged. Fig. 6 shows the typical deformation process of the double
shock and the corresponding stress distribution. Of particular interests are the absorbed energy
and the force transmitted to the support end. The analysis reveals that the energy absorption
capacity is weakened with a negative gradient while positive gradient has no influence on the
energy absorption capacity of the graded foam.
Figure 6: (a) A double shock mode deformation profile; (b) the corresponding stress
distribution.
An experiment was then designed to investigate the behavior of the graded foam block under
impact (shown in Fig. 7). The rigid mass together with the foam block was fired from a gas gun
barrel, and its speed was measured before it collided onto the rigid target. The deformation
history of the specimen was recorded by a high-speed video camera. Image analysis was
employed to obtain the velocity of the impinging mass during the process. Observation of the
deformation profile demonstrates the two basic deformation modes described in the analytical
modeling, which partially validates the analytical result.
Figure 7: Experimental set up: the specimen together with a rigid mass fired by a gas gun
impinged onto a Hopkinson bar. A high speed camera was used to capture the crushing process.
538
Fig. 8 shows the deformation process of a cellular block, crushing onto an aluminum bar with
the strongest end. It may be noted there are two compaction zones which appeared during the
impact under the velocity of 58m/s. It was difficult to identify compact zones with a clear shock
front, though. Initially, a compaction zone appeared at the proximal end; afterward, the material at
the distal end began to collapse and formed another compaction zone. Under a higher impact
velocity of 105m/s, the compaction zone at the distal end seemed to cease.
Figure 8: Deformation profiles of the specimen with negative gradient, A = 1 . (a) V0=58m/s,
(time 0, 0.18, 0.36, 0.54ms); (b) V0=105m/s, (time 0, 0.11, 0.22, 0.33ms)
3 RESPONSE OF THE HOLLOW BEAM UNDER BLAST LOADING
34
3.1 Analytical modeling of the hollow beams with square cross-sections

A model of deformation of a metal hollow section beam under a uniform blast loading is
developed in order to reveal the characteristic features of deformation and energy absorption of
hollow section beams under such loading. It is established that as a typical structural component
a hollow section distinguishes itself from its solid counterpart with two characteristic features of
the response. First, a considerably larger kinetic energy is generated in the hollow section beam
as the impulsive load is imparted on the upper flange of the beam having a significantly lower
mass than the member. Second, a considerable proportion of the blast energy can be absorbed
by the local collapse of the section.
A two-phase analytical model is proposed. In the first phase, the local collapse of the thinwalled cross-section is determined by using an upper bound approach; and in the subsequent
second phase, the global bending of the beam with the distorted section is analyzed by taking
into account the effect of axial force. It was established that two characteristic features of the
response of a hollow section distinguish the response of this structural component from the
response of its solid counterpart. First, the initial kinetic energy generated by the blast is
considerably higher as the impulsive load is imparted on the upper flange of the beam, which has
a significantly lower mass than the entire member. Therefore, a larger amount of energy must be
dissipated by the plastic deformations during the response. On the other hand, the preceding
local deformation phase can significantly reduce the amount of remaining energy which needs to
be absorbed by the global bending of the beam.
It has been shown that the mass distribution in the hollow section is an important factor in
determining the energy partitioning between the local deformation phase and global bending of
the beam. The energy dissipated during the local collapse plays an essential role as it absorbs a
significant proportion of the initial kinetic energy generated by the blast. There is an upper limit of
the blasts that can be absorbed entirely by the section collapse leaving no energy for global
bending of the beam. The response of a hollow beam to large blasts is dominated by the beam
bending rigidity when considering the reduced plastic moment of the beam and taking into
account the effect of axial force. The methodology established in developing the present
539
analytical model may be applied to studies of dynamic response of other similar beams subjected
subject
to blast loading.
The proposed model can describe the temporal variation of the local and global deformations
when the strain rate effects are taken into account during both the phases of deformation.
Reasonable agreement is obtained in comparison (shown in Fig. 9) with the experimental data
28, 29
published in the literature
.
(a)
(b)
0.8
Model
HR/H
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
1
1.5
2.5
3.5
I/A (KPa.s)
(c)
cross
obtained
Figure 9: Comparison between the characteristics of the deformed square cross-sections
28
from the model and the experiments ; (a) partially collapsed section, HR = 0.74H
H; (a) Fully collapsed
section, HR = 0.57H;; (c) Reduction of the section height obtained experimentally
3.2 Analytical modeling of the hollow beams with circular cross-sections
sections
35
A two-phase
phase deformation model of the dynamic response of a hollow circular beam to an
impulsive loading is developed in order to reveal the characteristic features of deformation and
energy absorption of hollow section beams under a uniform blast which can be approximated as
an impulsive loading. It is established that both local and global deformation modes develop
simultaneously during the first deformation phase, which contributes to the complexity of the
problem and has not been described by the previous
previous analytical models. Only global deformation
continues during the second phase.
34
Similar to the response of a square section hollow beam , the major part of the imparted
initial kinetic energy is absorbed by the local deformations of the beam section and thus this
reduces the amount of remaining energy which needs to be absorbed by the global bending of
the beam. It should be noted however, that the intensive
intensive loading considered in the present study
always initiates a simultaneous development of the local and global deformation modes, which is
34
in contrast with the deformation of a square section hollow beam discussed in ref. . In the latter
case, a maximum load can be found which causes merely local deformations.
Reasonable agreement is obtained between the predictions of the analytical model and the
results of the numerical simulations carried out in the present study. The methodology
established in developing the present analytical model may be applied to studies of dynamic
response of hollow beams with other shapes of cross-section
cross
subjected to blast loading when the
basic deformation modes develop simultaneously.
540
REFERENCES
[1] G. Lu and T.X. Yu, Energy absorption of structures and materials, Woodhead Pub. ; CRC
Press,, Cambridge Boca Raton, 2003.
[2] L.J. Gibson and M.F. Ashby, Cellular solids : structure and properties, 2nd ed.,
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge ; New York, 1997.
[3] S.R. Reid and C. Peng, Dynamic uniaxial crushing of wood, Int J Impact Eng, 19 (1997)
531-570.
[4] S. Pattofatto, I. Elnasri, H. Zhao, H. Tsitsiris, F. Hild and Y. Girard, Shock enhancement
of cellular structures under impact loading: Part II analysis, J Mech Phys Solids, 55 (2007)
2672-2686.
[5] S.L. Lopatnikov, B.A. Gama, M.J. Haque, C. Krauthauser, J.W. Gillespie, M. Guden and
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542
th
DAMAGE ANALYSIS OF REINFORCED CONCRETE SLABS

UNDER CLOSE-IN EXPLOSIONS
Yanchao Shi*, , Zhenhui Liu and Zhong-Xian Li*,
*
Key Laboratory of Coast Civil Structure Safety (Tianjin University), Ministry of Education,
Tianjin 300072, China
School of Civil Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072China

e-mail: <yanchaoshi@tju.edu.cn>
Keywords: damage assessment, reinforced concrete (RC) slab, local damage, spalling,
close-in explosion
Abstract. Blast loads acting on the slabs under close-in explosions are normally
non-uniform and usually lead to local failure of the reinforced concrete (RC) slabs.
Because of the high peak value and the relatively short duration of the reflected
pressure, the stress wave generated from the blast wave cannot be ignored
anymore, since it propagates inside the slab and might cause the material
damage, leading to the spalling, crushing and cracking of the RC slab, which is
totally different from the overall damage of the slabs under distance explosions.
What is the mechanism of the local damages due to near field explosions and
how do they affect the overall performance of the RC slab are need to be
investigated. Therefore, in this paper, firstly, a numerical method to predict the
blast loads reflected by the RC slab at small scaled distance is proposed and
validated, and then the typical damage mechanism of RC slab under close-in
explosions will be investigated. The damage criterion of the local damage will be
proposed for further evaluation of the RC slab under near field explosions; finally,
a new method for damage assessment of RC slabs under close-in explosions will
be proposed and verified based on the study of the coupling of the local damage
and overall structural performance of the RC slab.
1
INTRODUCTION
There are several methods for predicting the loads produced by an explosive material detonating
at some distance from a structure. These include empirical methods such as those available in the
[1]
Unified Facilities Criteria UFC 3-340-02 , field tests or numerical simulation using codes such as
[2]
[3]
AUTODYN or LS-DYNA . However, for charges detonated at short range to a structure (close-in
explosions), the methods noted above become less reliable. The document UFC 3-340-02 contains
the well-established and widely-used curves developed by Kingery and Bulmash for TNT bursts at
[1]
standard atmospheric pressure and temperature . These curves have formed the cornerstone of
blast predictions for a quarter century and are familiar to anyone who has ever been introduced to the
[4]
subject of blast resistant design. Bogosian and Heidenreich
evaluated the engineering method
listed in UFC 3-340-02, and found that the method severely under predicts both pressure and impulse
1/3
1/3
for close-in explosion which is in the range of 2-3 ft/lb (0.4-1.2 m/kg ). One of the reasons might be
the assumption of a spherical (or hemispherical) charge in UFC 3-340-02. At large standoffs, this
assumption is plausible, but at the relatively small standoffs, the charge shape could make a
significant difference. And since the blast load acting on the structural components from the close-in
543
Yanchao Shi, Zhenhui Liu and Zhong-Xian Li
explosion is normally focused in a local area with high reflected pressure, causing local damage of the
structural members.
Recently, more and more scholars worldwide began to carry out researches in the field of close-in
explosions and have gained certain achievements. In the early year of 1990s, some scholar began to
study the local failure mechanism of RC structural components under close-in explosions based on
[5]
theoretical analysis method. For example, Xiaoqing Ma
made a rough calculation of spalling. In
order to get the solution, this method has to make certain simplifications and assumptions. However,
the local failure induced by the close-in explosions is so complex that it might depend on several
parameters such as the blast load shapes, magnitudes, the properties of the concrete material under
high strain rate and the dimension of the structural component itself, especially for RC structural
components. Thus, the theoretical analysis method might be not good enough to accurately predict
the local crushing or spalling of the structural member under explosions in close range. Therefore, in
order to get the further understanding of the possible failure of structural components under close
[6]
range explosions, several tests have been carried out by the scholars worldwide. Marek Foglar et al
conducted a series of experimental tests to study the blast resistance of fiber-reinforced concrete
(FRC) and RC bridge decks. The experimental results showed that added fibers have a beneficial
effect on the blast performance of the specimens and more fibers added could reduce the spalling
[7]
and puncture area of concrete decks. Wei Wang et al carried out experimental study on explosion
resistance of the RC slab under close-in explosions. Two major damage modes were observed, i.e.,
[8]
spallation with a few cracks and moderate spallation. Duo Zhang et al
conducted a series of
experiments on RC beams, the damage levels and damage modes of RC beams under close-in
explosion were observed. To sum up, lots of field tests on RC slabs and beams have been carried out
and both the local failure and dynamic response of the structural members were obtained, which will
help to understand the failure mechanism of structural members under close-in explosions and
provide valuable data to establish the damage criteria. Nevertheless, one of the problems in the
above tests is that the blast loads acting on the structural components were failed to be recorded,
which is the most important issue in blast analysis and blast resistant design. And the other problem is
that the field tests is so expensive and time consuming that it is impossible to do enough tests for fully
understanding of the failure mechanism. Recently, with the rapid progress in both the computer
science and the commercial software in fluid-structure interaction and nonlinear dynamic analysis,
many scholars began to use the numerical method to investigate the structural dynamic response to
blast loads. Some of them improved the numerical model with updated material models and verified
element size to predict dynamic responses and local damage of different structural members under
[9]
close-in blast scenarios. Xiaoqing Zhou et al studied the response of concrete slab to close burst
blast loading through software AUTODYN. Zhou employed a modified dynamic damage concrete
model to predict the damage areas of a RC slab under the experimental blast scenario and the results
[10]
showed good agreement with the tests. Jun Li et al
developed three-dimensional numerical models
of RC columns to predict the concrete spalling under blast loads. Parametric studies were also carried
out to investigate the main factor that affects the spall damage of RC column. The above
achievements have made great progress in the field of damage analysis of structural components
subjected to close range explosions. However, it will be easy to find that the current practice in
damage analysis of structural components under close-in explosions is still need to be improved
because of the following two reasons. (1) The blast loads used in the current literatures were not
verified and their accuracy is doubtful; (2) the definition of the material model of the structural member
might be different from the case of distance explosions for the purpose of predicting the spalling,
crushing and breaching damage of RC structural members. Whats more, the studies of the local
damage of RC structural components under close range explosions are mainly focused on the
damage prediction, however, the damage assessment of the RC members due to close-in blast loads
is also very important, especially when from the point view of blast resistant design.
In this paper, a numerical method to predict the blast loads reflected by the RC slab at small
scaled distance is proposed and validated, and then the typical damage mechanism of RC slab under
close-in explosions will be investigated. The damage criterion of the local damage will be proposed for
further evaluation of the RC slab under near field explosions; finally, a new method for damage
assessment of RC slabs under close-in explosions will be proposed and verified based on the study
of the coupling of the local damage and overall structural performance of the RC slab.
544
NUMERICAL MODELING OF BLAST WAVE INTERACTION WITH STRUCTURAL

MEMBER IN CLOSE RANGE
[3]
The commercial software LS-DYNA

is utilized to simulate the detonation of the explosive
charge, blast wave propagation and its interaction with nearby slabs. Contact explosions will not
be considered in this paper because of the above mentioned reason. This paper will focus on the
case that the slabs are located outside the fireball of the close-in explosion. Currently the slab is
assumed to be square reinforced concrete slab, and the explosive charge is TNT with the
standoff distance varying from 300mmm to 500mm.
2.1 Numerical Model Set Up
The simulation begins with the modeling of the detonation and the blast wave propagation
inside the explosive and the air in contact with it. To reduce the computational time, a two-stage
method is adopted. The first stage is using to 2D simulation to capture the initial detonation and
propagation of the cylindrical blast wave before its interaction with the slab. In the second stage,
the result from the 2D calculation is remapped into a 3D model to generate a 3D blast wave,
which will interact with the 3D slab. Compared with the full 3D method, the advantage of this twostage method is that the number of cells required can be greatly reduced, which will not only
reduces the time required for a calculation but also increases its accuracy due to the fine 2D
mesh resolution in the initial high explosive detonation and expansion phases [3].
2.2 Material Model
[3]
High explosives are modeled using the Jones-Wilkins-Lee (JWL) equation of state as follows
,
rv
r v e
e
e
+ C 2 1
+
p = C 1 1
r
v
r
v
v
1
2
(1)
where p = hydrostatic pressure; v = specific volume; e = specific internal energy; and C1, r1, C2,
r2 and are material constants. In the present simulation, C1, r1, C2, r2 and are assumed as,
5
5
3.737710 MPa, 4.15, 3.7471310 MPa, 0.9, and 0.35, respectively.
Air is modeled by the ideal gas equation of state, in which the pressure is related to the energy
by
p = ( 1)e
(2)
where is a constant; is air density and e is the specific internal energy. In the simulation, the
standard properties of air from AUTODYN material library are utilized, i.e. air density, =1.225
3
5
kg/m and =1.4. The air initial internal energy is assumed to be 2.06810 kJ/kg.
2.3 Mesh size selection
Using CFD software to calculate blast loads requires the flow field to be discretized into
computational volumes which are sufficiently small for the condition within any one cell to be
[11]
assumed to be constant
. Therefore, the accuracy of the numerical results is highly on the
mesh size of the numerical model. In this section, numerical modelling of the blast wave
propagation due to explosions from 8kg TNT charge with different mesh size ranging from 0.5
mm to 4 mm in 2D simulation are carried out. Figure 1 compares the incident blast load time
histories obtained from the numerical simulations at the 0.4 m standoff distance (scaled distance
1/3
Z=0.2 m/kg ).
545
18
Gride Size-0.5mm
Gride Size-1mm
Gride Size-2mm
Gride Size-4mm
16
Overpresure(MPa)
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
-2
0.00
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.10
0.12
0.14
0.16
t(ms)
Figure 1: Comparison of the incident blast load time histories from numerical simulation with
different mesh sizes
As can be seen from Figure 1, the peak incident overpressure varies a lot with the increase of
the mesh size. And it is also very clear that numerical simulation with 1mm mesh size in 2D
model could get the results similar to the case with 0.5 mm mesh size. If the mesh size is 0.5mm
or smaller, the results will be a little more accurate, but the computation time will be multiplied.
[11]
Cormie D and Wilkinson WP
carried out the same numerical simulations with software
Air3d_ftt and AUTODYN with different mesh sizes. And they got the same conclusions that 0.5
mm mesh size is reasonable in 2D simulations. Thus, considering the balance between accuracy
and efficiency, 1mm mesh size in 2D simulations is adopted in the present study.
As mentioned above, the results of the 2D simulation should be remapped into 3D numerical
model for simulating the blast wave interaction with RC slab. The selection of the mesh size in 3D
model is also very important. Since the mesh size of 5mm-10mm is widely used in 3D simulations
[9, 10]
and has been verified in the literatures
, 5mm mesh size is used in the direction of blast wave
propagation and 10mm mesh size is adopted in the other two directions in the present study in
the 3D numerical model.
2.4 Numerical Verification
Based on the above discussions, the numerical model could be established with proper
material model and reasonable mesh size. In this section, the numerical model will be verified
[12]
through simulation of a previous experimental test reported in reference .
Air Force Research Laboratory at Eglin AFB, Florida, carried out several experiments to get
the reflected pressures and impulses on a plate under close-in explosions. In the test, 3.86kg
cylinder-shaped Comp B high explosive was usedwhich is 82.6mm in diameter and 431.8mm in
length. The explosive was suspended in the air at a height of 940mm from the ground to the
center of the charge, with a standoff distances 1295mm from the plate, as shown in Figure 2(a),
1/3
the scaled standoffs of about 0.8m/kg . The reaction structure consisted of a frame with 1.5m
wide by 1.8m feet tall. The tests were instrumented with five pressure gauges located in a cross
pattern at the center of the plate to record reflected pressure histories. The four outer gauges
were located 15mm away from the central one (As can be seen in Figure 2(b)).
546
(a) Section
(b) Elevation
Figure 2: Test configuration
[12]
Numerical simulation of the above test is carried out with the material model and mesh size
mentioned above. The initial detonation and blast wave propagation are modelled in 2D model
before the blast wave reached the reaction structure (reflection boundary), then the results got
from 2D model are remapped into the3D model. According to the LS-DYNA keyword manual, the
2D data of the last step can be written into a mapping file named 2dto3d if the command
map=2dto3dis prompted on the command line when starts the LS-DYNA solver of 2D model.
This mapping file can be read in the 3D model if the same command is prompted when the LSDYNA solver of 3D model starts. And then the blast wave interaction with the plate will be
simulated and the blast load time histories acting on the plate could be obtained. Figure 3 and
Figure 4 give the reflected pressure and reflected impulse time histories at the center of the front
side of the plate.
15
1/3
i_pr(MPa-ms/kg )
Pressure(MPa)
20
10
0
0.6
0.8
1.0
1.2
1.4
0
0.0
t(ms)
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
1.2
1.4
t(ms)
Figure 3: Time history of reflected overpressure Figure 4: Time history of reflected impulse
[12]
David D et al
reported the peak reflected overpressure and the reflected impulse recorded
by the five pressure gauges in the tests. The results showed that the peak reflected
overpressures varies a lot from 19.7 to 53.8 among all the gauges, while the reflected impulses
range from 2.62 to 4.76. As can be seen, the maximum reflected pressure and reflected impulse
from numerical simulations are exactly in the corresponding ranges of the test data, indicating
that the numerical method used in the present study is reasonably good.
3 DAMAGE ASSESSMENT OF REINFORCED CONCRETE SLABS UNDER CLOSE-IN
EXPLOSIONS
In this section, numerical simulations will be carried out to do the failure analysis of RC slabs
under close-in explosions. A fluid-solid coupling model is needed to be established to simulate
the dynamic responses of RC slabs subjected to close-in blast loads. Therefore, besides the
numerical modeling the blast wave propagation and its interaction with structural members,
accurately modelling the nonlinear dynamic responses and local damage of RC slab subjected to
close-in blast loads is also very important.
[7]
[3].
In this paper, the third RC slab listed in Ref is firstly established in software LS-DYNA For the
convenience of the readers, the properties of the RC slab will be introduced here briefly. The
dimension of the RC slab is 1250125050mm, 6 mm diameter bar with the space at a distance of 75
mm from one other in both directions. The concrete has an average compressive strength of 39.5
MPa, as measured using three normal 150 mm150 mm150 mm concrete cubes; a tensile strength
547
of 4.2 MPa; and a Youngs modulus of 28.3 GPa. The reinforcement has a yield strength of 600 MPa
and a Youngs modulus of 200 GPa. 0.94 kg TNT with cylindrical charge shape (diameter-to-height
ratio equals 2) was used in the explosion tests, which is directly above the center of the slab, with
a standoff distance 500mm. The RC slab was clamped down on each side of the steel angle to
prevent uplifting during the tests therefore a fixed boundary condition are assumed at the parallel two
sides in the numerical model, as shown in Figure 5. The material model CONCRETE DAMAGE REL3
(MAT_72_REL3) available in LS-DYNA is utilized to model concrete; while Material model
PLASTIC_KINEMATIC (MAT_003), which is an elasticplastic material model with strain rate effect, is
used to model steel.
(a) concrete
(b) steel
Figure 5: Numerical model of the RC slab
The strain rate effect is taken into consideration in this study. The bilinear relationship
[13]
developed by the CEB
code is used to define the concrete dynamic increase factor (DIF) in
[14]
compression, and the model proposed by Malvar and Ross
are applied to define the concrete
DIF in tension. And the DIF for the steel strength enhancement both in tension and compression
[15].
is defined by the K&C model
Solid element is used to model concrete and reinforcement bars are modelled by beam
elements. The mesh size used for the concrete solid elements is10mm10mm5mm (5mm mesh
size is used along the direction of the blast wave propagation). The mesh size used for the beam
elements is10mm.
In order to simulate the physical fracture, such as cratering, spalling, and crushing of the
[10].
concrete material under the impulsive loads, the erosion criterion is usually adopted
Once the
erosion criterion is adopted, when the dynamic response of an element reaches a critical value
defined by the user, the element is immediately erased from the model. It must be emphasized
here that the erosion technique is introduced to overcome the large distortion problem in
numerical simulations. The erosion criteria must be used with caution, as early and premature
erosion of material can lead to the mass and energy disequilibrium and incorrect model
[2, 16]
predictions, and significantly increase the mesh-size dependency of the calculation
Therefore In the present study, the erosion criterion of concrete material is carefully defined to
simulate its physical fracture under blast loads. Tensile strength erosion criterion is set to
simulate the phenomenon of concrete spall, compress strength erosion criterion is set to simulate
the phenomenon of cratering. The Maximum principal strain erosion criterion is also used. If the
uniaxial compressive strength of concrete is f c, the uniaxial tensile strength is normally set to be
0.1 f c. Considering of the DIF, the corresponding dynamic tensile strength enhancement factor
[17]
can reach 5.0 or above
, so here the tensile strength is set to be 0.5 f c as the erosion criterion.
The damage of RC slabs under close-in blast loads is local, the compressive strength of concrete
can be improved to 2 f c because of the local failure effect [18]. And considering the DIF, the
[19],
corresponding dynamic compress strength enhancement factor can reach to 2.0
so here the
compressive strength is set to 4fc as the erosion criterion. The maximum principal strain erosion
[20].
criterion is set to 0.15
The dynamic responses and damage of the slab are derived based on the numerical
simulations. Figure 6 shows the damages of RC slab from both sides.
548
Yanchao Shi,
Sh Zhenhui Liu and Zhong-Xian Li
(a) front side
(b) rear side

Figure 6: comparision of slab damage
As can be seen, for the front side, the current numerical simulation could obtain the circular
cracks in the center part of the slab, and for the rear side, the vertical, transverse and diagonal
cracks
cks could be derived from the numerical simulations. It should be noted here that the
spallation of the RC slab under close-in
close
blast loads is not clearly obtained but the high effective
plastic strain area in the center agree quite well with the spallation.
sp
Therefore the damage of the
Therefore,
slab agrees reasonably
sonably well, which indicates that the current numerical simulation method is
accurate for predicting the blast load on slabs under close-in
close explosions.
It should be noted here that further numerical studies are still undergoing to find the key
factors that will affect the damage degree of the RC slab under close-in
in explosions. A proper
damage criterion will be proposed to do the damage assessment of RC slab under near field
explosions.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The study in this paper compared the simulation results of LS-DYNA
LS DYNA with results of field tests.
It is found that LS-DYNA is reliable in predicting blast loads in close-in
close in explosion if proper mesh
size and proper material parameters are adopted.
The damage of RC slabss under close-in
close in blast loads is local, spallation at the back face is
obvious because of reflected tensile wave produced at the free surface. Spallation will occur if the
tensile stress surpasses the tensile strength of concrete. Crushing and cratering
cratering might also be
observed when impulsive loads are greater than the compress strength of concrete.
Further numerical study is still undergoing to propose a proper damage criterion for damage
assessment of RC slab under close-in
close
explosions.
5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from China National Nature Science
Foundation (grant number51378347 and 51238007) and Tianjin Nature Science Foundation
(grant number12JCQNJC04800) and for supporting this research.
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es Criteria (UFC), UFC 3-340-02,
3
Structures to Resist The Effects of Accidental
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Dynamics USA, (2006).
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Predicting Close-in Air Blast. ASCE, (2012).
[13] Comite Euro-International du Beton. Concrete structures under impact and impulsive loading.
CEB Bulletin 187. Switzerland: Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, (1990).
[14] Malvar, Ross. Review of strain rate effects for concrete in tension. ACI Materials Journal,
96(5):614-616, (1999).
[15] Malvar. Review of static and dynamic properties of steel reinforcing bars. ACI Materials
Journal, 95(5):609-616, (1998).
[16] TasdemirciA, HallIW. Numerical and experimental studies of damage generation in multi-layer
composite materials at high strain rates. Int J Impact Eng; 34(2):189204, (2007).
[17] Xu K, Lu Y. Numerical simulation study of spallation in reinforced concrete plates subjected to
blast loading. Computers & structures, 84(5): 431-438, (2006).
[18] ACI 318-11. Building code requirements for structural concrete and commentary. Farmington
Hills (MI), American Concrete Institute, Detroit, U.S.A, (2011).
[19] Bischoff PH, Perry SH. Compressive behavior of concrete at high strain rate. Materials and
Structures, 24 (144): 425-450, (1991).
[20] Shi Yanchao. Dynamic response and damage mechanism of reinforced concrete structures
under blast loading. Doctoral dissertation of Tianjin University, (2009).
550
th
NUMERICAL PREDICTION OF BLAST WAVE EFFECT DUE TO

THE DESCRIPTION OF THE EXPLOSIVE LOADING
Piotr W. Sielicki
Poznan University of Technology, Institute of Structural Engineering,
Piotrowo 5 street, 60-969 Pozna, Poland
e-mail: <piotr.sielicki@put.poznan.pl> webpage: http://www.cad.put.poznan.pl
Keywords: blast loading, numerical analysis, explosive, finite elements method,
Abstract. This research indicates an overview of some aspects deal with an

assessment of the structural safety under explosive action. Nevertheless, there
are many different methods which give wide range of the results. They depend
strongly on the insight of the designer or researcher and in the fields of interests
which are taken into account. In fact, only a few countries introduced the
explosive loading in official codes. The study contains a comparison between the
empirical vs. the numerical predictions of a blast loading and failure of the
masonry obstacle. The empirical method bases on the experimental data
collected e.g. n US standard Unified Facility Criteria. Furthermore, it was
implemented by the author an open source code. This code allows for prediction
of the blast loading on the frontal walls of the rectangular buildings. However, the
primary part of this study includes also the methodology for the numerical
verification for different shapes of TNT charges. Moreover, it is extended with the
different blast loading outcomes due to the different points of ignition. All of the
numerical consideration were performed using Abaqus Explicit v.6.13 code. The
results allow for aware assessing of the basic properties of explosion for
equivalent mass of TNT for any kind of condensed charges. Furthermore, the
empirical vs. numerical prediction of blast wave loading were verified and partially
presented for a flat obstacle.
1
INTRODUCTION
The prediction of the blast loading effect is a challenge for designers. In order to obtain a
proper results they use many different methods. Nowadays, the most popular there are numerical
approaches which allow for the detailed studies. Off course, these methods must be improved by
an actual verifications. These sets of experiments are crucial, however, they cost a lot of
computational as well as the real time. In that fact many designers try to replace these
experiments by numerical and empirical methods, which base on the previously prepared
complex actual studies.
Author presents the study deals with the numerical prediction of the strength of the masonry
wall under blast action. It takes into account one geometry for the bricks, mortar through the
whole wall structure. Nevertheless, there are prepared many different loading scenarios. The
spherical, rectangular and cylindrical charges are used. Moreover, the different ignition points are
analyzed for all these explosives. The spatial overview of the obstacle and charge geometry are
presented in see Fig1.
551
Piotr W. Sielicki
Figure 1: The masonry structure subjected to the different shapes of an explosive
BLAST LOADING PREDICTION
The loading prediction is one of the most important part for every computational study. Also in
this work it influences strongly on the outcomes. Author prepared the set of examples for different
loading scenarios. These scenarios are completed using finite elements method. They allowed to
obtain the safety area, which can presented in pressure vs. impulse space, according to the TNT
explosive.
The typical course of an pressure in time function in the free ambient air is shown in Fig.2.
Here, P means the overpressure also called the air blast pressure, and t means time. The
presented function appears in some point of the measurements located in standoff distance from
the detonation point.
Figure 2: Pressure in time function in the free air
When the process is initiated, followed by the explosion the pressure wave reaches the
measurement point in the arrival time tA. The pressure suddenly increases to a peak pressure PSO
which exceeds many times the ambient pressure P0. Hence, the pressure decays to P0 in time t0.
Next, after the under pressure value PSO it reaches again the initial barometric pressure. The
peak pressure is usually referred to as the peak side-on overpressure or an incident peak
overpressure. The integral form of a positive pressure is called a positive impulse. These
parameters are important for the rapid description of the loading conditions applied to the
obstacles.
552
Piotr W. Sielicki
2.1 Numerical approach

The credible numerical description of the obstacle behavior followed by the blast wave
propagation through the ambient space is a complex challenge. In this work, author coupled two
different approaches, using the feature of the numerical code called Coupled Eulerian Lagrangian
approach (CEL). It allows for joining together the independent descriptions i.e. Eulerian for the
[1,2]
explosive and ambient air and Lagrangian for the obstacle. Utilizing the set of equations
it is
possible to solve this challenge, e.g. using the following system of equations, Eq. (1):
(1)
The equation of the space are fixed for explosive and the air separately. However, they are
presented in pressure vs. volume functions upgraded with the temperature effects. The behavior
of the charge is realized by the jones Wilkins Lee (JWL) equation of the state, see Eq.(2).

2

exp R1 0 + B1
exp R2 0 +
p( , Em 0 ) = A1
E

0 m0
R1 0
R2 0
(2)
The Ideal Gas (IG) equation reflects the air behabiour, Eq.(3). Nevertheless, this assumption is
correct only if the pressure wave is in compression state. In the case, when the pressure falls rapidly,
[2].
according to Fig.2, and couses the tensions stresses in the air this formulaion gives wrong results
p + pA = R T T Z
(3)
The material properties used in this computations, according to equations of the state Eq.(2) and
Eq.(3) are presented in Table 1.
Table 1: Equations of the state: JWL and IG material properties
[2]
Moreover, the behavior of the masonry is divided into the two brittle sections, one for the
concrete bricks and another for the mortar. These section are described using upgraded formula
[5,6]
for brittle behaviors:
553
Piotr W. Sielicki
(4)
It introduces two invariants: I1 and J 2 which represents the first and the second invariants of
stress and deviatoric stress tensors, respectively. This formula, was initially used to obtain the
description of the strength properties of concrete like materials. In this study describe two brittle
materials, however, with two different sets of properties, according to above table. The parameter
k is of the crucial importance, it is responsible for a shape of a failure surface in the principal
stresses space. Finally, the is Poisson ration.
Moreover, the equation introduced the strain rate effect in order to catch the real strength of
the brittle structure, reflecting the Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) experiment according to [2].
Due to this fact author shows the evolution k for different data, in aspect of the strain rate
functions. In the Fig.3 is presented the evolution of unit strength for concrete brick under different
strain rate d.
Figure 3: The evolution of concrete unit strength in principal stress space for different k
[2]
parameter due to the strain rate
The above behavior is programmed by the author in VUMAT subroutine introducing the strain rate
d as presented in Eq.(5):
(5)
[2]
Moreover, basing on the experimental results

author approximated the changes of the k and
eqv parameters. This approximation are collected in Table 2.
Table 2: Approxcimate of k and eqv for concrete brick
554
Piotr W. Sielicki
2.2 Empirical approach

The numerical prediction of failure shows well approximation of the behavior of the masonry
structure. Nevertheless, each job must be followed by numerous attempts. In this case there were
performed hundreds of numerical analysis employing hundreds hours of CPU time.
Author tries to take into consideration the numerically obtained results for a rapid prediction of
any kind of masonry wall. For to purpose of this work author prepare an empirical formula, ceded
in free programming language Scilab. Author programmed a method introduced in Unified Facility
[4]
Criteria (UFC) standards , deals with the external blast loads on structures (Example 2A-10) to
recurrent assessment of the obstacle safety. This example shows how to calculate the loading
pressure on the front walls of the rectangular shape building. It gives the pressure vs. time
function as a result. Author introduced a previously obtained outcome to compare with the
empirical prediction of blast loading. Moreover, the code enables it to calculate a probability of
failure for masonry under high pressure action. The results are based on the numerical
verifications. The exemplary solution for explosive loading prediction is presented in Fig.4.
Figure 4: Blast loading prediction using empirical approach

(standoff 10m, explosive 20kg)
MASONRY SAFETY UNDER BLAST ACTION
The numerical prediction of the obstacle failure costs many time and experience in particular. In
that fact credible empirical approaches are necessary. The reason for basing the correlations on
these simplified methods is presented in this part as well as the limitations of this approach. The
results obtained numerically are presented in Fig. 5. This figure illustrates a partial outcome from this
study. It shows the probability of survival the masonry structure. The marked point in the graphs
represent the numerical analyzes which must be performed. Moreover, the dotted curves approximate
the safety regions. These results are presented for the cubical shape charge located 1.2 m above the
ground. Nevertheless, the mass and standoff distance was in range 1:20 kg and 1:20 m respectively.
The explosives were initiated in the central point. These curves were next transferred into the
empirical code. The code assesses average pressure and impulse and locates the loading point
according to these curves. Then, the probability of survival is presented.
Let us consider the recurrent masonry wall. The geometry of separate wall according to Fig.1.
These masonry are fixed into the reinforced concrete frames, and they construct the frontal elevation
of the two stories building. This engineering structure is 20 meter wide. The full dimensions of this
building are 7.5 by 20 meters. The loading conditions for 20kg of TNT, in 10m distance are obtained
empirically, for whole frontal elevation. There are marked in green, Fig.5.
555
Piotr W. Sielicki
Figure 5: Safety curves for combination of blast overpressure vs. impulse, for cubical TNT
explosives, detonated centrally
The obtained loading, Fig.4, allowed to designate the point which characterizes the loading
conditions in the closer point, between the frontal wall and the explosive. This point is located
between the approximate curves reflecting the probability of survival. In this case this probability
is equal to 99%.
4
CONCLUSIONS
The prediction of the blast loading is crucial aspect in the assessment of the blast resistant
structures and the safety. In the presented study, author prepared and solved a complex example of
the masonry wall behavior. Moreover, this structure was subjected to many different loading schemes.
The results allows for obtaining an empirical solution of the masonry failure under wide range of
charge mass and standoff distance combination.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The support of ministry of science and higher education of the republic of Poland under the grant
UOD-DEM-1-203/001 is kindly acknowledged
REFERENCES
[1] T. Belytschko, W.K. Liu, and B. Moran. Nonlinear finite elements for continua and structures, John
Wiley and Sons, England (2000),
[2] P.W. Sielicki, Masonry Failure Under Unusual Impulse Loading, Publishing House of Poznan
University of Technology, pp. 130,Pozna, Poland (2013)
[3] T.J. Massart, R.H.J. Preelings, and M.G.D. Geers. Structural Damage Analysis of Masonry Walls
using Computational Homogenization, volume 16. International Journal of Damage Mechanics,
(2007),
[4] UFC 3-340-02 Navy US Army Manual, Departments of the army. Structures to resist the Effects of
accidental Explosions. (2008),
[5] W.T Burzynski. Studium nad hipotezami wytezenia. Technical Science Academy, Lviv, (1928),
[6] M.G.D. Geers, R. de Borst, and R.H.J. Peerlings. Damage and crack modeling in single-edge and
double- edge notched concrete beams, volume 65. Engineering Fracture Mechanics (2000).
.
556
th
EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF LOCAL DAMAGE RESISTANT

PERFORMANCE OF FIBER REINFORCED CEMENTITIOUS
COMPOSITE PLATES SUBJECTED TO HIGH VELOCITY IMPACT
Hironori Ueno*, Masuhiro Beppu and Atsuhisa Ogawa
*National Defense Academy,Japan
1-10-20 Hashirimizu,Yokosuka,Japan
e-mail:<em52054@nda.ac.jp>
Keywords: high velocity impact, fiber reinforced cementitious composite, local damage,
perforation, scabbing
Abstract. In recent years, explosive incidents due to terrorists attacks or

industrial accidents have increased in the world. These disasters caused local
damage of concrete structures due to a secondary fragment impact generated by
the explosive loads. Hence, it is necessary to develop a protective design of vital
structures like nuclear power plant facilities which need to take account of the
high velocity impact effects. This study presents the local damage resistant
performance of fiber reinforced cementitious composite plates subjected to the
high velocity impact by a steel projectile. In a series of tests, a steel projectile with
a mass of 46 g was used and three fiber reinforced cementitous composite plates
were employed. To examine a failure mode of the specimen, the high velocity
impact tests, in which impact velocity varied between 200m/s and 400m/s, were
conducted for each plate until penetration failure occurred. An estimating
procedure of the penetration and scabbing limit thicknesses was proposed with
reduction factors multiplied by the modified NDRC formula.
1
INTRODUCTION
Unexpected explosion accidents and terrorists attacks have happened worldwide. When the
explosion disasters took place, a secondary damage occurred frequently due to a high velocity
impact of explosive device debris and fragments produced by the explosion. When the debris
collides to a concrete member at high speed, the concrete member suffers not only global
damage like bending or shear failure but also local damage like penetration, spalling, scabbing
and perforation. For socially important structures, therefore, it is necessary to establish a
protective design method and a reinforcing method for both the global damage and the local
damage. To date, a few studies on the local damage of plain concrete or reinforced concrete
1),2)
plates with fiber or steel sheets were performed . Recently, fiber reinforced cementitious
composite, in which short fibers mixed with concrete or cement matrix, has been used in
preventing exfoliation from a concrete member under seismic loading or deteriorated tunnel
lining. The fiber reinforced cementitious composites show remarkable toughness in tension due to
the cracking dispersion and bridging effects by the short fibers. Fiber reinforced cementitious
_______________________
Associate Professor, National Defense Academy, Japan

Fibers and Industrial Materials Division, KURARAY CO., LTD., Japan
557
Hironori Ueno, Masuhiro Beppu and Atsuhisa Ogawa
composites are expected to improve the brittle properties of concrete and suppress the local
damage of concrete members, when subjected to impact loading. Yamada et al. conducted high
velocity impact experiments of 11.5mm thickness mortar plates reinforced with polyethylene
fibers. The experiment showed that damage was significantly reduced and dynamic fracture
3)
mode, i.e. pull out and break of fibers, was different from static loading . Shiomi conducted high
velocity impact tests of fiber reinforced cementitious composite plates with polyvinyl alcohol or
polypropylene fibers, and it was reported that impact resistance of the reinforced plates was
4)
significantly improved. Morita et al. reported that a concrete plate reinforced by rebars and short
5),6)
fibers showed significantly less damage than a concrete plate without reinforcement
.
However, these studies focused on the scabbing damage of the fiber reinforced cementitious
composite plates rather than the perforation. In this study, high velocity impact tests of three fiber
reinforced cementitious composite plates were conducted until the perforation failure occurred.
Based on the experimental results, reduction factors which is multiplied by the modified NDRC
equation were proposed to estimate the penetration and scabbing limit thicknesses of the
reinforced plates.
2
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
2.1 TEST CONDITIONS

A schematic diagram of a projectile launching system is shown in Figure 1. This system can
launch a projectile with a mass of between 50g and 1000g, and with velocity of between 100m/s
and 500m/s, by adjusting compressed air pressure. A hemispherical steel projectile with a mass
of 46g and a diameter of 25mm is shown in Figure 2. The projectile is launched with a nylon
sabot. Impact velocity of the projectile was measured by a laser type speed sensor. Size of a
fiber reinforced cementitous composite plate is 50cm in length, 50cm in width and 6cm in
thickness. The specimen was fixed two sides by using F clamps and wood plates. Test
parameters were material type of fiber reinforced cementitious composite and impact velocity of
the projectile. The impact velocity varied 200 m/s, 250m/s, 300m/s and 400m/s.
Experimental cases are shown in Table 1. Impact tests were conducted in 11 cases according
to the test parameters. Measurement items are a failure mode, spalling diameter, penetration
depth, scabbing diameter and depth. Failure mode has been generally classified in three modes,
i.e. spalling, scabbing and perforation. The penetration and scabbing depths were defined as the
deepest depths in spalling and scabbing areas, respectively. Spalling and scabbing diameters are
defined as averaged diameters measured in three directions.
2.2 MATERIAL PROPERTIES OF FIBER REINFORCED CEMENTITIOUS COMPOSITES
Material properties and type of short fibers used in the fiber reinforced cementitious composite
are shown in Table 2. Fibers mixed in PPFRC are PP made of polypropylene, and fibers mixed in
VFRC and DFRC are PVA-1 and PVA-2 made of polyvinyl alcohol, respectively.
PP and PVA are mixed in concrete matrix and PVA-2 is mixed with cement matrix. Each
mixing ratio is 2 vol%. Diameters and lengths of PP and PVA-1 fibers are 0.7mm and 30mm,
respectively. A diameter and length of PVA-2 fiber is 0.1mm and 12mm, respectively, which means
that PVA-2 is the thinnest and shortest fiber among the three fibers. The tensile strength of PVA2 is 2.4 times that of PP, and the Young's modulus of PVA-2 is 2.8 times that of PP.
PP has high adhesive ability between concrete and fibers because the surface of PP has
uneven shape. On the other hand, PVA-1 and PVA-2 are superior in hydrophilicity and chemically
7)
bonds with cement or concrete matrix . The compressive strength of PPFRC, VFRC and DFRC are
2
2
the same as 43 N/mm . The young's modulus of VFRC and DFRC are 29 kN/mm and that of
2
PPFRC is 22 kN/mm .
Figure 1: Projectile launching apparatus
558
A dynamic uni-axial tensile test of the fiber reinforced cementitious composite was conducted by
8)
Kanda et al . The compressive strength of the three materials was slightly different from that in
2
this study, that is, the compressive strength of PPFRC, VFRC and DFRC was, 47.0N/mm ,
2
2
48.7N/mm and 40.3N/mm , respectively. The test investigated the strain rate effect of the tensile
strength, that is, a ratio of the dynamic strength to the static one. The test result is shown in
9)
Figure 4, where the increasing ratio of plain concrete is drawn from the reference . The figure
demonstrated that the tensile strength of the fiber reinforced cementitious composites and plain
-1
concrete increased with an increase of strain rate. At a strain rate of 10 (1/s), the dynamic
increase factors of plain concrete, PPFRC, VFRC and DFRC are 1.6, 2.5, 1.9 and 3.6,
respectively. This fact indicated that the dynamic tensile strength of the fiber reinforced
cementitious composite are much higher than that of plain concrete.
Table 1: Experimental case and result

NO.
test case
setting
speed
m/s)
Impact
speed
m/s)
failure mode
penetration
depth
(mm)
spall diameter
(mm)
scabbing
depth
(mm)
scabbing
diammeter
(mm)
PPFRC-4
200
198.62
spalling
14.6
77.9
PPFRC-2
200
186.92
spalling
13.9
80.0
PPFRC-3
250
250.62
spalling
14.3
80.5
PPFRC-1
300
294.74
perforation
91.8
178.9
VFRC-4
200
207.97
spalling
14.1
70.8
VFRC-3
250
244.78
spalling
16.3
68.5
VFRC-1
300
296.77
spalling
19.8
89.3
31.7
199.8
VFRC-2
400
407.69
perforation
92.5
210.9
DFRC-3
250
241.66
spalling
17.5
66.0
10
DFRC-1
300
289.9
spalling
20.3
56.7
11
DFRC-2
400
408.32
scabbing
108.1
Figure 2: Rigid steel projectile
170.5
165.7
Figure 3: Installation conditions of the

specimen
Table 2: Material property of short fibers

tensile
young's
density
diameter length
strength
modulus
(mm)
(mm)
(g/cm3)
(N/mm2) (kN/mm2)
PP
0.7
30
500
10
0.91
PVA-1
0.66
30
900
23
1.30
PVA-2
0.1
12
1,200
28
1.30
type
559
increasing rate of tensile strength
4.5
4
3.5
3
Plain concrete
PP
VFRC
DFRC
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
0.0000001
0.00001
0.001
0.1
strain rate(1/s)
8)
Figure 4: Increment of tensile strength versus strain rate
3 TEST RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1 FAILURE MODE
Test results are summarized in Table 1. Since plain concrete plates were not employed in this
test program, the failure mode of a plain concrete plate is calculated by using the modified NDRC
10)
formula . According to the previous study, the modified NDRC formula slightly overestimated the
1)
penetration depth and the failure mode of the experiment conducted in this test condition .
Equation (1) evaluates the penetration depth, and Equations (2) and (3) estimate the scabbing
and perforation limit plate thicknesses, respectively.
G (x D ) = 1.513 10
NWD
(Vo D)1.8
(1)
D f'c
2
G (x D ) = (x D )
G (x D ) = (x D ) - 1
x 2D
x > 2D
(s D) = 7.91(x D) + 5.06(x D)2
x
0.65
D
(2)
(e D) = 3.19(x D) + 0.718(x D)2
x
1.35
D
(3)
Where, x: the penetration depth (cm), s: the scabbing limit plate thickness (cm), e: the
perforation limit plate thickness (cm), N: the nose shape factor (0.84), W: the mass of projectile
(kg), D: the diameter of the projectile (cm), V0: the impact velocity of the projectile (m/s), f'c: the
2
compressive strength of concrete (N/mm ).
The failure mode of plain concrete plates of 6cm thickness calculated by the modified NDRC
formula is scabbing at impact velocity of 250 m/s, and impact velocities of 300m/s and 400m/s
cause perforation.
Failure condition of PPFRC plates is shown in Figure 5. In the cases of impact velocities of
200m/s and 250m/s, failure modes were spalling. It can be seen that diagonal cracks toward the
back surface occurred in the cross section of the specimen. Further, in the case of impact velocity
of 250 m/s, cracks in the parallel direction to the surface of the plate occurs in the area
surrounded by the diagonal cracks. It is considered that these cracks would be caused due to two
reasons, that is, punching shear deformation and the stress wave interaction. Consequently, the
failure mode developed into perforation in the case of impact velocity of 300m/s, as the
penetration connected with sccabing. In comparison with the failure mode of a plain concrete
plate, PPFRC suppressed the scabbing due to the fiber reinforcement in the case of impact
velocities of 200m/s and 250m/s. But, it became the same failure mode as compared with plain
concrete, i.e. perforation, in the case of impact velocity of 300m/s.
Failure condition of VFRC is shown in Figure 6. In the case of impact velocity of 250m/s,
failure mode was spalling. Circumferential crack have appeared on the back surface, and
diagonal cracks
560

200m/s
Frontsurface
Cross section
Back surface
250m/s
Frontsurface
Cross section
Back surface
300m/s
Frontsurface
Cross section
Back surface
Figure 5: Failure condition of PPFRC

250m/s
Frontsurface
Cross section
Back surface
300m/s
Frontsurface
Cross section
Back surface
400m/s
Frontsurface
Cross section
Back surface
Figure 6: Failure condition of VFRC

250m/s
Frontsurface
Cross section
Back surface
300m/s
Frontsurface
Cross section
Back surface
400m/s
Frontsurface
Cross section
Back surface
Figure 7: Failure condition of DFRC
561
were generated in the cross section. In the case of impact velocity of 300m/s, failure mode was
scabbing. Two or three diagonal cracks were generated outside the scabbed area in the cross
section. In the case of impact velocity of 400 m/s, failure mode was perforation.
Failure condition of DFRC is shown in Figure 7. In the case of impact velocities of 250 m/s and
300 m/s, failure modes were spalling. In the case of impact velocity of 250 m/s, some diagonal
cracks can be clearly seen in the cross section. In the case of impact velocity of 300 m/s,
diagonal cracks developed in the cross section and also a center part of the back surface are
swelled. It could be noticed that the scabbing was suppressed by bridging effect of the shortest
and thinnest fibers. In the case of impact velocity of 400 m/s, the failure mode was perforation.
Not a few diagonal cracks initiated outside the perforated area.
3.2 PENETRATION DEPTH
Penetration depths of each fiber reinforced cementitious composites are summarized in Figure
8. The penetration depth of a plain concrete plate is calculated by the analytical method proposed
11)
by Miwa et al . The figure indicated that the penetration depth of all the materials increased with
the increasing impact velocity. In comparison with the penetration depth between the fiber
reinforced cementitious composite plates and a plain concrete plate, the difference of the
penetration depth between them is around 10% at maximum.
3.3 SCABBING AND PENFORATION LIMIT THICKNESSES
The failure mode of the fiber reinforced cementitious composite plates observed in this
experiments and previous study using 8cm thicknesses plates conducted by Shiomi are
summarized in Figure 9. In addition, the scabbing limit plate thickness and the perforation limit
plate thickness calculated by the modified NDRC formula are drawn. In the figures, reduction
factors and , which are newly proposed to fit the experimental results, are multiplied by the
modified NDRC formula. This reduction factors show the reduction ratio of each limit thickness of
the fiber reinforced cementitious composite plates to that of a plain concrete plate.
Sets of the reduction factors are as follows; ( = 0.85, = 1.00) for PPFRC , (=0.75=0.90)
for VFRC and (=0.70=0.90) for DFRC. These values demonstrated that PPFRC, VFRC and
DFRC plates reduced the sccabing limit plate thickness approximately 15%, 25% and 30%, as
compared with a plain concrete plates. VFRC and DFRC plates reduced the perforation limit
thickness approximately 10 %, but the perforation limit thickness of PPFRC plate was equivalent
8)
to that of a plain concrete plate. According to the dynamic tensile test conducted by Kanda et al. ,
the dynamic fracture energies of DFRC and VFRC were highly increased unlike PPFRC, because
of the dynamic adhesive properties between concrete matrix and the fiber. The dynamic fracture
energies and the impact resistance of PPFRC was not efficiently enhanced at the high strain rate
inversely.
It should be noted that the difference between the perforation and the scabbing limit
thicknesses of fiber reinforced cementitious composite plates gets smaller in the higher impact
velocity. When the fiber reinforced cementitious composite plate is subjected to high velocity
impact, the fiber reinforced cementitious composite plate suppresses the local damage by the
bridging effect of the fibers, but the penetration depth grows deeper than a plain concrete plate in
the same failure mode. For this reason, the difference between the scabbing and perforation limit
thicknesses gets close in the high strain rate.
penetration depth (mm)
30
25
Plain concrete
PPFRC
VFRC
DFRC
20
15
10
5
0
200
250
impact speed (m/s)
Figure 8: Penetration depth

562
300

10.0
9.0
plate thickness (cm)
8.0
7.0
6.0
5.0
4.0
3.0
Scabbing limit plate thickness(=0.85)

Perforation limit plate thickness(=1.00)
Spalling
Scabbing
Perforation
2.0
1.0
0.0
150
200
250
300
350
impact speed (m/s)
400
450
10.0
10.0
9.0
9.0
8.0
8.0
(a) PPFRC
7.0
6.0
5.0
4.0
3.0

Spalling
Scabbing
Perforation
2.0
1.0
0.0
150
200
250
300
350
impact speed (m/s)
400
7.0
6.0
5.0
4.0
3.0
Spalling
Perforation
2.0
1.0
0.0
450
150
(b) VFRC
200
250
300
350
impact speed (m/s)
400
450
(c) DFRC
Figure 9: Comparing scabbing and perforation plate thickness

4
CONCLUSION
This study is intended to examine the reducing effect of local damage due to the short fiber
reinforcement by conducting high velocity impact tests of fiber reinforced cementitous composite
plates. The conclusion obtained in this study are summarized as follows.
(1) PPFRC, VFRC and DFRC plates showed less local damage than a plain concrete plate.
However, when the impact speed exceeds a certain level (PPFRC plate: 300 m/s, VFRC and
DFRC plates: 400 m/s), the plates showed, perforation, the same failure as a plain concrete plate.
(2) Penetration depths of the fiber reinforced cementitious composite plates were approximately
equivalent to that of a plain concrete plate.
(3) The reduction factors, which are multiplied by the modified NDRC formula, were proposed to
evaluate the limit thickness of the fiber reinforced cementitious composite plates. PPFRC, VFRC
and DFRC plates reduced the scabbing limit thicknesses about 15%, 25% and 30% respectively
as compared with a plain concrete plate. VFRC and DFRC plates reduced the perforation limit
thicknesses approximately 10% as compared with a plain concrete plate, but PPFRC plates
couldnt reduce the penetration limit thickness compared with a plain concrete plate.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 25289139.
REFERENCES
[1] Beppu, M., MIWA, K., OHNO, T. and SHIOMI, M.: An experimental study on the local damage of
concrete plate due to high velocity impact of steel projectile., Journal of JSCE, Vol.63, No.1,
pp.178-191, March 2007.
[2] Beppu, M., MIWA, K. and TAKAHASHI, J.: Failure mechanism of the scabbing of concrete plates
subjected to high velocity impact and effects of fiber sheet reinforcement, Journal of JSCE, A1,
563
Vol.68, No.2, pp.398-412, June 2012.

[3] YAMADA, M., TANABE, Y. and KUNIEDA, M.: Fracture of Polyethylene Fiber Reinforced Mortar
under High-Velocity Projectile Impact, Journal of the Society of Materials Science, Vol.60, No.4,
pp.325-331, April 2011.
[4] Shiomi, K.: The impact resistance performance of short fiber reinforced concrete plate subjected
to high velocity impact of rigid projectile), National Defense Academy Undergraduate Thesis,
March 2011
[5] MORITA, T., BEPPU, M. and SUZUKI, M.: Impact resistant performance of polypropylene short
fiber reinforced concrete subjected to the high velocity impact, J. Struct. Constr Eng., AIJ, Vol.78
No.684, pp.319-327, Feburuary 2013.
[6] MORITA, T., BEPPU, M. and SUZUKI, M.: An experimental study on the effect of rebar and short
fiber reinforcement in the local failure behavior of concrete plate subjected to high velocity impact
of rigid projectile, Proceedings of the Japan Concrete Institute, Vol.35, No.2, pp.667-672, July
2013.
[7] C. Redon, V. C. Li, C. Wu, Hoshiro, H., Saito, T. and Ogawa, A.: Measuring and modifying
interface properties of PVA fibers in ECC matrix, Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering,
November/December, pp.399-406, 2001
[8] KANDA, K.: An experimental study on dynamic tensile properties of fiber reinforced cementitious
composites, National Defense Academy Undergraduate Thesis, March 2013.
[9] FUJIKAKE, K., SHINOZAKI, Y., OHNO, T., MIZUNO, J. and SUZUKI, A.:Post-Peak and
strain-softening behaviors of concrete materials in compression under rapid loading, Journal
of JSCE, Vol.44, No.627, pp.37-54, August 1999.
[10] R. P. Kennedy: A review of procedures for the analysis and design of concrete structures to resist
missile impact effects, Nuclear Engineering and Design37pp.183-2031976
[11] MIWA, K., BEPPU, M., OHNO, T., ITOH, M. and KATAYAMA. M.: An estimation method of local
damage in concrete plates by the modified theoretical model, Journal of JSCE,Vol.65, No.4,
pp.844-858, October 2009.
564
th
RESPONSE OF CFRP REINFORCED CONCRETE MASONRY UNIT

WALL AGAINST SMALL STAND-OFF DISTANCE MAIL BOMB
Jun Wan* and Chengqing Wu
*
Department of Civil Engineering, College of Basic Education, National University of

Defense Technology, Changsha 410073, China
e-mail: <wanjun_cs75@126.com>
Keywords: Terrorism; Blast load; CMU Wall; CFRP; Strengthen.
Abstract. This paper presents blasting test and numerical simulation results of a
one-way concrete masonry unit (CMU) wall strengthened by the simple layer
carbon fiber reinforced plastic(CFRP) against the 0.4kg TNT (a small mail bomb)
at a stand-off distance of 0.15m. In the numerical simulation, each CMU was
modeled with eight-noded solid continuum elements, and the CFRP layer was
modeled with four-noded shell elements. A comparison of three different
computational methods such as the fluid structure interaction(FSI) method, the
ConWep load method, coupling the load blast enhanced with multi-material ALE
(Enhanced ALE)method were conducted, and the influences of adopting the
adaptive solid to SPH method within the CMU elements adjacent to the explosive
charge were also discussed.
These results indicated that the wall usually failed in the local areas close to the
explosive charge. To obtain the reasonable failure patterns of CFRP retrofitted
CMU wall within an acceptably computational cost, it is preferable to adopt the
ConWep load method. It is also better to avoid employing the adaptive solid to
SPH method within the CMU elements in the simulation, because it should bring
the computational difficulty of the contact between the SPH and shell element,
resulting in the unreasonable results in recent LS-DYNA software.
1
INTRODUCTION
In todays society, there are increasing risk of terrorist bomb attacks aiming at the popular
facilities, such as residential buildings, office buildings, and restaurants. Most injuries are caused
by the disintegration and fragmentation of exterior walls that are propelled at high velocities by
the blast. Ensuring that the exterior walls of a structure are able to withstand a blast without
producing deadly fragments is a critical issue of minimizing injuries to building occupants.
Generally, the concrete masonry unit (CMU) wall functions as the exterior wall of common
building, which is not designed to withstand the blast loading. Therefore, the CMU exterior walls
of high risk facilities must be strengthened to improve the blast resistance. The resistance of the
wall to blast loads can be enhanced by increasing the mass and ductility of the wall with
additional concrete and steel reinforcement, which can be time consuming and expensive. For
this reason, a need has arisen for cost effective methods of reinforcing existing concrete and
masonry walls.
______________________________
School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering, The University of Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
e-mail: <cheng.wu@adelaide.edu.au>
565
Jun Wan and Chengqing Wu
Over recent years, research toward developing lightweight, expedient methods of

strengthening the CMU walls have been conducted. A wide range of potential external
reinforcement materials, including carbon fiber reinforced plastic(CFRP) and glass fiber
reinforced plastic(GFRP), aramid and geotextile fabrics, spray-on polymers, etc., have been
1234
investigated .These methods demonstrated the ability to strengthen the CMU wall against the
blast loads. However, current research mainly concern on the car bomb, and the reinforcement of
5
the concrete masonry unit wall against the small stand-off distance mail bomb was rare . In this
paper, the methods of experiment and numerical simulation were adopted to analysis the failure
pattern of CFRP-reinforced CMU wall against the blast load.
2
EXPLOSIVE TEST
2.1 Test procedures

Before the blasting test, a concrete frame was built to support the CMU wall. The inner height
and width of the frame was 1.50m and 1.10m. And the sections of its beam and column were
0.2m0.2m. A 1/2 scale one-way CMU wall was prepared for blasting test, as shown in Fig.1. The
walls width was 1.0m. The dimension of the single CMU block was 190mm190mm90 mm, and
the thickness of its outer edge was 20mm.
The CMU wall was strengthened with one-dimensional carbon fiber strips. The width and
thickness of the strips were 30cm and 0.167mm. In the blasting tests, there were four
CFRP/epoxy strips adhered on the interior side of the wall by the epoxy adhesive. And these
strips were arranged along the vertical direction, two adjacent strips were overlapped for about
6~7cm.
Two structural steel angles, L80mm80mm10mm, were placed around the top and bottom
end of the CFRP/epoxy strips. One edge of the angle was bolted to the top and bottom beam of
the concrete frame, and the other edge was adhered to the CFRP/epoxy strips with epoxy
adhesive.
In the explosive experiment, the wall was subjected to the 0.4kg TNT explosive charge at a
stand-off distance of 0.15m. And the location of the charge is near the center of the wall. Fig.1
shows the CMU wall and the explosive charge.
Figure 1: CFRP-reinforced CMU Wall and Explosive Charge
2.2 Experimental Results

A CASIO EX-ZR300 high-speed camera was used to catch the transient response of CFRPreinforced CMU wall at 480 frames per second. The No.1~No.6 frame images of the CFRPreinforced wall after the detonation are shown in Fig.2. And the posttest front and rear views of
CFRP-reinforced CMU wall are shown in Fig.3.
566
(a) No.1 frame
(b) No.2 frame
(d) No.4 frame
(e) No.5 frame
(c) No.3 frame
(f) No.6 frame
Figure 2: Transient Response of the CMU Wall

In the blasting tests, the central area of wall was destroyed and a big hole occured. Measured
from the front side, the height and width of the hole were 90cm and 40cm. But measured from the
rear side, the width was about 30cm. The other areas of the wall were intact. In the central area
of the wall, there was a CFRP strip (about 5cm wide) failed in tension rupture along the horizontal
direction and peeled away from the wall. And adjacent the central area, there were CFRP strips
(about 15cm wide) failed in tension rupture along the vertical direction and delaminated from the
wall.
(a) front side
(b) rear side
Figure 3: Posttest View of CFRP-reinforced CMU Wall
NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS
The three-dimensional finite element model was constructed for the CFRP-reinforced CMU wall
with the MSC.Patran software. And the transient response of the wall was analyzed by the LS-DYNA
finite element software (Version 7.0.0).
3.1 Finite element models
3.1.1 Element selection
During the constructing of the finite element model, the mass of mortar layer were transferred
to the nearby CMU blocks. By this means, the decrease of computational efficiency due to the
smaller meshes of the mortar layer could be avoided. Each CMU block was meshed with 8-noded
solid elements with single integration point. Interfaces between blocks were defined as contact
567
surfaces. And there were 11, 5, 6 elements along the length, width and height directions of the
block. The CMU block also had one element through its thickness.
The CFRP laminate was meshed with 4-noded shell element with three integration points
through its thickness. In the numerical simulation, the transient response of the CMU wall was
mostly concerned. At the same time, the concrete frame and structural steel angles had much
higher stiffness, so they were meshed with rigid element. Fig.4 shows the finite element models
for no CFRP-reinforced CMU wall and CFRP-reinforced CMU wall.
(a) No reinforced
(b) CFRP-reinforced
Figure 4: Finite Element Model of CMU Wall

3.1.2 Material model and properties
MAT-PSEUDO-TENSOR (Material_16) material model was employed for the CMU blocks. In
this material model, a MohrCoulomb failure surface with a Tresca limit was used to describe the
mechanical behavior. And the cohesion was taken as zero and friction angle was indirectly
defined by the pressure-stress relationship. Until the Tresca limit, the pressurestress
6
relationship was a linear function and could be given as
p = 0.05932 2632
(1)
where is stress (kPa). In this material model, the volume reducing under high pressure was
also considered. From the same literature as above, the pressurevolume relationship for the
CMU was described with a simple equation of state that describes pressure as a linear function of
volumetric strain:
p = 6.9 106
(2)
where p is pressure (kPa) and is volumetric strain.

The material properties of CMU are shown in Table 1. In MAT-PSEUDO-TENSOR
(Material_16) material model, the strengthening factor under higher (compressive) strain rates
was also considered, which is shown in Table 2.
Mechanical properties
CMU
Density(kg/m )
Shear modulus(MPa)
Poisson ratio
Maximum principal stress for failure(MPa)
1922
5175
0.15
6.5
Table 1: Material Properties of CMU

Strain rate
Strengthening factor
1.0e-6
1.0e-4
1.0e-2
1.0
50
100
1
1.1
1.2
1.35
1.5
2.2
Table 2: Strain Rate Strengthening factor of CMU
568
MAT_ENHANCED_COMPOSITE_DAMAGE (Material_54) was employed to model the

behaviors of CFRP laminate under the blast load. This material model was based on the ChangChang failure criterion for assessing lamina failure. The criterion accounted for non-linear shear
stress-strain behavior and the post-stress degradation. Four failure modes including tensile fiber
mode, compressive fiber mode, tensile matrix mode and compressive matrix mode were
considered. The material properties of CFRP laminate are shown in Table 3.
In the numerical simulation, the deformation of the concrete frame and structural steel angle
were neglected, MAT_RIGID (Material_20) was employed to model their behaviors, the density of
3
3
concrete frame and structural steel angle were 1922 kg/m and 7810 kg/m respectively.
Mechanical properties
CFRP
Transverse modulus (GPa)
E1
E2
In-plane shear modulus (GPa)
G21
5.24
Out-of-plane shear modulus (GPa)
G23
v21
2.24
Density (kg/m )
Longitudinal modulus (GPa)
Minor Poissons ratio
1580
138
9.65
0.021
0.021
Longitudinal compressive strength (MPa)
v31
XT
XT
Transverse tensile strength (MPa)
YT
57
Transverse compressive strength (MPa)
YC
S
228
Through thickness Poisson ratio

Longitudinal tensile strength(MPa)
In-plane shear strength (MPa)

Maximum strain for fiber tension (%)
Maximum strain for fiber compression (%)
2280
1440
71
t
c
Table 3: Material properties of CFRP
1.38
1.175
7
3.1.3 Contact surfaces

Accurate modeling of the contact behavior of the CMU blocks, concrete beams and CFRP
laminates under the blast load was a great challenge. There were three kind contact behaviors in
the blasting tests: (1) Contact in the interfaces between the different CMU blocks and between
CMU blocks and concrete beams. CONTACT_TIEBREAK_SURFACE_TO_SURFACE was used
to model their behaviors. (2) Contact between the interior surfaces of broken CMU blocks under
the blast load. CONTACT_AUTOMATIC_SURFACE_TO_SURFACE was employed to model its
behavior. (3) Contact in the interfaces between the CMU blocks and CFRP strips.
CONTACT_TIEBREAK_SURFACE_TO_SURFACE was used to model its behavior. AUTOMATIC
SURFACE TO SURFACE TIEBREAK model adopted the failure criterion defined by the following
relationship:
n
nf
where
and
sf
sf
and
s
+
sf
are the normal and shear stresses, respectively at the interface, whilst
are the normal tensile and shear stresses at failure, respectively. In this paper, the
8
(3)
nf
nf
and
were adopted as 2.76MPa and 3.11MPa .
3.1.4 Blast load
In this paper, the ConWep load method was mainly used to compute the blast load acted on
the wall. With this method, the air blast pressure acted on the wall was computed empirically with
ConWep data, and the pressure was calculated based on the following equations:
569
P = Pr cos 2 + Pi (1 + cos 2 2 cos )

where
surface,
(4)
is the angle of incidence, defined by the tangent to the wave front and the targets
Pr is the reflected pressure, and Pi is the incident pressure.
3.2 Numerical Results

The transient response of the CFRP-reinforced CMU wall and the CFRP were shown in Fig.5
and Fig.6. In the central area of the wall, the blast load was relatively isotropic. The wall failed to
fragmentation in the central area, but adjacent to the central area of the wall, the CFRP strips
rupture mainly occurred along the vertical direction. Its reason was that: (1) the CFRP strips was
adhered on the CMU wall along the vertical direction; (2) CFRP strips transverse tensile strength
was much lower than the longitudinal tensile strength. The numerical results were coincident with
the test results.
(a) 0s
(b) 0.01s
(c) 0.02s
(d) 0.03s
Figure 5: Transient response of CFRP-reinforced CMU wall
(a) 0s
(b) 0.01s
(c) 0.02s
(d) 0.03s
Figure 6: Transient response of CFRP
3.3 Other simulation methods

3.3.1 Fluid structure interaction method
In this simulation, the fluid structure interaction(FSI) method was also adopted to compute the
transient response of the CFRP-reinforced CMU wall. Within the FSI method, the details of the
explosion detonation, the transmitting of detonation wave, and the flowing of the air around the
wall could be analyzed, as shown in Fig.7. But due to the wall subjected to small stand-off
distance explosive, the Euler elements of air and explosive should had high-fidelity mesh, and
this resulted in very high computational costs. If no high-fidelity mesh, the computational pressure
acted on the wall would be obviously small than the experiment results. When the transient
response of wall during the period of 0~5ms were computed, the computational costs of FSI
method, ConWep method and Enhanced ALE method varied largely, despite they had the same
finite element models of CMU wall and CFRP, which are shown in Table 3. Obviously, the
ConWep method was the most efficient in the numerical simulations.
570
Explosive
Air
Wall
Figure 7 Air Pressure Computed with FSI Method

Computational method
Computational time(h)
ConWep load method

Enhanced ALE method
FSI method
2
9
17.5
Table 3: Computational Costs of three methods

3.3.2 Coupling the load blast enhanced with multi-material ALE method
The coupling the load blast enhanced with multi-material ALE (Enhanced ALE) method was
also employed to compute the transient response of the CMU wall, shown in Fig.8. In this method,
due to the wall subjected to small stand-off distance explosive, and the boundary Euler element
of the air was more nearer to the explosive, the computed pressure on the boundary Euler
element was lower precision, finally it lead the computed pressure acted on the wall was also
lower precision.
Table 3 shows that coupling the load blast enhanced with multi-material ALE method could
decrease the computational costs than FSI method, but it was not suitable for this case, because
the distance of the wall and the charge was small.
Air
Wall
Figure 8: Air Pressure Computed with Enhanced ALE Method

3.3.3 Adaptive solid to SPH method
In the above-mentioned numerical simulations, the disintegration and fragmentation course of
the CMU blocks under blast load were not efficiently simulated. In this section, the adaptive solid
to SPH method was employed for the CMU elements adjacent to the explosive charge. It was
found that the adaptive solid to SPH method could been used well when the CMU wall was not
strengthened by the CFRP, as shown in Fig.9. but it could not been used well when the CFRP
laminate was added. In the recent LS-DYNA software, the contact algorithm between the SPH
element and shell element were still not mature, this may be the most important reason for no
reasonable results in the simulation. So adopting CONTACT_TIEBREAK_SURFACE_TO_
SURFACE to modeling of the contact behaviors between the blocks and CFRP laminate, and
employing the solid and shell element for the CMU block and CFRP laminate may be a
reasonable choice in this numerical simulation.
571
Solid element
SPH
Figure 9: Von-Mises Stress of No CFRP-reinforced CMU Wall

Computed with Enhanced ALE Method
4
CONCLUSIONS
This paper presents the blasting test and numerical simulation results of a one-way CMU wall
strengthened by the simple layer CFRP against the 0.4kg TNT (a small mail bomb) at a stand-off
distance of 0.15m. The experimental and numerical results indicated that:
(1) When subjected to the small stand-off distance mail bomb, the CFRP-reinforced CMU wall
usually failed to fragmentation in the central area, and it usually lead a big hole (about 90cm high
and 40cm wide). In the central area of the wall, a CFRP strip (about 5cm wide) failed in tension
rupture along the horizontal direction and then peeled away from the wall. And adjacent the
central area, CFRP strips (about 15cm wide) also failed in tension rupture along the vertical
direction and delaminated from the wall.
(2) When the reasonable contact failure criterion between the CMU solid elements and CFRP
shell elements are employed, the failure pattern of CMU wall and CFRP in the numerical
simulations are coincident with the experimental results.
(3) To perform the numerical simulation within an acceptably computational cost and obtain
the reasonable failure patterns of CFRP retrofitted CMU wall, it is preferable to adopt the
ConWep load method. The fluid structure interaction method and the coupling the load blast
enhanced with multi-material ALE method are not suitable in this case for its shortcoming of
higher computational costs and lower precision.
(4) It is also better to avoid employing the adaptive solid to SPH method within the CMU block
elements adjacent to the explosive charge, because the contact algorithm between the SPH
element and shell element are still not mature in the recent LS-DYNA software.
REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
E. J. Barbero, J. F.Davalos, S. A. Kiger, and J. S. Shore, Reinforcement with advanced

composite materials for blast loads, Proc., Structures Congress XV (1997).
J. E. Crawford, D. D. Bogosian, and J. W Wesevich, Evaluation of the effects of explosive loads
on masonry walls and an assessment of retrofit techniques for increasing their strength, Proc.,
8th International Symposium. on Interaction of the Effects of Munitions with Structures (1997).
J. E. Crawford, L. J. Malvar, J. W. Wesevich, J. Valancius and A. D. Reynolds, Retrofit of
reinforced concrete structures to resist blast effects, ACI Structural Journal 94(4), 371377
(1997).
J. S. Davidson, J. W. Fisher, M. L. Hammons, Failure mechanisms of polymer-reinforced
concrete masonry walls subjected to blast, Journal of Structural Engineering, 131(8): 1194-1205
(2005).
G. S. Urgessa, Finite Element Analysis of Composite Hardened Walls Subjected to Blast Loads,
Proc., American Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences 2 (4): 804-811(2009).
C. D. Eamon, J. T. Baylot, J. L. ODaniel, Modeling concrete masonry walls subjected to
explosive loads, Journal of Engineering Mechanics,130(9): 1098-1106 (2004).
A. A. Mutalib, H. Hao, Development of P-I diagrams for FRP strengthened RC columns,
International Journal of Impact Engineering, 38: 290-304 (2011).
E. Hamed, O. Rabinovitch, Masonry walls strengthened with composite materials dynamic outof-plane behavior, European Journal of Mechanics A/Solids, 27: 1037-1059 (2008).
572
th
BEHAVIORAL ANALYSIS OF SQUARE CONCRETE

FILLED STEEL TUBE UNDER BLAST LOAD
Hongwei Wang*, Peng Li*, Zhibin Li* and Yasheng Wang*
*
School of Civil Engineering,

Guangzhou University, China, 510006
e-mail: <40105457@qq.com>
Keywords Blast load CFST column Axial compression ratio Explosive equivalent
Abstract. To figure out the behavior of concrete filled steel tube (abbreviation
CFST) column under blast load, finite element analysis software ABAQUS has
been adopted to conduct a parametric analysis. In addition, different parameters,
such as steel ratio, concrete compression strength, steel yield strength, axial
compression ratio, explosive equivalence and confinement efficiency, have been
investigated to study their influence on anti-blast performance of CFST column. It
was found that: 1) With the increase of steel ratio, concrete compression strength,
steel yield strength, confinement efficiency, magnitudes deformation of specimen
decreased correspondingly; 2) With the increase of axial compression ratio,
explosive equivalence, a qualitative conclusion can be drawn that explosive
equivalence, steel ratio and steel yield strength have a significant effect on antiblast behavior of CFST column.
1 INTRODUCTION
Recently with the gradual increase of terrorist bombings, the life, property and security of
humans are under threat, which draws more and more attentions about anti-explosive behavioral
research of architectural structure.
[1]
Numerical simulation about short CFST column has been conduct by author Dulin , and the
result shows that the anti-explosive performance of short column, ductility and reliability has been
[2]
improved by use of steel tube. Through numerical simulation, author Feng Hongbo discovers
when scaled distance Z is equal to 1, though the damage of inner concrete is severe, steel tube
can still offer a well constraint to resist lateral deformation of concrete and display a favorable
[3]
ductility and anti-explosion behavior. Zheng qiu employs separate type SHPB device to make
anti-impact performance experiments on 15 CFST specimens under different sets of
temperatures. The result manifests that CFST possesses a superior performance under high
temperature.
Although study on the performance of CFST column under explosion is ongoing, many issues
and deficiencies still exist. Therefore, nonlinear finite element analysis software ABAQUS has
been applied to implement a parametric study about CFST column suffered to blast load to study
the influence of different sets of explosive equivalent, steel ratio, steel strength and confinement
coefficient on anti-explosive performance of CFST, which provides a theoretical gist for antiexplosion design of practical engineering.
______________________________
*
School of Civil Engineering, Guangzhou University

573
Hongwei Wang, Peng Li, Zhibin Li and Yasheng Wang
ESTABLISHMENT OF FINITE ELEMENT MODEL
A square-CFST column model is established in this paper, the material property and
geometric dimension are listed as below: section dimension is 200mm200mm2.8mm; column
height is 2100mm; the steel level is Q235 (steel yield strength is 235 MPa); the concrete strength
level is C40 (cube compressive standard strength value is 40 MPa); the distance between charge
and column mid-span is 1500 mm; solution termination time is 20 ms; axial force is 500 kN.
In process of setup of finite element model, 3D uniform mass solid element (C3D8R) is used to
simulate concrete and steel tube by means of integral modeling. Structural optimization grid
format is adopted for steel tube, while sweep grid format is adopted for division of core concrete.
The size of grid division is 20mm, which is as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Grid Division Result

2.1 Establishment of constitutive model of concrete and steel
Concrete damaged plasticity model in ABAQUS is adopted for concrete simulation, and stress
strain curve of concrete structure design code is employed for the core concrete one. Meanwhile,
strain ratio effect towards core concrete is taken into consideration through dynamic increment
factor (DIF) to acquire impetus stress strain curve.
Bilinear kinematics hardening model is taken as steel constitutive model, which uses Mises
yield surface as well as takes Bauschinger effect and material hardening under cyclic tensile and
compressive effect into consideration. 1% steel elastic modulus is taken as hardening slope of
steel bilinear stress strain curve, strain ratio effect is under consideration as well. In this article,
DIF=1.2
2.2 Load simplification
[4]
When scaled distance Z<0.5, blast load can be simplified into equivalent uniform load .
Hence, numerical simulation in this paper regards blast load as equivalent uniform load applied to
CFST column. CFST column is divided into 3 parts, each part of which is imposed with different
equivalent loads. Figure 2 shows the load distribution:
Figure 2: Load Distribution

Otherwise, in the application of practical engineering, to simplify the calculation, air shock
wave decay exponential curve is considered simply as linear declining triangle one. As Figure 3
displays the simplified triangle load.
574
Figure 3: Triangle Air Shock Wave Decay Curve

Accordance with triangle air shock wave decay curve, combined with experimental pressure
history curve, blast load is selected as Table 1:
Mid-span position
Position nearby 2 support
Time/ms
Pressure/Mpa
Time/ms
Pressure/Mpa
0
0.015
0
68
0
0.015
0
9.69
0.3
Table 1: Selection of blast load

Finally, the connection way of 2 ends of CFST column employs pinned joint, and steel tube
and concrete are coupled into 2 points to apply load.
3
MODEL VERIFICATION
3.1 Experiment profile

The explosive experiment has been conducted in outdoor field of explosive and impact
prevention and reduction national key laboratory of Nanjing PLA University of Science and
Technology, in which a blast hole has been poured. The experimental parameters are the same
as ABAQUS model. In experimental aspect, strain gages and displacement meters are placed at
the same position in the explosive deviated surface of CFST column, the interval among strain
gages is 380 mm as well. The number sequence of strain gages and displacement meter is
gradually increased from non-axial force end to axial force end. Charge is fired outdoor field,
which is suspended 1500 mm high above the mid-span of CFST column. Electronic detonator is
fired 150 m away from CFST column. The experimental result is as shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4: Experimental Result
After experiment, mid-span of CFST column comes to buckle obviously, and mid-span steel
tube has reached yield point. After splitting steel tube, it can be found that concrete in both
support ends comes into a strip of 0.5 mm wide crack as well as in mid-span comes into a strip of
2 to 3 mm one, which cracks largely. Compared with mid-span, the concrete in both support ends
is tighter.
575
3.2 Results of numerical simulation and verification

40
25
20
15
experiment
abaqus
60
Displacement/mm
Displacement/mm
30
50
40
30
10
20
10
0
0
0
50
100
150
50
100
150
Time/ms
Time/ms
100
experiment
abaqus
80
Displacement/mm
70
experiment
abaqus
35
60
40
20
0
0
20
40
60
80
100
-20
-40
Time/ms
a 1st measure point(close support)
(b) 2st measure point 1/4 span
(c) 3st measure point mid-span
Figure 5: Comparison between Numerical Simulation and Experiment Result
The main observation index of blast experiment is magnitude deformation of each measure
point. The magnitudes of three measure points obtained by ABAQUS simulation occur in the
same time, and the maximum value is close to the experimental one. However, the residual strain
of 1st measured point is larger than the experimental value because of the existence of fixed
device overpressure sensor which hinders the spread of local overpressure in the middle of CFST
column and has an effect on CFST columns further deformation.
In addition, owing to the large discreteness of blast load, as for simplification of blast load,
there may be existing errors between peak selection and experience data. In a word, the results
of numerical simulation are corresponding to experience data, which verifies the simulation.
4 PARAMETER ANALYSIS
To study the dynamic response of CFST column under blast load with different sets of
parameters, the finite element models are used and parametric analysis methods are adopted to
reveal the mid-span magnitude deformation of CFST column influenced by different sets of steel
ratio, concrete compressive strength, steel yield strength, axial compression ratio, explosive
equivalent, confinement coefficient, the aim of which is to ascertain the anti-blast behavior
affected by each parameter.
576
Project
status
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
Concrete Steel tube

Axial
explosive
Specimen Steel tube Steel tube
strength strength compression equivalent
number
length/mm
/mm thickness/mm
grade
grade
ratio
/kg
S1
200
2.8
C40
Q235
0.3
35
S2
200
3.8
C40
Q235
0.3
35
S3
200
4.8
C40
Q235
0.3
35
S4
200
5.8
C40
Q235
0.3
35
S5
200
2.8
C30
Q235
0.3
35
S6
200
2.8
C50
Q235
0.3
35
S7
200
2.8
C60
Q235
0.3
35
S8
200
2.8
C70
Q235
0.3
35
S9
200
2.8
C80
Q235
0.3
35
S10
200
2.8
C40
Q345
0.3
35
S11
200
2.8
C40
Q390
0.3
35
S12
200
2.8
C40
Q420
0.3
35
S13
200
2.8
C40
Q235
0
35
S14
200
2.8
C40
Q235
0.6
35
S15
200
2.8
C40
Q235
0.45
35
S16
200
2.8
C40
Q235
0.3
17
S17
200
2.8
C40
Q235
0.3
24
S18
200
2.8
C40
Q235
0.3
50
Table 2: Model conditions
As is shown in Table 2, 18 models are established in this parametric analysis. Models s1, s2,
s3,s4 are used to consider steel ratio; Models s1,s5,s6,s7,s8,s9 are used to consider concrete
compressive strength; Models s1, s10, s11, s12 are used to consider steel yield strength;
strengt Models
s1,s13,s14,s15 are used to consider axial compression ratio; Models s1,s16,s17,s18 are used to
consider explosive equivalent; Models s2,s3,s4,s8,s13 are used to consider confinement
coefficient.
4.1 Steel ratio
In order to study the influence of steel ratio towards the deformation of CFST column, in
working condition 1, 2, 3 and 4, all factors are kept invariant except the steel ratio. The timetime
history curve of displacement
ent and the influence curve of the steel ratio to the maximum
deformation in the mid-span
span are shown in Figure
Fig
6. Based on Figure 6, as the steel ratio
increases, the deformation of specimen in the mid-span
mid span decreases obviously. However, when
steel tube thicknesses
knesses equals 3.8mm, 4.8mm, and 5.8mm respectively, meanwhile the steel ratios
equals 8.1%, 10.3%, and 12.7%, the magnitude deformation of the columns in the mid-span
mid
is
59.57mm, 50.40mm, and 43.71mm separately, which are close to each other. When the steel
ste
tube thickness equals 2.8mm, steel ratio equals 5.8%, the magnitude deformation of the columns
in the mid-span
span is 74.37m. As is illustrated that there is a certain limit to improve the antianti
explosion strength of CFST column through increasing the steel ratio. However, it is of great
significance to improve the anti-explosion
anti
strength when the steel ratio is low.
(a) Time-history
history curve of displacement in the mid-span
mid span
(b) Influence curve of steel ratio towards the

maximum displacement in the mid-span
mid
Figure 6: Influence Of Steel Ratio Towards The Specimen

pecimen
577
4.2 Concrete compressive strength

In order to study the influence of core concrete compressive strength to the deformation of
CFST column, in working condition 1, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, all factors are kept invariant except the
core concrete compressive strength. The time-history
time
curve of displacement
lacement and the influence
curve of concrete compressive strength to the magnitude deformation in the mid-span
mid
are shown
in Figure 7. Based on Figure
ure 7,, as the core concrete compressive strength increases, the
maximum deformation of the specimen in the mid-span
mid span decreases accordingly. But the change of
deformation of square CFST is tiny. It illustrates that the increase of concrete compressive
strength has a bit impact on the anti-explosion
anti
strength of square CFST.
(a)Time-history
history curve of displacement
displacem
in the mid-span
span
(b) Influence curve of concrete compressive

strength to magnitude displacement in mid-span
mid
Figure 7: Influence Off Concrete Compressive Strength Towards The

he Specimen
4.3 Steel yield strength

In order to study the influence of steel tube yield strength to the deformation of CFST column,
in working condition 1, 10, 11 and 12 all factors are kept invariant except the steel tube yield
strength. The time-history
history curve of displacement and the influence
influence curve of the steel tube yield
strength to the magnitude deformation in mid-span
mid
are shown in Figure 8.. Based on Figure 8, as
the steel tube yield strength increases, the magnitude deformation of the specimen in the midmid
span decreases accordingly. However,
Howe ver, when the steel tube yield strengths evaluates 345MPa,
390MPa, 420MPa respectively, the magnitude deformation of the columns in the mid-span
mid
is
60.26 mm, 57.08 mm, 55.37 mm separately, which are close to each other. When steel tube yield
strength evaluates
ates 235MPa, the maximum deformation in the mid-span
mid span is 74.37 mm. It illustrates
that there is a certain limit to improve the anti-explosion
anti explosion strength of CFST column through
increasing the steel tube yield strength. When the steel ratio is high, the increase
increas of the steel tube
yield strength has little effect on the anti-explosion
anti
strength of square CFST.
(a)Time-history
mid span
(b) Influence curve of steel yield strength to the

magnitude displacement in the mid-span
mid
Figure 8: Influence Of Steel Yield Strength Towards The Specimen

pecimen
4.4 Axial compression ratio
In orderr to study the influence of axial compression ratio to the deformation of the CFST
column, in working condition 1,13,14 and 15, all factors are kept invariant except the axial
compression ratio. The time-history
history curve of displacement and the influence curve
curv of the axial
compression ratio to the magnitude deformation in the mid-span
mid span are shown in Figure 9. Based on
Figure 9,, as the axial compression ratio of CFST increases, the magnitude deformation and the
578
residual deformation of the specimen in the mid-span

mid
increases accordingly. When axial
compression ratio exceeds 0.4 and the axial force keeps on further increasing, the magnitude
deformation of square CFST column increases obviously. Considering that the excessive axial
force might make square CFST column yielded and increase the magnitude deformation in the
mid-span.
(a)Time-history
mid span
(b) Influence curve of axial compression ratio to

the magnitude displacement in mid-span
mid
Figure 9: Influence of
o Axial Compression Ratio to the Specimen
(a)Time-history curve of displacement

lacement in the mid-span
mid span
(b)Influence curve of explosive equivalent to

magnitude displacement in the mid-span
mid
Figure 10: Influence of Explosive Equivalent to the Specimen

4.5 Explosive equivalent
In order to study the influence of explosive equivalent to the deformation of the CFST column,
in working condition 1, 16, 17 and 18, all factors are kept invariant except the explosive
equivalent. The time-history
history curve of displacement and the influence curve
c urve of the explosive
equivalent to the magnitude deformation in the mid-span
mid
are shown in Figure
Fig
10. Based on
Figure 10,, as the explosive equivalent of CFST increases, the magnitude deformation in the midmid
span increases. When the explosive equivalent increases
incr eases from 17 kg to 35 kg, the magnitude
deformation in the mid-span
span increases by 1.3 times. When the explosive equivalent increases to
50 kg, the magnitude deformation in the mid-span
mid span increases by 2.6 times. It could be inferred that
explosive equivalent has a significant influence on the deformation of CFST.
4.6 Confinement coefficient
In order to study the influence of confinement coefficient to the deformation of the CFST
column, in working condition 2, 3, 4, 8, 13, the confinement coefficient evaluates
evaluate 0.31, 0.51, 0.71,
0.91, 1.11 separately. All factors are kept invariant except the confinement coefficient. The
relationship between confinement coefficient and magnitude deformation in the mid-span
mid
is
shown in Figure 11. Based on Figure
Fig
11, as the confinement
nement coefficient increases, the magnitude
deformation in mid-span
span decreases accordingly in a narrow range.
579
Figure 11: Influence Curve of Confinement Coefficient to the Magnitude Deformation

in the Mid-Span
5
CONCLUSION
Through parameter analysis of the dynamic response of CFST column, it can be inferred that
explosive equivalent; steel ratio and yield strength have great impacts on the anti-explosive
anti
performance of CFST, which should be considered seriously during the explosive
ex
experiment.
Specific conclusions are as below:
1) As steel ratio or the yield strength of steel tube increases, the magnitude deformation
decreases obviously. When the steel ratio or the yield strength of steel tube is lowit
low
is
significant to increase
crease steel ratio or yield strength.
2) As the compressive strength of the concrete increases, the magnitude deformation in the
mid-span
span decrease in a narrow range.
3) As the axial compression ratio increases, the magnitude deformation increases. When the
t
axial compression ratio exceeds 0.4, the increase is obvious. It is not suggested that the axial
compression ratio exceeds 0.6.
4) As the explosive equivalent increases, the maximum deformation increases obviously.
When the explosive equivalent increases
increas es to 50kg, the magnitude deformation increases
obviously. As a result, it is recommended
recommend to avoid selecting excessive explosive equivalent in the
experiment and simulation.
5) As the confinement coefficient increases, the magnitude deformation decreases in a
inconspicuous way.
REFERENCES
[1] Du lin, Xhi Shaoqing, Zhang Xiangji, Huang Xiangyu . Internal explosion resistance of concrete
filled steel tubular short column finite element numerical
numerical simulation [J]. Journal of Chongqing
C
University
niversity (natural science edition), 2004, 27 (10) : 142-144.
142
[2] Feng gongbo, Zhao hai,Wei xueying, Zhang chang-guang
chang guang , Li lianlian. The finite element analysis
of concrete filled steel tubular column under explosion load [J]. Journal of PLA university
universit of
Science and Technology
echnology (natural science edition), 2007, 8 (6) : 680-684.
680
[3] Zheng qiu, Huo jingsi, Chen baisheng, Xiao yan. The impact mechanical properties of steel tube
concrete under different temperature test study [J]. Journal of engineering
engineering mechanics, 2009, 26
(5) : 142-147.
[4] Nagarjun Krishnappa, Michel Bruneau, Gordon P. Warn, Weak-Axis
Weak Axis Behavior of Wide Flange
Columns Subjected to Blast, Journal of Structural Engineering, 2013.
[5] Sun Wenbin.. The studies on blast Loading and blast effects on RC structures [J]. Optimization
of Capital Construction, 2007, 28(5): 148151.
580
th
A STUDY OF SUSPENSION BRIDGE SUBJECTED

TO BLAST LOADS
Jingyu Wang*, Kang Gao, Fengming Wang and Wancheng Yuan
*State
Key Laboratory for Disaster Reduction of Civil Engineering

e-mail: <wangjin.012@163.com>
Keywords: blast, suspension bridge, finite element, dynamic response, numerical model,
ANSYS
Abstract. This paper focuses on the dynamic response of suspension bridge when
exposed to intentional/unintentional blast effects. Based on the basic theory of
explosion, a 2D and a 3D non-linear finite element model with the prototype of
RunYang suspension bridge and Fujian San Ming Xia Yang suspension bridge
separately were established by using general finite element software ANSYS. Those
two models were subjected to simulated blast effects. According to the results
obtained from computational models, some important findings were got. Those
findings were: (1) the dynamic response happened in the local part, spread to the
whole bridge later, and then set off the vibration of the whole bridge, (2) in the early
stage, the interaction between jointed component members changed intensively and
forces of critical nodes varied greatly with time; and (3) the dynamic nature of the
suspension bridge has been shown clearly. The largest deformation, velocity,
acceleration, and forces were appeared in different places at different time with
various magnitude and direction.
INTRODUCTION
Numerous terrorist attacks and accidental explosions like frequent vehicle explosion accidents
have heightened concern about the safety of bridges under blast loads during last decades.
Considering the large number of bridges in China and their utmost significance in our nations
transportation infrastructure, studies on protecting the bridge structures from blast loads are greatly
needed. However, little research has been done in this field. Blast load effects have not been typically
considered in the design process, and most knowledge in the design of structures subjected to blast
loads is based on the performance of buildings rather than bridges.
By doing plenty of research work, it is easy to find that much of attention has been paid to small
scale reinforced concrete girder bridges in existing research, few investigations are conducted on
long-span bridge, especially the suspension bridge. Suspension bridge has the largest span among all
the available bridge types. Its construction is of high difficulty and requires large amount of cost of
capital. Key structural components of suspension bridge, such as main cables and anchor blocks, can
be shattered and result in the collapse of the whole bridge and a large number of casualties. Thus, it is
necessary to figure out the dynamic characteristics of suspension bridge and ensure the safety under
explosion hazards.
State Key Laboratory for Disaster Reduction of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
581
Wang Jingyu, Gao Kang, Wang Fengming and Yuan Wancheng
BLAST LOAD DEFINITION

In the study, an appropriate description of blast loads comes up before getting down to building an
accurate numerical model. The data gathered from abundant of experiments has revealed that blast
1
waves set off by the explosion could be characterized by a function of exponential form. (Figure
1)The explosion shock wave caused by blast loads make the air pressure come to the peak and arrive
at an overpressure condition. As the wavefront extends, the peak pressure goes down and a negative
pressure appears. Gradually, with the increase of time and distance, the pressure goes back to the
ambient magnitude.
ReflectedPressure
Incident Pressure
Figure 1: Free-Field Pressure-Time variation

A modal has been built with the help of software AUTODYN to explore the regularity of explosion
shock wave caused by explosive TNT in the air. Suitable materials have been used to simulate
explosive TNT and air. When explosion happened, the pressure decreases in the air with the increase
of distance between explosive source and a certain point. (Figure 2)
Figure 2: Pressure-Distance variation

The whole process of explosion lasted only a few milliseconds and it is of high nonlinearity. When
focused on a certain point of the modal, it could be seen that the pressure of the point increases
intensively when shock wave propagates to it. Then a sharp decrease from 2.5*10^4 kPa to 7.0*10^3
kPa within 0.02ms is followed. Finally, the pressure of the point arrives at a certain level and maintain
stable. (Figure 3)
582
Figure 3: Pressure-Time variation of a certain point

2
In order to simplify the calculation, a linear declining triangle time-pressure function or equivalent
3
static load could be used on the related deck to take place of the exponential form without
consideration of the negative pressure.
Blast load on suspension bridge
From the result of model analysis, it is easy to find that natural vibration period of Run Yang
suspension bridge is much larger than the time during when explosion shock wave plays a role on the
bridge. Thus, the blast load wave could be simplified as instantaneous impulse applying to stiffening
girders. And through defining the node speed of explosive source, an equivalent load is applied to the
4
midspan according to initial-velocity method . The initial velocity of the element of stiffening girder is
(1)
In the formula, W is the amount of TNT; h is the distance between the explosive source and the
, b is the width of the bridge deck; m is the mass of the unit length of stiffening
surface of deck; :
girders; is the coordinate of the stiffening girder; is the coordinate of the explosive source; ir is
the reflectivity impulse of the bridge.
As for the 3D San Ming Xia Yang suspension bridge, a load in the triangle time-pressure form
could be applied to the middle of bridge.
(2)
FINITE-ELEMENT MODELING
Based on the basic theory of explosion, the 2D non-linear finite element model with the prototype of
Run Yang suspension bridge is established by using element type BEAM3 and LINK10.(Figure 4)
LINK10 is used to simulate main cable and suspender. BEAM3 is used as stiffening girder. All these
frame members are endowed with isotropic material properties. By referring to existing literature, real
constants are easily defined. Parameters of specific frame members are shown in the following table.
(Table 1)
583
Figure 4: The 2D and 3D finite element model

Area of cross
Components
section/ m
Density/ Kg m
moment of
Modulus of
inertia/ m
elasticity/GPa
Average of
initial strain
Main cable
1.031
8081
200
2.6258e-3
Steeve
0.168
210
7.7083e-5
25
868.32
210
2.0797
Stiffening
girder
Table 1: Parameters of frame members of Run Yang suspension bridge

Similarly, a 3D non-linear finite element model with the prototype of Fujian San Ming Xia Yang
suspension bridge is established by using general finite element software ANSYS. (Figure 4) Element
type BEAM4, LINK10 and SHELL63 are simulated as stiffening truss and girder, cable, bridge panel
2
separately. In this numerical modal, the corresponding real constants of different materials are listed
in table 2.
Young's modulus of
Material
elasticity(
C30
Concrete
C20
Concrete
Steel
Wire
Poisson's
N m )
ratio
Density( Kg
3.0 1010
0.3
2500
2.8 1010
0.3
2500
2.1 1011
0.167
7850
Structural
m3 )
components
Stiffening Truss
Longitudinal Beam
Bridge Tower
Bridge Panel
Suspension Cable
Steeve
Table 2: Real constants of different materials

Numerical model verification
The first few mode sets have been acquired by using modal analysis module of ANSYS.
Comparing these data with the results of available literature, validity and precision of the model
established could be testified. (Table 3)
Vibration set
Lecture[7]
0.0933
0.1301
0.1781
0.1891
0.2490
0.2919
In this paper
0.10215
0.12675
0.17992
0.18800
0.24122
0.28776
Table 3: Results of first 6 frequency sets of Run Yang suspension bridge

584
Compared with the existing literature, we could find that error of the first frequency set is within 10
percent. And error of the rest is within 4 percent. Because different matching way of the main cable
and disparate unit division are adopted, a certain amount of error could be produced. But the
magnitude of error is in the acceptable range. This means the accuracy and precision of the
established model meet the basic requirements. On the basis of this, transient analysis could be done.
The same method is applicable to the 3D model of San Ming Xia Yang suspension bridge.(Table 4)
Vibration set
Frequency/Hz
Vibration set
Frequency /Hz
0.539
1.294
0.733
1.477
0.934
1.680
1.143
1.735
1.173
10
1.810
Table 4: Results of first 10 frequency sets of San Ming Xia Yang suspension bridge
CALCULATION
Furthermore, by using transient analysis module, blast load including the linear declining triangle
time--pressure function and equivalent static load, is applied to the mid-span of the bridge, and the
dynamic response of the whole structure has been obtained.
ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS
As the explosion happened, the transient deformation occurred only near the explosive source.
(figure t=0.005s) Later on, deformation of the bridge extends to a larger range and every part of the
bridge begins to vibrate. Although the period and amplitude of the vibration are not the same, the
bridge vibrates stably on the whole. The vibration mode of suspension bridge under blast load is
symmetric. And during the process, the largest deflection occurs in the midspan, that is, the explosive
source. In a word, the deformation of the bridge arises in the local originally. Then, the characteristic of
integrity is shown since the vibration of the whole bridge.(Figure 5)
t=0.005s
t=5s
t=15s
Figure 5: Deformed shape of the 2D model

In the moment when explosion happened, the interaction between connected components change
intensively. In the place where the explosion happened, a stress concentration appears which means
this part is more likely to be destroyed. In this unstable stage, the stress integrity, the magnitude of
acceleration and velocity of the key nodes vary greatly with time. However, as time goes on, all these
dynamic response weakens. (Figure 6-7)
585
Figure 6: VON MISES Stress of midspan
Figure 7: Acceleration-time variation
The distribution of velocity and acceleration of the 2D model in X direction have the antisymmetric
characteristics at the center of explosive source. (Figure 8-9)The distribution of velocity in Y direction
of the 3D model and the distribution of acceleration in Z direction have the symmetric
characteristics.(Figure 10-11)
Figure 8: The velocity of model (X direction)
Figure 10: The velocity of model (Y direction)
Figure 9: The acceleration of model (X direction)
Figure 11: The acceleration of model (Z direction)
The largest internal force of bridge panel occurs near the explosive source. The anchor end of
flexible cables response more intensively than the bottom part of the bridge tower. Because of
dynamic characteristics of blast loads and transmitting response of bridge structures, the largest
deformation, velocity, acceleration, and forces appear in different places at different time with various
magnitude and direction.(Figure 12-14)
Figure 12: The acceleration in Y direction of the bridge panel in 3D model (middle, quartile)
586
Figure 13: Force of the anchor end of the cable Figure 14: Support of the bridge tower (Y direction)
CONCLUSIONS
This research provides an exciting chance to better understand the vulnerability and dynamic
response of suspension bridge when subjected to blast loads. Through internal force time-procedure
and deflection analysis of 2D and 3D models, some important conclusions have been got:
(1) The dynamic response happens in the local part and spread to the whole bridge later, and set
off vibration of the whole bridge.
(2) In the early stage after explosion, the interaction between jointed component members changed
intensively, and the largest internal forces of components and maximum deflection of the bridge
happen. As the extension of time, Interaction between components weakens. The whole bridge is in a
stable stage.
(3) The dynamic nature of suspension bridge subjected to blast loads has been shown clearly from
the response. The largest force of stiffening girder and steeve occur near the explosion source.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The research presented in this paper has been supported by the project National College
Students' Innovative Training Program in Tongji University and Natural Science Foundation of
China(51278376,90915011). Writers would like to acknowledge the financial support granted by Tongji
and National Natural Science Fund Committee.
REFERENCES
[1] G. F. Kinney and K. J. Graham, Explosive shocks in air[M]. New York: Springer(1985).
[2] Li Guohao. Anti-Explosion Dynamics of Engineering Structure[M].Shanghai: Shanghai Science and
Technology Press(1989).
[3] Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the Peoples Republic of China.GB 500382005 Code for Design of Civil Air Defence Basement[S]. Beijing: China Planning Press(2005).
[4] Anwarul Islam AKM and N. Yazdani, Performance of AASHTO girder bridges under blast loading
[J].Engineering Structures, 2008(30):1922-1937
[5] Mahoney EE. Analyzing the effects of blast loads on bridges using probability, structural analysis
and Performance criteria[D]. The University of Maryland(2007).
[6] Jiang Zhigang, Wang Yun, Yan Bo, et al. Numerical simulation for vertical bending response of a
suspension bridge under air explosion loading[J]. Journal of Vibration and Shock,2012,02:123128.
587
th
PERFORMANCE OF WATER TANK UNDER STATIC AND

DYNAMIC PRESSURE LOADS
Yonghui Wang*, J.Y. Richard Liew * and Siew Chin Lee*
*National University of Singapore
E1A #07-03, 1 Engineering Drive 2, Singapore 117576
e-mail: <wangyonghui@nus.edu.sg>
Keywords: Water tank, failure modes, pressure load.
Abstract. The structural performance of water tank under static and dynamic
pressure loadings was experimentally investigated. The pressure load was
achieved in the laboratory by utilizing an inflated high pressure airbag to transfer
the applied load from actuator or dropped projectile onto the specimens. The
failure modes and load carrying capacity of the specimens were obtained from
test to evaluate the structural performance. It was found from the static pressure
test that the water tank filled with water exhibited up to 31% increase in
resistance compared to the empty water tank with same material and geometry.
This is because that water plays an important role in maintaining the distance
between top and bottom plate and delaying the local buckling. Water was also
found useful in reducing the deformation of water tank under dynamic pressure
load.
1
INTRODUCTION
The probability of bomb attack on structure has seen an increasing trend in recent years.
Consequently, many critical buildings were designed for blast resistance either in the before-built
design stage or by means of retrofitting with additional protective layers. Since the probability of
the occurrence of blast attack is still very low, the benefits of adopting a blast-mitigating or blastenhanced design could be maximized by considering other aspects of the buildings operations,
such as sustainability and energy efficiency. The water tank was proposed to harvest solar
energy and meanwhile reduce the thermal heat penetration into buildings in hot climate region. Its
1
energy saving performance has been studied by utilizing numerical method . Since the current
water tank has the potential to be protective layers of buildings against blast load, this work aims
to study the performance of water tank under static and dynamic pressure load and the effect of
water on mitigating structural response in order to extend the multi-uses of water tank.
2
Currently, there are several methods to apply the static pressure load on specimens. Malo
has developed an experimental device for the quasi-static testing of panels exposed to equally
distributed pressure load and the test equipment uses water as the pressure medium and can be
operated in several ways. This test method can effectively provide uniform pressure load on
specimens. However, the test operation is complex and the instruments also need water-proof if
they are embedded into water. Besides this, the size of specimen is also limited by the size of the
bell-shaped chambers. Therefore, the inflated airbag is thought to be an easier way to apply
3,4
static pressure load on specimens as compared to water pressure chamber . In this study, the
inflated airbag was also adopted to apply static pressure load on the water tanks.
The blast loading is an impulsive loading which has extremely high pressure and short
5,6
duration. The field explosive detonation is a conventional method to generate the blast loading .
589
Yonghui Wang, J Y Richard Liew and Siew Chin Lee
However, the disadvantages of this method are that it is generally quite expensive and a long
planning time is also needed. Due to the limitation of the field blast test, many other methods
have been proposed to generate the impulsive loading. Shock tube is one of these methods. It is
generally less expensive than field blast test and the loads are more reproducible. However, the
specimen size is limited by the size of the shock tube and the loading duration is relatively longer
7
compared with field blast test . Hence, it is more suitable for simulating far range blast loading.
8
Whisler and Kim have developed a non-explosive test method for generating dynamic blast-type
pressure pulse loading. However, only the impulse can be recorded in the test, while the
pressure-time history is difficult to record. It is accepted that the pressure-time history is
necessary for analyzing the specimen if the response of the specimen enters into dynamic or
quasi-static response regime. A simple blast load simulation system has been proposed by
9
Mostaghel . This invention comprises a test panel and a membrane mounted within a frame
system. The membrane in conjunction with the panel forms an airtight chamber. The airtight
chamber is inflated with air before testing. The plate is dropped onto the membrane at various
heights to achieve the required impulse magnitude and duration. The disadvantage of this test
method is similar to the shock tube method. The generated load duration is longer as compared
to the field blast detonation. However, this method is simple and can be easily conducted in the
laboratory and thus being adopted by some researchers to generate impulsive loading. Chen and
10
Hao adopted this method and utilized the inflated airbag as the airtight chamber to investigate
11
the multi-arch double-layered panel under impulsive loading. Remennikov et al. also extended
this method to test the column under impulsive loading. In this study, this method was also
adopted to generate the dynamic pressure load since it is cheaper and easier to conduct in the
laboratory compared with other methods. It is noted that the generated load duration is shorter
than those in Ref. 10 and 11, which may be attributed to the higher initial air pressure adopted in
this test.
This paper starts with a description on the performance of water tank under static pressure
load, following by tests to investigate its structural responses under dynamic pressure load.
2
STATIC PRESSURE LOAD TEST
2.1 Design of specimens

The two pairs of Steel-Empty-Steel (SES) and Steel-Water-Steel (SWS) tanks for the
structural tests were designed such that influence of water on the load-carrying capacity can be
determined from the comparison of the tanks response. The SES and SWS tanks were
fabricated from stainless steel 316 plates that were fillet welded together to form the water tight
skin. Two stiffeners with cut-out holes for water flow were fully welded to the top and bottom
plates to increase the out-of-plane stiffness and to transfer the longitudinal shear force between
the plates. As seen in Figure 1, a inch inlet pipe and an outlet pipe of the same size, both with
threaded plug, were provided so that the SWS tank can be filled with water before test. For
comparison purpose, the pipes were also included in the SES tank. The schematic drawings of
the SES and SWS tanks are shown in Figure 2 and the details are summarized in Table 1.
2.2 Test setup and instrumentation
In the static pressure test setup, the specimen was seated on two 80 mm (diameter) bar
supports with clear span of 900 mm as shown in Figure 3. The inflated high pressure airbag was
placed in between the specimen and a 1000 mm 1000 mm 30 mm thick transfer steel plate.
The distance between the transfer plate and specimen was kept at 120 mm throughout the test.
To load the specimen, the airbag was continuously charged using a compressed air tank so that
the inflating airbag, which was restrained on top by the fixed transfer plate, will apply increasing
pressure onto the specimen. This loading method was selected as it would allow a slower change
in contact area between airbag and specimen as compared to displacing the actuator at a certain
displacement-controlled rate. The mid-span deformation rate of specimen was constantly
monitored during test to ensure that it was within the static loading rate of <1 mm/min.
As the air pressure in the inflating airbag was continuously increased during test, the
difference between compressed tank air supply pressure and the airbag pressure would be
reduced, which in turn reduced the air charging rate and deformation rate of specimen. Hence,
the air supply pressure was manually increased from time to time by using the regulator in order
to maintain an approximately constant deformation rate for the specimen. The contact area was
also continuously monitored and measured at every loading interval of 20 kN or less. The static
590
test control and data acquisition system are shown in Figure 4. Linear Variable Displacement
Transducers (LVDT) and strain gauges were adopted to measure the displacement and strain
and the data of displacement and strain were logged using the data logger.
Label
SES
SWS
Material
Skin
Core
SS316
SS316 Water
Dimension
(mm)
1100 x 900
1100 x 900
Thickness (mm)
3-30-3
3-30-3
Table 1: Details of static test specimens
Stiffeners
Top Plate
Side Plate
Bottom Plate
End Plate
Figure 1: Notation for SES and SWS
Figure 3: Static test setup
Figure 2: Schematic drawings of SES and SWS
Figure 4: Test control and data acquisition system
2.3 Discussion on test results

Both of the SES and SWS tanks underwent large ductile deformation beyond peak load as
observed from their respective static pressure load-displacement curves in Figure 5. Simply by
adding water into the SWS tank, its ultimate load capacity and corresponding deformation was
increased by 31% and 33%, respectively, as compared to the SES tank. This clearly
demonstrates the effectiveness of water in maintaining the distance between top and bottom steel
plates which helped to delay the occurrence of local buckling and thus, improved the loadcarrying capacity and ductility of the SWS tank. After leakage of water, the load capacity of SWS
tank was further decreased and was expected to coincide with the load-displacement curve of the
SES tank. However, this was not shown in the test as the air supply was cut off and the test was
stopped at mid-span displacement of about 100 mm as a safety measure for the inflating airbag.
Both of the SES and SWS tanks failed in bending with plastic hinge at mid-span as shown in
Figure 7. Buckling was observed near mid-span of the side plates of both tanks, as seen in Figure
6 for the SES tank. This was likely due to the unsymmetrical load acting on the side plates, which
could be visualized as web of a C-channel with the top and bottom plates as flanges. Other than
591
that, buckling along the stiffeners near the weaker area with cut-out holes was also observed
from the figure. Weld-tear failure between stiffener and bottom plate, which finally led to water
leakage in the SWS tank, is shown in Figure 8. The final deformed shape and buckling locations
of the SWS tank after leakage were similar to that of the SES tank, which again highlights the role
of water in the improved resistance.
As mentioned earlier, the contact area between airbag and specimen, which changes with air
pressure in the airbag, was measured continuously during the test. The relationships between the
measured contact area and applied load from load cell for the two specimens are compared in
Figure 9. It can be seen that the change in contact area decreased with increasing load as the
airbag was progressing towards its fully inflated state. The two contact area-load curves were
also close to each other, thus, showing that the same loading method was consistently applied on
the different specimens.
120
Peak
100
Water leakage point

Peak
Load (kN)
80
60
40
20
0
0
50 displacement
100(mm)
Midpoint
150
Figure 5: Load-displacement curves
Figure 6: Buckling on top plate of SES
Figure 7: Flexural failure of SES
Figure 8: Tear failure along the stiffener-plate weld of SWS
592
Contact area over 900

mm x 900mm
80%
60%
S
S
40%
20%
0%
50 Load (kN)100
150
Figure 9: Contact area-load curves

3
Figure 10: Impact test setup
DYNAMIC PRESSURE LOAD TEST
In this section, an identical set of the two specimens described earlier in Section 2 for the
static test was subjected to dynamic pressure loading. The dynamic pressure was generated
through drop-weight impact on the same high pressure airbag that was used in the static test.
Similar to the static test, effect of water on the performance of SWS tank under dynamic pressure
loading was investigated.
3.1 Test setup and instrumentation
Similar to the static pressure test, the drop-weight test specimens were also simply-supported
on two 80 mm bars support with clear span of 900 mm as shown in Figure 10. The inflated height
of the high pressure airbag in between the 30 mm thick impact plate and specimen was kept at
160 mm by using two wooden blocks. The blocks were inserted between the frame and impact
plate and the airbag was charged with initial air pressure of 0.04 MPa for the specimens. The
initial inflated height of airbag and air pressure was carefully selected with the aim to reduce
variation in contact area between airbag and specimen and also to shorten the duration of
pressure load on specimen. Even though it was expected that the change in contact area would
be less significant with increasing load or air pressure based on earlier static pressure test
observations, the initial air pressure was selected such that mid-span displacement of the
specimen was minimal (less than 2 mm) and well within the elastic range. Since the contact area
will be varying during test, the initial contact area was measured and wet paint was applied to the
bottom surface of the inflated airbag which was not in contact with the specimen before test. The
wet paint would leave a marking on the specimen after impact to indicate the maximum contact
area. Since inflated airbag with lower compressibility, which can be defined as the ratio of
compression distance of airbag, H, to change of air pressure, P, will generate dynamic
pressure load with shorter duration, the inflated height was kept as small as possible.
Figure 11: Overview of data acquisition system
593
A photodiode and laser system was used to measure the velocity of projectile just before
impact and also to trigger the data acquisition by the 16 channels Oscilloscope 1 shown in Figure
11, which has a sampling rate setting of 1 MHz. The Dytran high frequency 2300V Low
Impedance Voltage Mode (LIVM) pressure sensor was connected to the inlet pipe of airbag to
capture the air pressure while three quartz force rings on the same plane with total capacity 1050
kN were attached to the projectile to record the impact force. The deformation and strain readings
of specimen were respectively measured by using potentiometers and strain gauges. In addition
to this instrumentation, high speed camera images of the impact were also recorded during test.
The signals from photodiode, pressure sensor, quartz force rings and potentiometers were
captured using Oscilloscope 1 while the strain gauge readings were recorded by the 16 channel
Oscilloscope 2, which has the same sampling rate setting of 1 MHz. The Oscilloscope 2 was
triggered during test by the strain gauge at mid-span.
3.2 Discussion on test results
The empty SES and water-filled SWS tanks were at first tested under drop-weight impact by a
500 kg projectile that was dropped from 1.7 m height. However, the maximum displacement was
found to be relatively small and has not reached the softening stage. Hence, the tanks were resubjected to second impact at higher drop height of 2.0 m in order to study their response under
larger deformation.
The impact plate and airbag were removed after each test so that the permanent deformation
of specimens can be measured. Images of the SES tank after both impacts are compared in
Figure 12, from which it can be seen that the tank deformed in a flexural manner with sign of
plastic hinge at mid-span after the first test and the hinge was further developed in the second
test. A concaved area on the top steel plate between stiffeners and side plates was observed
after both impacts and the image taken after the second test is shown in Figure 13 (a). Buckling
of side plate can be seen near mid-span and the stiffeners appeared to buckle at weaker
locations with holes after second impact. These deformation modes are similar to the observed
response in the static pressure load test, which indicates that the failure modes of SES under
dynamic pressure load could be related to its response under static pressure load.
(a)
(b)
st
Figure 12: Deformed shape of SES: (a) after 1 impact (b) after 2
(a)
nd
impact
(b)
Figure 13: Top surface of (a) SES and (b) SWS after 2
nd
impact
The deformed shapes of the SWS tank after first and second impacts were also under flexural
mode as shown in Figure 14. It was noted that the concaved area on the top steel plate was
significantly reduced in height as compared to the SES tank and was accompanied by a convex
594
area next to it as seen in Figure 13(b). Since water is nearly incompressible, the observed
deformed shape can be explained by the change in volume of water from the concaved area to
convex area in order to maintain a constant total volume of water.
(b)
(a)
st
Figure 14: Deformed shape of SWS: (a) after 1 impact (b) after 2
Figure 15: Permanent deformation of SES and SWS after 2
nd
nd
impact
impact
The side view of the SES and SWS tanks after second impact are compared in Figure 15 from
which the effect of water in reducing the permanent deformation of the SWS tank can be clearly
seen as compared to the SES tank. Besides changes in the load distribution, the improved
impact/dynamic pressure resistance could be attributable to the increase in overall mass of the
SWS tank with addition of water. As shown in Eq. 1, the influence of mass on the response of
elastic spring-mass system subjected to impulsive load has the same degree of effect as stiffness
in reducing the maximum displacement:
xmax
1
=
I
km
(1)
where x max is maximum displacement, I is impulse, k is stiffness and m is mass. However, the
effect of mass will be reduced with the increase in ratio of loading duration to natural period of
specimen and will disappear when the specimens response is within quasi-static regime.
Meanwhile, effect of mass cannot be quantified in the dynamic response regime, which was the
response regime of the SWS tank in current study.
200
150
SES
SES
100
50
0
0
0.05 Time (s) 0.1
220
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
(b)
Air pressure (kPa)
Air pressure (kPa)
(a)
0.15
SWS
SWS
0.05 Time (s) 0.1
0.15
Figure 16: Air pressure-time history of (a) SES and (b) SWS
The air pressure-time histories of airbag, which can be used to represent the dynamic
pressure load acting on the specimen, are plotted in Figure 16 for the SES and SWS tanks.
Multiple peak pressures were observed from the curves, which may be caused by multiple
impacts between the projectile and impact plate. The loading duration on the SES tank in the first
and second drop-weight tests based on the air pressure-time histories were 0.078 s and 0.076 s,
respectively, while the SWS tank was loaded for 0.066 s and 0.065 s in the first and second tests.
595
The shorter loading duration of the second test was expected due to the higher impact velocity
from the higher drop height. It was also noted that the loading duration of SWS tank with higher
stiffness and mass was shorter than that of SES thank under the same drop weight and height.
The recorded impact velocity (V), maximum impact force (Fmax), impact impulse (I) and
maximum air pressure (P) in each test on the two specimens are summarized in Table 2. The
impact impulse was obtained by integrating the full impact force-time history. From Table 2, it
appears that specimens with higher resistance and mass absorbed higher impulse under the
same impact condition.
1st impact (500kg, 1.7m)
2nd impact (500kg, 2.0m)
V (mm/s) Fmax (kN) I (Ns) P (kPa) V (mm/s) Fmax (kN) I (Ns) P (kPa)
SES
5363
497
4588
175
5820
731
5258
178
SWS
5410
484
4958
192
5762
807
5460
211
Notes: V Impact velocity; Fmax maximum impact force; I impact impulse; P maximum air
pressure.
Label
Table 2: Summary of drop weight impact test results

Specimen
Maximum displacement
Permanent displacement
SES 1st
30.6
16.8
SES 2nd
51.2
35.8
SWS 1st
28.9
14.3
SWS 2nd
36.3
22.0
Table 3: Mid-span displacement of SES and SWS (mm)

The mid-span displacement-time histories of the SES and SWS tanks from the first and
second impact tests are plotted in Figure 17. Both of the SES and SWS tanks experienced plastic
deformation in the first and second tests and their permanent deformations can be seen in Figure
17 except for the SES in the first test. This is because the potentiometer at mid-span of SES tank
was separated from the bottom plate halfway during test and hence, the curve was abruptly
terminated as shown in Figure 17. However, the permanent deformation of all specimens was
also physically measured and is listed in Table 3.
60
Midpoint displacement
(mm)
120
50
SES
Impact 2
SWS
100
40
20
Load (kN)
80
10
20
Impact 1
30
SES
60
40
0
0.19
0.29 Time (s)0.39
0.49
Figure 17: Displacement-time histories
20 displacement
40
Midpoint
(mm)60
Figure 18: Resistance-deflection curves
The maximum and permanent displacements of the SES and SWS tanks are compared in
Table 3. The SWS tank exhibited lower maximum and permanent displacement by 5.6 % and
14.9 %, respectively, as compared to the SES tank in the first test, and the difference was further
increased to 29.0 % and 38.5 % in the second test. This shows that the SWS tank performed
better under the dynamic pressure loading as compared to the SES tank. The maximum
displacements of the two tanks are tracked along their respective resistance-deflection curves,
which was obtained earlier in the static test, as shown in Figure 18. It can be seen that the
maximum displacements of SES and SWS tanks in the first impact occurred at hardening stage.
In the second test, the maximum displacement of the SES tank fell in the softening stage while
the SWS tank was still within hardening stage. This could explain the larger deformation of SES
tank in the second test as it deformed more to absorb the impact energy as compared to the SWS
tank.
596
CONCLUSIONS
The performance of water tank under static and dynamic pressure load has been studied
through experimental method. The effect of water on the response of water tank under static and
dynamic pressure load was also investigated. The main findings and key observations from the
test are summarized as follow:
1) Both the empty steel tank and water filled thank failed under ductile flexural mode under
static lateral load. The load-carrying capacity of the tank with water was increased by 31% as
compared to the empty steel tank. This is because that water helped to maintain the distance
between top and bottom plates and delayed the occurrence of local buckling of the face plate in
compression.
2) Both empty steel tank and the water filled tank deformed in flexural manner under the
dynamic pressure load. The present of water inside the steel tank was shown to improve the
performance of the steel tank under dynamic pressure load in terms of less deformation and more
globally distributed loading, especially under higher impact load. In comparison, load
concentration near stiffeners and side plates was observed for the empty steel tank under the
same impact loading.
REFERENCES
[1]
M. Zheng, S.C. Lee, Y. Wang and J.Y.R. Liew, Heat transfer analysis of water storage faade
th
system, In: Proceedings of 10 Pacific Structural Steel Conference, Singapore (2013).
[2] K.A. Malo, Water pressure chamber for static testing of panels, Interntaionl Journal of
Mechanical Sciences, 43:1209-1228 (2001).
[3] H. Derakhshah, M.C. Griffith and J.M. Ingham, Airbag testing of multi-leaf unreinforced masonry
walls subjected to one-way bending, Engineering Structures, 57:512-522 (2013).
[4] M.K.H. Patoary, Strengthening of masonry walls against out-of-plane loads using FRP systems,
PhD thesis, National University of Singapore (2004).
[5] J.Y.R. Liew and T.Y. Wang, Novel steel-concrete-steel sandwich composite plates subjected to
impact and blast load, Advances in Structural Engineering, 14:673-686 (2011).
[6] S. Lan, T.S. Lok and L. Heng, Composite structural panels subjected to explosive loading,
Construction and Building Materials, 19: 387-395 (2005).
[7] D.N. Lacroix, G. Doudak and K. EI-Domiaty, Retrofit options for light-frame wood stud walls
subjected to blast loading, Journal of Structural Engineering, 140:04013104 (2014).
[8] D. Whisler and H. Kim, A non-explosive test method for generating wide area dynamic blast-type
pressure pulse loading on armored panels, International Journal of Impact Engineering, 68:28-40
(2014).
[9] N. Mostaghel, Blast load simulation system, US Patent US6536258 B1, US (2003).
[10] W. Chen and H. Hao, Experimental investigations and numerical simulations of multi-arch
double-layered panels under uniform impulsive loadings, International Journal of Impact
Engineering, 63:140-157 (2014).
[11] A.M. Remennikov, J.Y.R. Liew, S.Y. Kong and K.W. Kang, Simulation of impulsive loading on
th
columns using an inflatable airbag technique, In: Proceedings of the 8 International Conference
on Shock & Impact Loads on Structures, Adelaide, Australia (2009).
597
th
DEPTH OF PENETRATION AND STRUCTURAL DESTRUCTION

ANALYSES OF MASS ABRASIVE PROJECTILE HIGH-SPEED
PENETRATING INTO CONCRETE TARGET
H. Wu*, X. W. Chen, Q. Fang, L. L. He
*
Institute of Systems Engineering, China Academy of Engineering Physics

Mianshan Road 64, Mianyang, China, 621900
e-mail: <abrahamhao@126.com>
Keywords: projectile, penetration, concrete, mass loss, nose blunting
Abstract. During the high-speed penetration into concrete target (the initial
striking velocity of the projectile was between 1km/s~1.5km/s), the projectile
usually has mass loss and symmetrical or asymmetrical nose blunting, which may
lead to the reduction of depth of penetration (DOP) as well as the structural
destruction of the penetrator, such as bending, fracture and so on. Based on the
works of Zhao and Chen et al. [3, 4], by proposing the analytical expressions of
mass loss and nose-blunting coefficients, the approaches for predicting the DOP
and analyzing the structural destruction of the projectile during the high-speed
normally penetrating into the concrete target are given, which was further
validated by comparing with the available tests data.
1 INTRODUCTION
In order to attack the ever deep buried high-strength concrete fortifications, the Earth Penetration
Weapon (EPW) should achieve a high striking velocity, up to 1500m/s. With the rapid development of
high-strength alloy materials and the propellant techniques (such as scramjet, rocket and secondary
acceleration, etc.), the penetrator is possible to achieve the aiming initial velocity. However, at such
high striking velocity, the projectile usually has significant mass loss and nose blunting when
penetrating into high-strength concrete, thus the penetration efficiency of the penetrator is reduced
distinctly. Besides, the random distributed coarse aggregates of the concrete induces the
asymmetrical abrasion of the projectile nose, which may lead to the occurrence of the transverse load
acted on the projectile. Under the combined actions of the axial and transverse forces, while the initial
penetration velocity exceeds the certain limit striking velocity, the structural destructions of the
. [1, 2]).
projectile may occur, such as buckling, bending and fracture etc., (shown in Fig. 1 from Ref
The
limit striking velocity is defined as the largest initial penetration velocity of the projectile that no
yielding occurs in the projectile cross section. In the present paper, based on the previous works of
[3, 4]
Zhao and Chen et al.
, the depth of penetration (DOP) and the limit striking velocity of the
penetrator with the consideration of mass loss and nose blunting effects are further discussed.
2 MASS LOSS AND NOSE-BLUNTING COEFFICIENTS OF THE PROJECTILE
[5]
[6]
[1]
[7]
[2]
Since 1990s, Forrestal et al. , Frew et al. , He et al. , Mu et al.

and Wu et al.
have
conducted a series of penetration tests of small-scaled ogival nose projectiles into concrete target
with maximum striking velocity up to 1682m/s, respectively. The mass losses of penetrators in the
above tests were recorded and the maximum relative mass loss (the ratio of the mass loss and the
______________________________
Institute of Systems Engineering, China Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang, 621900 Sichuan, China
College of Defense Engineering, PLA University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210007 Jiangsu, China
599
H. Wu, X. W. Chen, Q. Fang and L. L. He
mass of the unfired projectile) reached 12%. The existing penetration tests also indicate that the
majority of mass loss occurred on the nose of projectile and the eroded nose were approaching to a
semispherical shape with increasing the impact velocity.
Figure 1: The structural destruction of the projectiles in the high-speed penetration tests
[1-2]
[8]
For the mass loss effect, based on the empirical fitting of the tests data, Silling and Forrestal
found that the mass loss of projectile is proportional to its initial kinetic energy in case of impact
velocity Vs less than 1.0km/s, thus the relative mass loss can be expressed as
M M0 Mr
=
= CVs2 / 2
M0
M0
(1)
where M is the mass loss, M0 is the mass of the intact projectile and Mr is the residual mass of the
2
2
recovered projectile after test. C is the mass loss coefficient in s /km .
[5, 6]
[3]
For the nose blunting effect, by fitting the tests data in Refs.
, Zhao and Chen et al. derived
*
that the variation of the nose factor N of the ogive-nose projectiles before and after penetration test
has a linear relationship with the square of the initial impact velocity, which can be expressed as
Nr* = N0* + kVs2
(2)
2
where k is the nose-blunting coefficient of the projectile in s /km . For an ogival nose projectile, the
nose factor N * has the form of
N* =
8 1
24
0 < N* <
1
2
(3)
where the dimensionless nose parameter = s / d is the caliber-radius-head (CRH), and s is the
curvature radius of the ogival nose, d is the shank diameter of the projectile. Denoting the CRHs of
the initial and recovered projectile nose as 0 and r , respectively. Therein the initial and residual
nose factor have the expressions of N0* = (80 1) / 2402 and Nr* = (8r 1) / 24r2 .
[4]
Furthermore, Zhao and Chen et al. gave an empirical prediction of k as
k = 0.336
fc
N0*
H
62.8 0.106 7
(4)
where fc is the unconfined compressive strength of concrete target in MPa, H is the Mohs hardness
of the coarse aggregate.
It can be found that the above mentioned studies are empirical, and the physical basis is not clear.
[10]
[11]
In Ref. [9], with referring Jones et al.
and He et al.
, by assuming that the work of friction
between projectile and target during penetration is totally transformed into the heat to melt the outside
layer of penetrator nose, we have proposed the explicit formulae for the mass loss and nose-blunting
coefficients as follows
C=
0.8N1*
3QS
k=
N1* (0 + 4)M0
6 3QSMn0
(5)
where = H / H 0 is the normalized hardness of the coarse aggregate, H0=7 the relative Mohs
hardness of coarse aggregate. =4.18J/cal is the mechanical equivalent of heat, Q =
T C p dT
is the
unit mass melting heat for the penetrator material, C p is the specific heat of penetrator material at
600
constant pressure and the integral of temperature T is from ambient temperature to the melting point
of projectile material. In the present paper, the parameter of pure iron Q = 3.0258 105 cal/kg is
adopted for convenience. S = 72.0fc0.5 is a dimensionless empirical constant only depending on fc
(unit in MPa). Mn is the mass of ogival nose part of the unfired projectile. Mn is the nose mass of
unfired projectile. N1* is the dimensionless longitudinal section area of the intact penetrator nose, for
an ogival nose, it has
1
(2 1) 4 1
N1* = 4 2 cos 11
2

(6)
Eq. (5) has clear physical meaning of transformation between frictional work and heat, it constructs
[8]
[3, 4]
the theoretical basis of the conclusion of Silling and Forrestal and Zhao and Chen et al.
, which
[1, 2, 5, 6]
were also validated by comparisons with the small-scaled penetration tests
of ogival nose
projectile in Ref. [9].
3 DOP AND THE LIMIT STRIKING VELOCITY OF THE PENETRATOR
Chen and Li
[12]
has proposed a formula for predicting the DOP of rigid projectile Z as
Z=
* 2
1 + N0Vs
ln
Sfc
d 2 N0*
2M 0
(7)
where is the density of the concrete target. With considerations of mass loss and nose blunting,
[3]
Zhao and Chen et al. further proposed an equation of DOP of penetrator as
)]
N0* + kVs2
N0* kVs2
arctan h
8k + 2C N0* kVs2 arctan h
M0
Z=
2kd 2
N0*Vs2
C ln1 + Sf
c
where = 4Sfc k + 2 N 0* + kVs2
(8)
During the high speed penetration into concrete target, if the projectile nose has asymmetrical
[4]
abrasion during the normal penetration, Zhao and Chen et al. proposed the expression of the limit
striking velocity Vs,lim as
Vs,lim =
x
x
x
2Yp 1(1 m ) + 2 1 m (1 m ) 2 Nea Sfc

*
L
L
L
N0
xm *
1 x m
xm 2 b
k
1(1 L )N e + 2 L (1 L ) N e
(9)
where L and Yp are the length and yield strength of the projectile, respectively. 1 = L / d is the length-
to-diameter ratio of the projectile, x m / L is the location of yielding cross-section. 1 = 1/ 4 ht 4 2ht

and 2 = 1 /
cartridge,
2 4ht
4 3ht
3 2ht
+ ht , where ht = ht / d is the dimensionless thickness of projectile
ht is the thickness of projectile cartridge, and ht = 0.5 for solid projectile. The analyses of
[4]
Zhao and Chen et al. show that the critical yielding cross-section only located between the root of
the nose and the location of the L/3 distance from the projectile nose. In the present paper, it is
assumed that the critical yielding cross-section is located on the root of the nose for convenience, that
is x m / L = 0 0.25 / 1 . Ne* = NI* + NII* / 2 , Nea = N1*,I N1*,II
and Neb = N 2*,I N 2*,II
reflects the
asymmetrical nose abrasions. By assuming the asymmetrical CRHs of the projectile nose when the
projectile is yielding are I and II , NI* and NII* can be obtained by substituting I and II into Eq.
(3), N1*,I and N1*,II can be obtained by substituting I and II into Eq. (6), N2*,I and N 2*,II can be
601
obtained by substituting I and II into following equations
1
2
1
N2* = 2 0
sin(40 ) sin(20 );0 = arcsin1
12
3
2
2
(10)
4 VALIDATIONS
Table 1 collects the basic parameters of projectiles and targets in total six sets of high-speed
penetration tests, with the striking velocity from 450m/s to 1682m/s. In this section, we will discuss the
DOP and the limit striking velocity Vs,lim of the penetrator by Eqs. (8, 9), and the mass loss coefficient
C and nose blunting coefficient k are determined by Eq. (5).
Ref.
Forrestal et al.
No.
Target
f c /MPa
[5]
/kg/m
Aggregate
H
1
2
Grout
19.5
62.8
2000
Quartz
7
Projectile material
4340 steel
He et al.
[1]
4
5
Concrete
34.8
48.6
61.3
2300
Limestone
3
6
76.4
60Si2Mn
Solid or Hollow
Hollow
Solid
Yp/MPa
M0/kg
1481
0.064
1481
0.478
1300
0.154
M0/Mn
5.7
10.2
8.55
d/mm
L/d
0
12.9
6.88
20.3
14
10
4.25
Table 1: Lists of parameters in the high-speed penetration tests

It is important and rather difficult to confirm the values of I and II experimentally. Zhao & Chen
[4]
et al.
assumed that both of the transverse force induced by asymmetrical nose abrasion and the
axial resistance reach their maximums simultaneously at the instant of penetrator yielding, and the
expression of symmetrical abrasion nose factor when the axial resistance reach the maximum is
*
= N0* + kVs2 / 2 . Comparing with Eq. (2), it can be found that the nose factor at the
deduced as Nm
*
instant of penetrator yielding N m
is the half of the residual nose factor of penetrator after the
penetration Nr* . The existing penetration tests [1, 2, 7] show that the eroding nose is approaching to
the semispherical shape with the initial penetration velocity increases gradually. Considering the most
unfavorable condition, we assume that the side II of the projectile nose is already blunted to the
*
semispherical shape, which means that N m
,II = 0.5 and II =0.5 according to Eq. (3). The other side I
*
is eroded and blunted by Eq. (2), thus the nose factor is Nm
,I = 0.25 . Therefore, based on Eq. (3), we
can derive that I =1.2 at the instant of penetrator yielding. The limit striking velocity under the most
unfavorable condition determined by Eq. (9) is denoted as Vs .
Fig. 2 shows the DOP of projectile respectively obtained by experiments in Table 1, Eq. (7) (solid
line) and Eq. (8) (dashed line), where the mass loss coefficient C and nose-blunting coefficient k are
confirmed by Eq. (5). Theoretically, due to the effect of the mass abrasion and nose-blunting, there
exists an initial penetration velocity that the DOP of the projectile reaches its maximum (denoted as
Vs+ given in Fig. 2), which can be obtained by differentiating Eq. (8), the expression of Vs+ is also
[3]
given by Zhao and Chen et al. . Actually, due to the random distribution of the coarse aggregates in
the concrete target, the asymmetrical abrasion occurred inevitably on the projectile nose during high-
602
speed penetration. When the initial penetration velocity of projectile exceeds Vs , depending on the
discrepancy of asymmetrical nose abrasion, the projectile might yield under the combining actions of
the axial resistance and transverse force. For the most unfavorable condition considered in this paper,
the actual initial velocity when the projectile is yielding should locate between Vs and Vs+ .
1.6
2.00
Forrestal (1996)
Forrestal (1996) CRH=3
1.4
1.75
1.2
1.50
+
1.25
0.8
Vs =1771m/s
Vs =1478m/s
Z (m)
Z (m)
1.0
1.00
Vs =1176m/s
0.6
0.75
projectile
bented
0.4
0.50
projectile fractured
at the bottom
0.2
0.25
0.0
0.00
0
400
800
1200
Vs (m/s)
projectile
fractured
Vs =795m/s
1600
2000
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
Vs (m/s)
(a) Test 1
(b) Test 2
2.5
3.0
He (2010)
He (2010)
2.5
2.0
+
Vs =2060m/s
Vs =2091m/s
1.5
Z (m)
Z (m)
2.0
1.5
1.0
1.0
projectile
bented
projectile
bented
0.5
0.5
-
Vs =1222m/s
0.0
0
250
500
750
1000
1250
Vs =1290m/s
0.0
1500
1750
2000
400
800
1200
1600
2000
Vs (m/s)
Vs (m/s)
(c) Test 3
(d) Test 4
2.5
3.5
He (2010)
He (2010)
3.0
2.0
Z (m)
Z (m)
2.5
2.0
1.5
Vs =2034m/s
1.5
Vs =2082m/s
1.0
projectile
bented
0.5
projectile
bented
1.0
0.5
Vs =1357m/s
Vs =1327m/s
0.0
0
400
800
1200
0.0
1600
2000
500
1000
Vs (m/s)
Vs (m/s)
(e) Test 5
(f) Test 6
1500
2000
Figure 2: Comparisons between the predicted DOP and limit penetration velocity with the tests
data
Fig. 2 illustrates that: (i) Based on the mass loss coefficient C and nose-blunting coefficient k
confirmed by Eq. (5), the DOP predicted by Eq. (8) agrees better with the test data than the rigid
projectile penetration depth given by Eq. (7). Therein the validity of the Eq. (5) is further verified other
than Ref. [9]; (ii) The initial penetration velocity when the tested projectile is bended or fractured is
located between Vs and Vs+ , which implies that, although the initial penetration velocity is less than
the theoretical value Vs+ , the yielding of the projectile may occur due to the asymmetrical abrasion of
projectile nose. The limit impact velocity Vs increases with the discrepancy of projectile nose CRHs
of both sides reducing. The rather conservative predictions of tests 1~2 lie mainly in that the actual
asymmetric abrasion of the projectile nose is not obvious in the tests, and the final envelope contours
[13]
of projectile nose shapes of tests 1~2 can be referred in Chen et al. . Therefore, Eq. (5) and Eqs.
603
(8-9) can be utilized in the predictions of the DOP and the structural destruction analyses of the
projectile during the high-speed normally penetration into the concrete target.
5 CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, based on the work of Zhao and Chen et al. (IJIE, 2010, 37(9): 971-979, IJIE, 2012,
39(1): 16-27), by proposing the analytical expressions of mass loss and nose-blunting coefficients, the
approaches for predicting the DOP and analyzing the structural destruction of the projectile during the
high-speed normally penetrating into the concrete target are given, which was validated by comparing
with the available tests data. The further work is taking the influences of initial oblique and attacking
angles of the penetrator into considerations in the above analyses.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The project was supported by the Funds for Creative Research Groups of China (51321064), the
National Outstanding Young Scientists Foundation of China (11225213), the Major Program of the
National Natural Science Foundation of China11390362, and the National Natural Science
Foundations of China (51378015).
REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
[11]
[12]
[13]
He X, Xu X Y, Sun G J, Shen J, Yang J C, Jin D L. Experimental investigation on projectiles

high-velocity penetration into concrete targets [J], Explosion and Shock Waves, 2010, 30(1): 1-6
(in Chinese)
Wu H J, Huang F L, Wang Y N, Duan Z P, Pi A G. Experimental investigation on projectile nose
eroding effect of high-velocity penetration into concrete [J]. Acta Armamentarii, 2012, 33(1): 4855 (in Chinese)
Zhao J, Chen X W, Jin F N, Xu Y. Depth of penetration of high-speed penetrator with including
the effect of mass abrasion [J]. International Journal of Impact Engineering, 2010, 37(9): 971-979
Zhao J, Chen X W, Jin F N, Xu Y. Analysis on the bending of a projectile induced by
asymmetrical mass abrasion [J]. International Journal of Impact Engineering, 2012, 39(1): 16-27
Forrestal M J, Frew D J, Hanchak S J, Brar N S. Penetration of grout and concrete targets with
ogive-nose steel projectiles [J]. International Journal of Impact Engineering, 1996, 18(5): 465476
Frew D J, Hanchak S J, Green M L, Forrestal M J. Penetration of concrete targets with ogivenose steel rods [J]. International Journal of Impact Engineering, 1998, 21(6): 489-497
Mu Z C, Zhang W. An investigation on mass loss of ogival projectiles penetrating concrete
targets [J]. International Journal of Impact Engineering, 2011, 38(6): 770-778
Silling S A, Forrestal M J. Mass loss from abrasion on ogive-nose steel projectiles that penetrate
concrete targets [J]. International Journal of Impact Engineering, 2007, 34(6): 1814-1820
Wu H, Chen X W, He L L, Fang Q. Analytical determinations on the mass loss and nose-blunting
coefficients of ogival-nose projectile high-speed penetrating into concrete target [J]. Acta
Mechanica Sinica. Accepted.
Jones S E, Foster J C, Toness O A, et al. An estimate for mass loss from high velocity steel
penetrators. In: Moody F J, editor. Proceedings of the ASME PVP-435 Conference on thermalhydraulic problems, Sloshing phenomena, and extreme loads on structures. New York: ASME,
2002, 227-237
He L L, Chen X W, He X. Parametric study on mass loss of penetrators [J]. Acta Mechanica
Sinica, 2010, 26(4): 585-597
Chen X W, Li Q M. Deep penetration of a non-deformable projectile with different geometrical
characteristics [J]. International Journal of Impact Engineering. 2002, 27(6): 619-637
Chen X W, He L L, Yang S Q. Modeling on mass abrasion of kinetic energy penetrator [J].
European Journal of Mechanics A/Solids. 2010, 29(1): 7-17
604
th
PROJECTILE PENETRATION OF ULTRA-HIGH PERFORMANCE

CEMENT BASED COMPOSITES AT 1150M/S TO 1320M/S
H. Wu*, Q. Fang, X. W. Chen, J. Z. Liu and Z. M. Gong
College of Defense Engineering, PLA University of Science and Technology
Houbiaoying 88, Nanjing 210007, China
e-mail: <abrahamhao@126.com>
Keywords: projectile, UHPCC, depth of penetration, mass abrasion, structural

destruction
Abstract: The ultra-high performance cement based composites (UHPCC) with

the additions of steel fibers and basalt coarse aggregates were prepared under
the common curing temperature and pressure procedures, where the unconfined
cylindrical compressive strength ranged from 88 MPa to 142 MPa. The
comparative high-speed projectile penetration tests on normal strength concrete
(NSC, 40MPa) and UHPCC targets with the striking velocities at 1150m/s to
1320m/s were carried out. The damages of the targets, the deformations and the
terminal ballistic trajectory of the projectiles were examined. The experiments
validated that UHPCC material has excellent impact resistance against the
projectile penetration, such as reducing the depth of penetration and the crater
dimensions, as well as defeating the projectile and deviating the terminal ballistic
trajectory. Finally, our previous proposed structural destruction model for highspeed mass abrasive projectile is verified by present tests.
1 INTRODUCTION
High strength Concrete (HSC) and the steel fiber reinforced HSC (SFRHSC) are generally
considered to be a proper construction material for both military and civil applications, such as
fortifications, nuclear containment and other protective structures, which were designed to withstand
the intentional and accidental impact loadings caused by projectiles, fragments and etc..
Investigations on the projectile impact-resistance of HSC and SFRHSC have been drawn much
attentions for both weapon designers and civil engineers in nearly recent 20 years.
Based on the comparative penetration or perforation tests on the finite-depth normal strength
[1]
concrete (NSC) and HSC targets, Hanchak and etc.
found that, for the steel reinforced concrete
slabs hit by the projectiles at 300m/s to 1100m/s, the residual velocities of the 140MPa concrete were
less than 20% lower than that for the 48MPa concrete. That is to say, the three-fold increase in
unconfined compressive strength resulted in relatively minor improvement of the anti-perforation
performance of the concrete target, especially when the impact velocities of the projectile were much
[2, 3]
higher than the ballistic limit of the target. Dancygier and etc.
concentrated on the efficiencies of
different ductility improvement types (steel mesh, steel fibers, small diameter steel wire mesh and
woven steel fence mesh of various diameters), where the impact velocities ranged from 85m/s to
______________________________
PLA University of Science & Technology, Nanjing 210007, China
Institute of Systems Engineering, China Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang, 621900, China
Jiangsu Research Institute of Building Science, Nanjing, 210001, China
605
H. Wu, Q. Fang, X. W. Chen, J. Z. Liu and Z. M. Gong
230m/s, and the unconfined cubic (100100100mm) compressive strengths of NSC and HSC
targets were 34~35MPa and 95~100MPa, respectively. It was showed that the HSC enhanced the
perforation resistance against the penetrator, but the rear face crater areas were also enlarged
simultaneously. While the steel fibers were most effective approaches in reducing the spalling and
scabbing areas of both impacted and rear faces of the targets. Under the strike of the projectile at
[4]
229m/s to 754m/s, ONeil and etc.
also found that the depth of penetration (DOP) the concrete
target with a compressive strength of 157MPa was approximately 50% and 30% less than which of
the targets with a compressive strength of 35MPa as well as 85MPa~104MPa, respectively.
[4]
Additionally, ONeil and etc. pointed out that, the fibers did not significantly improve the penetration
resistance, but provide for great resistance to visible damage to the concrete surrounding the
[5]
penetration crater. Langberg and Markeset
derived that, although the penetration resistance of
HSC was significantly better than the NSC, the impact resistance was not improved obviously any
more when the cylinder compressive strength was beyond 150MPa. They recommended that the
compressive strength of 90MPa is the most efficient and economical for protective structures by
comprehensive considerations on the penetration resistance and production costs. Similarly, based
[6]
on the impact tests 364.9m/s to 378.3m/s, Luo and etc.
also found that the NSC with the cubic
(100100100mm) compressive strength 72.4MPa exhibited smash failure, while the HSC with the
cubic (100100100mm) compressive strength 107.1MPa~116.1MPa remained intact with only
[7]
several radial cracks on the front surface and some minor cracks on the side face. Liu and etc.
experimentally investigated the impact resistance of fiber reinforced HSC targets, where the fiber
volume fraction ranged from 0 up to 12%, and the projectile striking velocities are 314m/s and 414m/s,
respectively. It was found that, the strength and toughness of the HSC increased tremendously with
the fiber volume fraction rising, especially when the fiber volume fraction is beyond 4%. For instance,
the DOP of the 100MPa target decreased about 33% when the fiber volume fraction rises up to 10%.
[8]
Unosson and Nilsson
conducted the experiments and simulations of projectile impact of high
performance concrete (HPC) targets at 620m/s, and the cubic (150150150mm) compressive
strength of the concrete was 153MPa. They mainly concentrated on monitoring the time-histories of
the velocity and decelerations of the projectile by Doppler-radar registrations and the simulation
approaches.
From the projectile penetration tests on concrete targets with the compressive strength of
45~235MPa (determined by 100100100mm cubes) and the impact velocity at 610~710m/s, Zhang
[9, 10]
and etc.
discussed the effects of content, type and length of the incorporated fibers as well as the
compressive and flexural tensile strengths of the concrete on the impact resistances. It indicated that,
the compressive strength and the presence of the coarse granite aggregates are both beneficial in
terms of decreasing penetration depth, while the incorporation fibers are mainly contributing to
[9]
reducing crater diameter and crack propagation. Zhang and etc.
further proposed that the fiber
reinforced HSC with a compressive strength of 100MPa was the most efficient under the strike of the
[11]
projectile. Meanwhile, Dancygier and etc.
conducted a series of comparative projectile impact tests
on NSC (40MPa) and HSC (93~119MPa) targets with the striking velocities at 200~315m/s. The
influences of the concrete mix ingredients, the amount and type of reinforcement on the anti-impact
performance of the target were analyzed comprehensively. It was concluded that, the compressive
strength of the concrete as well as the type and size of coarse aggregates are both responsible for
enhancing the impact resistance of the target, while the reinforcing steel bars have almost no effect
[12]
on the perforation resistance. Tai
carried out the projectile low velocity (27~104m/s) impact tests
on plain or fiber reinforced NSC (~25MPa) and reactive powder concrete (RPC, 161.9~192.8MPa)
target, respectively. It indicated that, adding steel fibers slightly increased the compressive strength of
RPC, but markedly increasing its toughness and fracture energy, which are important in improving the
impact resistance. The tests results also showed that, the scabbing area decreased by approximately
50% when 1% steel fiber was mixed into RPC.
From an engineering protection point, there are two main shortages in the existing experimental
investigations. Firstly, for the concrete target, the fiber reinforced HSC are recognized as the most
efficient in preventing projectile penetration and reducing the frontal and distal crater damages.
However, the elevation of the strength needs decreasing or even eliminating the ingredients sizes in
order to improving the homogeneity and density of the composite, thus there are little coarse
aggregates mixed into the fiber reinforced HSC, the anti-penetration capacity of coarse aggregates
were neglected. Secondly, for the striking velocity, aiming at the conventional earth penetration
weapons, the scaled projectile impacting velocities in majority of existing penetration tests on fiber
reinforced HSC are subsonic. While for the high-speed advanced earth penetration weapons (the
initial striking velocity of the projectile reaches 1km/s~1.5km/s), the supersonic or even higher speed
penetration tests are needed urgently.
606
In the present paper, based on the ultra-high performance cement based composites (UHPCC)
with the addition of both steel fibers and basalt coarse aggregates, which was prepared the under
common curing temperature and pressure procedures by State Key Laboratory of High Performance
Civil Engineering Materials, Jiangsu Research Institute of Building Science. The high-speed
penetration tests on UHPCC targets with the projectile striking velocities at 1150m/s to 1320m/s were
carried out. The anti-impact capacity of the UHPCC was examined, and the DOP, structural and
ballistic stabilities of the projectile were examined.
2 UHPCC TARGET
The compositions of UHPCC targets in the penetration tests are listed in Table 1. The Portland
cement with 28 days of compressive strength was 64.5MPa, 60% of cement was replaced by ultrafine industrial waste powder, such as silica fume (0.2m), ultra-fine fly ash and ultra-fine slag. The
water-binder and sand-binder ratio were 0.15 and 1.2, respectively. The traditional fine quartz sand
(600m) was substituted by natural sand with the maximum particle size was 2.5mm. Thus, UHPCC
is low-costs and energy savings because much more energy and resources were consumed during
the production of the cement and fine quartz, especially compared with the RPC. The superplasticizer is a kind of polycarboxylic type high performance water-reducer with the water-reducing
ratio was no less than 35%. The equivalent diameter, length and tensile strength of the steel fibers
[13, 14]
were 0.175mm, 13mm and 1800MPa, respectively
.
Cement
3
(kg/m )
240~654
Silica fume
3
(kg/m )
60~109
Fly ash
3
(kg/m )
80~109
Slag
3
(kg/m )
160~218
Sand
3
(kg/m )
810~1090
Vc
3
(kg/m )
0~1042
w/cm
ratio
0.17~0.2
Superplasticizer
2%
Table 1: Composition of UHPCC

During the preparation and curing of the UHPCC targets, at first, the dry cementitious materials
and sands were put into a compulsory mortar mixer at the same time and mixed uniformly, then the
water and super-plasticizer were added together and mixed for 3~5min. Finally, fibers were
incorporated into the mixture and mixed for 3~5min in order to guarantee the fibers were well
[13]
distributed throughout the mortar . The mixture of UHPCC was casted into cylindrical steel culverts
with the thickness of 3mm, the diameter of the targets were 750mm, which is nearly 30 times of the
projectile diameter, thus the circumferential boundary effects could be neglected, shown in Fig. 1. The
target specimens were self-compacting and curing atmospherically for 28 days before projectile
3
penetration tests. The volume fractions of basalt coarse aggregate (10mm) Vc (kg/m ), steel fibers Vf
(%), unconfined cylindrical compressive strength fc (MPa) and the thickness T (cm) of the each
UHPCC target are given in Table 2.
Figure 1: UHPCC target

3 PROJECTILE
The projectiles used in the penetration tests were machined from D6A (45CrNiMoV) steel rods,
the longitudinal section schemes of which is given in Fig. 2(a), the average mass of the projectile was
393.7g and the yield strength of which was 1420MPa. Projectiles were launched by the 30mm,
smooth-bore powder gun at the striking velocities were 1150m/s, 1250m/s and 1320m/s, respectively.
The sub-caliber technology was used, projectiles were fitted with the nylon sabots and obturators that
fit snugly into the gun bore, shown in Fig. 2(b). After the projectiles were propelled out of the barrel,
sabots and obturators can be stripped aerodynamically into debris prior to the projectile striking the
target, which can be found from the penetration photograph recoded by high-speed camera system
607
given in Fig. 3. The projectiles were filled by polymer inert materials with the density was
3
=(1.50.05)g/cm , which was used to substitute the filled charge. During each shot, the initial mass
of the projectiles M0 were measured and given in Table 2, and the deformations of the projectiles as
well as the damages of the targets were examined.
(a)
(b)
Figure 2: Projectiles (a) dimensions (b) sabots and obturators

4 EXPERIMENT SETUP
Three sets of projectile normal penetration tests were conducted into the UHPCC targets with the
initial striking velocities V0 ranged from 1150m/s to 1320m/s, as listed in Table 2. During the tests, the
cylindrical targets were placed on their sides, with the top face as placed perpendicular to and
centered on the longitudinal axis of the barrel, the wood-culvert was used to prevent the lateral
movement of the target. The schematic diagram of which is given in Fig. 3(a). Striking velocities were
measured from a pair of metal wires nets that placed in the trajectory of the projectiles, which formed
part of two electrical circuits that were connected to an oscilloscope. Sequential breakage of the wire
net by the projectile generated voltage changes, thus dividing the distance between two metal wires
nets by the time interval between the voltage changes, the impact velocities could be calculated. The
flight process of the projectile was recorded by the high-speed camera system, and Fig. 3(b) shows
the photograph at the instant of projectile impact on the target. After each shot, the damages of the
targets were recorded, such as the maximum DOP of the projectile, the depth hc and the average
diameter dc (average value of dimensions from four directions: horizontal, vertical, 45 And 135 ) of
the impact crater as well as the degree of crack propagations.
(a)
(b)
Figure 3: Projectile penetrating into concrete target (a) schematic diagram (b) photograph from
high-speed camera system
The penetration tests data are listed in Table 2 as follows, where indicates that the data was
not recorded.
Test
No.
M0/g
1-1
2-1
3-1
4-1
1-2
2-2
392.3
395.0
394.5
393.8
392.3
393.3
V0/m/s
1150
1250
fc/MPa
T/cm
Vf
Vc/kg/m
35
88
128
142
35
88
150
100
100
100
150
100
0
2%
3%
4%
0
2%
750
870
800
0
750
870
608
DOP
564
402
420
673
540
Cratering
dc/mm hc/mm
516.75
120
309
110
252.5
115
241.25
70
420
150
250
3-2
4-2
1-3
2-3
3-3
4-3
394.3
394.3
392.3
395.0
393.6
394.1
1320
128
142
35
88
128
142
100
100
150
100
100
100
3%
4%
0
2%
3%
4%
800
0
750
870
800
0
503
473
748
681
130
490
238.75
167.5
403
295.5
448.75
251.25
119
75
95
102
130
88
Table 2: Penetration tests data of UHPCC

5.1 Targets damages
There are no visible cracks emerged on the rear faces of 12 targets, the damage views of the
front (impacted) faces for the penetration tests 1~3 are given in Figs. 4~6, respectively.
(a) 1-1
(b) 2-1
(c) 3-1
(d) 4-1
Figure 4: Frontal damage of the targets in test 3 (1150m/s)
(a) 1-2
(b) 2-2
(c) 3-2
(d) 4-2
(a) 1-3
(b) 2-3
(c) 3-3
(d) 4-3

5.2 Projectile abrasion and deformation
During the penetration tests, with the initial striking velocities increase, the projectiles exhibited
obvious nose-blunting and even bending or fractures, such as shown in Fig. 7.
(a) Test 1
(b) Test 2
(c) Test 3
Figure 7: Abrasions and damages of the projectiles after penetration tests
609
5.3 Terminal ballistic trajectory

In the tests, for the increasing of the initial striking velocities, the terminal ballistic trajectories of
projectiles were curved to some extent, some projectiles even exited the edge of the targets (tests 1-2
and 4-3 ), Fig. 8 illustrated the terminal ballistic curves in some tests obtained by cutting the targets
after shots.
(a) 3-1
(b) 2-3
(c) 4-2
(d) 4-3
Figure 8: Terminal ballistic curves obtained by cutting the targets

6 ANALYSES
6.1 Impact crater dimensions and DOP analysis
[9-12]
The existing relatively low-speed penetration tests

indicated that the impact cratering
dimensions enlarges with the compressive strength increasing, while the addition of fibers can
improve the fracture toughness and dynamic tensile strength of the composite, so as to help
decreasing the cratering dimensions under the projectile penetrations. The influential degree of mixing
fibers on reducing impact cratering dimensions seems to be much greater than the influential degree
of compressive strength on enlarging impact cratering dimensions. From the data listed in Table 2, for
various striking velocities at 1150m/s to 1320m/s, we can derive that the above conclusions holds true
in the ultra-high speed penetration. For example, although the compressive strength increases from
35MPa to 142MPa (increase up to 4 times), and the fiber mixing ratio increase up to 4%, the
corresponding impact cratering diameter dc decreases about 38%~60%, the impact cratering depth hc
decreases about 8%~50%, respectively. The sudden rising of the hc and dc in shots 3-3 lies in that
ricochet was occurred for the pitch or yaw angles, and no tunneling region was formed, shown in Fig.
6(c). It also should be pointed that part of the above reducing magnitudes are the contributions of the
coarse aggregate. The existences of the coarse aggregate are prone to decreasing the cratering
diameter and cratering depth.
Similarly, the coarse aggregates can also help enhance the impact resistance so as to reduce the
DOP of the projectile, which can be found qualitatively in the present high-speed projectile
penetrations. Furthermore, the coarse aggregate of the NSC target with the compressive strength of
35MPa are normal strength gravel with the maximum diameters up to 25~30mm, which are larger
than the sizes of the basalt coarse aggregates (10mm) in the UHPCC target, the projectiles
penetrating into the NSC are abraded more obviously than 88MPa and 128MPa targets shown in Fig.
7. While for the 142MPa targets, the projectile nose are relatively less abraded because no coarse
aggregates were added into the targets. It indicates that, the size and strength of the coarse
aggregates have obvious effects on blunting the projectile nose and reducing the penetration
efficiency. Qualitatively speaking, the influential degree of the size of the coarse aggregates is more
obviously than which of the strength of the coarse aggregates. Actually, the functions of concrete
strength and coarse aggregates lie not only in decreasing the DOP but also deviating the terminal
[15-17]
and numerically in Fang
ballistic trajectory. Which were discussed analytically in Wu and etc.
[18]
and Zhang . For the experimental difficulties and random tests data, the quantitative investigations
610
of the contributions of the size and strength of the coarse aggregates on the impact resistance of the
concrete target are not conducted in this paper.
6.2 Projectile structural and terminal ballistic stability analyses
From the tests, while for the initial striking velocity V01000m/s, the projectiles have significant
mass loss and nose blunting when penetrating into concrete target, which lead to their terminal
ballistic instabilities, such as structural destruction (buckling, bending, fracture and etc. in Fig. 7) and
ballistic trajectory deviation, illustrated in Fig. 8. It should be pointed that, not only the increasing axial
resistance induced by the symmetric projectile nose abrasion are responsible for the bending or even
fracture of the high-speed penetrating projectiles, but also the lateral resistance induced by the initial
attacking/oblique angles and asymmetric projectile nose abrasion are another main causes, such as
the shots 3-3 where ricochet was occurred for the pitch or yaw angles.
As for the structural destruction analyses of the high-speed penetrating projectile, the abrasion law
and the limit initial striking velocity V0,lim when the structural destruction of the abrasive projectile takes
[19]
and Frew et
place should be confirmed. Based on the analyses of the test data in Forrestal et al.
[20]
[21, 22]
*
al. , Zhao and Chen et al.
have proposed that the variation of the nose factor N of the ogivenose projectile during the penetration process satisfies
N * = N0* + k V02 v 2 ;
N* =
8 1
(1)
24 2
where v and denote the instantaneous velocity and dimensionless nose geometry of the projectile
during the penetration process, respectively. = s / d is the caliber-radius-head (CRH), and s is the
curvature radius of the ogival nose, d is the shank diameter of the projectile. Denoting the initial CRH
of the intact projectile as 0 , the initial nose factor N 0* can be obtained by substituting 0 into the
2
expression of N * in above equation. k is the nose-blunting coefficient of the projectile in s /km with
respect to the striking velocity V0 in km/s.
In our previous works [15-17], by assuming that the mass loss mainly comes from the peeling of
molten surface layer on projectile nose and the melting heat is totally transformed from the frictional
work between target and projectile, we obtained the analytical expression of the nose-blunting
coefficient as following
k=
N0a (0 + 4 ) M0
2
0
6 3QSMn
1
(2 1) 4 1
; N a = 4 2 cos 11

2
(2)
where = H / H 0 is the normalized hardness of the coarse aggregate, and H is the Mohs hardness of
coarse aggregate, H0=7 is the reference value. N0a is derived by substituting 0 into the expression
of N a given in Eq. (2). M0 and Mn are the masses of the entire and the nose part of the unfired
projectile, respectively. =4.18J/cal is the mechanical equivalent of heat, and Q = T Cp dT is the unit
mass melting heat for the penetrator material, in which C p is the specific heat of penetrator material
at constant pressure and the integral of temperature T is from ambient temperature to the melting
point of projectile material. In the present paper, the parameter of pure iron Q = 3.0258 105 cal/kg is
adopted for simplicity. S = 72.0fc0.5 is a dimensionless empirical constant only depending on fc (unit
in MPa) given in [23]. Thus the abrasion law can be expressed by Eq. (1) and Eq. (2), which had been
adequately validated by total 11 sets of different high-speed penetration tests data (the initial striking
velocity reached 1682m/s), shown in Ref. [15].
With increasing the impact velocity, the high pressure and temperature at the interface between
the projectile and the target, the initial oblique and attacking angles, as well as the friction and
indentation of the random distributed coarse aggregates in the concrete target, which lead to the nonaxisymmetric interaction between the target and the projectile nose, thus the symmetrical or
asymmetrical nose abrasions occurs inevitably. The symmetrical nose abrasion induces only the axial
resistance while the asymmetrical nose abrasion induces both axial and transverse resistances. By
comparing the envelope contours of the recovered projectile noses in present tests 1~3 with which of
the unfired projectiles, we found that most of the projectiles endures symmetrical nose abrasions, in
Ref. [16], we have proposed the prediction equations for limit initial striking velocity V0,lim for normal
penetration without nose abrasion in Eq. (3a) and normal penetration with symmetrical nose abrasion
611
in Eq. (3b).
V0,lim =
4Yp 1
z
N 1 m
L
*
0
Sfc
N0*
(3a)
1/ 2
*
Yp
Sf
N
V0,lim = 2
c 0
(3b)
zm k
k
1
k
C
1
L
where Yp is the yielding strength of projectile material. 1 = ht / d is the dimensionless thickness of
projectile cartridge, and ht is the thickness of projectile cartridge. C1 = 41 412
is the density
of the concrete target. For conservative analysis, the initial critical yielding cross-section is assumed
/ L = 0 1 / 4 / 2 , where 2 = L / d is the length-diameteras the root of nose, which satisfies zm
ratio of the projectile and L denotes the whole length of projectile.
Fig. 9 gives the tests data from tests 1~3 as well as the predicted curves of V0,lim~fc based on Eq.
(3a), (3b) and Zhao & Chen [22] models, respectively. In which the solid and hollow symbols denote
that the projectiles are unbroken and fractured, respectively. Where the parameters H=7 is chosen for
3
the high-strength basalt coarse aggregates and =2300kg/m , M0/Mn=4.06.
From Fig. 9, we can see that the predicted results with the consideration of symmetrical nose
abrasion (Eq. (3b)) agree much better than which without considering nose abrasion (Eq. (3a)) and
[22]
the Zhao & Chen
model. The little higher of the predicted results than the tests data lies in that, we
treat the tests as the ideal normal penetrations, the initial oblique and attacking angles as well as
asymmetrical nose abrasions which would decreasing the limit striking velocity are neglected. Fig. 9
indicates that the projectile nose abrasion should be considered in the structural analyses of the highspeed abrasive projectile, the proposed Eq. (2) are also validated.
Eq. (3a)
Eq. (3b)
Zhao & Chen (2012)
2200
2000
V0,lim
1800
1600
1400
1200
1000
800
30
45
60
75
90
105
120
135
150
fc (MPa)
Figure 9: Predicted V0,lim~fc curves as well as the tests data

For the terminal ballistic trajactories, from Fig. 8, it can be seen that, for projectile high-speed
penetration into UHPCC targets, the projectiles are all deviated from the impact direction (along with
the symmetric axis of the target) to some extent, the J-shaped ballistic trajectories are formed. While
no obvious curvilinear trajectory occurring in the penetration tests on 40MPa target. Thus it can be
concluded that the UHPCC with the high-strength coarse aggregates can induce the deviation of
terminal ballistic trajectory. Actually, based on the previous discussions in Ref. [17], the other
influential factors for the stability of the terminal ballistic trajectory are the attacking/oblique angles, the
asymmetric nose abrasions, the location of the mass center, the size and strength of the coarse
aggregates and etc., which are not reflected in the present tests regretfully.
7 CONCLUSIONS
In the present paper, by preparing the UHPCC with the additions of steel fibers and basalt coarse
aggregates under common curing temperature and pressure procedures, the high-speed projectile
penetration tests on UHPCC targets with the striking velocities at 1150m/s to 1320m/s were carried
612
out. The experiments show that UHPCC material has excellent impact resistance against the
projectile penetration, such as reducing the DOP and the crater dimensions as well as defeating the
projectile and deviating the terminal ballistic trajectory.
(1) The projectile impact crater dimensions enlarges with the increase of the compressive
strength of the target, and which was reduced with the increase of fiber mixing fraction and the mixed
coarse aggregate. In the discussed parametric variation ranges, the influential degree of mixing fibers
on reducing impact cratering dimensions seems to be much greater than which of compressive
strength on enlarging impact cratering dimensions. Both of the compressive strength, the fiber mixing
fraction as well as coarse aggregates can help enhance the impact resistance of the target so as to
decrease the DOP of the projectile.
(2) As for the structural destruction analyses of the high-speed penetrating projectile, the previous
proposed prediction models for abrasion law and the limit initial striking velocity are validated by the
present tests. For the normal projectile penetrations, from an engineering projection view, increasing
the compressive strength as well as the size and strength of the coarse aggregates are an efficient
approach to defeat and yaw the projectile.
The further work should concentrated in the quantitative investigations on the contributions of the
size and strength of the coarse aggregates on the impact resistance of the concrete target.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The project was supported by the Funds for Creative Research Groups of China (51321064), the
National Outstanding Young Scientists Foundation of China (11225213), and the National Natural
Science Foundations of China (51378015).
REFERENCES
[1]
Hanchak S J, Forrestal M J, Young E R, Ehrgott J Q. Perforation of concrete slab with 48MPa

(7ksi) and 140MPa (20ksi) unconfined compressive strength. Int J Impact Eng, 1992, 12(1): 1-7
[2] Dancygier A N, Yankelevsky D Z. High strength concrete response to hard projectile impact. Int J
Impact Eng, 1996, 18(6): 583-599
[3] Dancygier A N. Rear face damage of normal and high-strength concrete elements caused by
hard projectile impact. ACI Structural Journal, 1998, 5(3): 291-304
[4] ONeil E F, Neeley B D, Cargile J D. Tensile properties of very-high-strength concrete for
penetration-resistant structures. Shock Vib, 1999, 6(5-6):237-245
[5] Langberg H, Markeset G. High performance concrete-penetration resistance and material
development. Proceedings of the Ninth International Symposium on Interaction of the Effects of
Munitions with Structures, Berlin-Strausberg, 1999, 933-941
[6] Luo X, Sun W, Sammy Y.N. Chan. Characteristics of high-performance steel fiber-reinforced
concrete subject to high velocity impact. Cement and Concrete Research, 2000, 30: 907-914
[7] Liu R C, Wu B, Zhang X Z, Shen G S, Niu X L. Tests on resisting projectiles penetration of high
strength volume steel fiber concrete. Explosion and Shock Waves, 2002, 22(4): 368-372 (in
Chinese)
[8] Unosson M, Nilsson L. Projectile penetration and perforation of high performance concrete:
experimental results and macroscopic modeling. Int J Impact Eng, 2006, 32: 1068-1085
[9] Zhang M H, Shim V P W, Lu G, Chew C W. Resistance of high-strength concrete to projectile
impact. International Journal of Impact Engineering, 2005, 31 (7):825-841
[10] Zhang M H, Sharif M S H, Lu G. Impact resistance of high-strength fibre-reinforced concrete.
Magazine of Concrete Research, 2007, 59(3): 199-210
[11] Dancygier A N, Yankelevsky D Z, Haegermann C. Response of high performance concrete plates
to impact of non-deforming projectiles. Int J Impact Eng, 2007, 34: 1768-1779
[12] Tai Y S. Flat ended projectile penetrating ultra-high strength concrete plate target. Theoretical
and Applied Fracture Mechanics, 2009, 51: 117-128
[13] Rong Z D, Sun W, Zhang Y S. Dynamic compression behavior of ultra-high performance cement
based composites. Int J Impact Eng, 2010, 37: 515-520
[14] Lai J Z, Sun W, Lin W, Jin Z Q. Static and dynamic mechanical behavior of ECO-RPC (Eng Ed).
J Southeast Univ, 2005, 21(2): 197-202
[15] Wu H, Chen X W, He L L, Fang Q. Stability analyses of the mass abrasive projectile high-speed
613
[16]
[17]
[18]
[19]
[20]
[21]
[22]
[23]
penetrating into concrete target Part I: Engineering model for the mass loss and nose-blunting of
the ogive-nosed projectile. Acta Mech. Sin. Accepted
Wu H, Chen X W, Fang Q, He L L. Stability analyses of the mass abrasive projectile high-speed
penetrating into concrete target Part II: Structural stability analyses. Acta Mech. Sin. Accepted
Wu H, Chen X W, Fang Q, Kong X Z, He L L. Stability analyses of the mass abrasive projectile
high-speed penetrating into concrete target Part III: Terminal ballistic trajectory analyses. Acta
Mech. Sin. Revised
Fang Q, Zhang J H. 3D numerical modeling of projectile penetration into rock-rubble overlays
accounting for random distribution of rock-rubble. Int J Impact Eng, 2014, 63: 118-128
Forrestal, M.J., Frew, D.J., Hanchak, S.J., Brar, N.S.: Penetration of grout and concrete targets
with ogive-nose steel projectiles. Int J Impact Eng. 1996, 18(5): 465-476
Frew, D.J., Hanchak, S.J., Green, M.L., Forrestal, M.J.: Penetration of concrete targets with
ogive-nose steel rods. Int J Impact Eng. 1998, 21(6): 489-497
Zhao, J., Chen, X.W., Jin, F.N., Xu, Y.: Depth of penetration of high-speed penetrator with
including the effect of mass abrasion. Int J Impact Eng. 2010, 37(9): 971-979
Zhao, J., Chen, X.W., Jin, F.N., Xu, Y.: Analysis on the bending of a projectile induced by
asymmetrical mass abrasion. Int J Impact Eng. 2012, 39(1): 16-27
Chen, X.W., Li, Q.M.: Deep penetration of a non-deformable projectile with different geometrical
characteristics. Int J Impact Eng. 2002, 27(6): 619-637
614
th
EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON THE RESPONSE OF ULTRA-HIGH

PERFORMANCE REINFORCED CONCRETE COLUMNS UNDER
BLAST LOADING
*
Juechun Xu, *Chengqing Wu, Hengnbo Xiang, *Yu Su, *Zhong-xian Li, Qin Fang,
#
Hong Hao, *Zhongxian Liu, Yadong Zhang and *Jun Li
TCU-UA (Tianjin Chengjian University-University of Adelaide) Joint Research Centre on

Disaster Prevention and Mitigation
Keywords: Ultra-high performance reinforced concrete, columns, blasts
Abstract. Previous static tests have clearly shown the outstanding performance
of the ultra-high performance reinforced concrete (UHPRC) material in terms of
the compressive strength, tensile strength, and ductility. However, the
performance of UHPRC columns under severe impulsive loading has not been
investigated yet. In the present study, full scale blast tests were carried out to
examine the capabilities of UHPRC columns in resisting the blast loads. Two 0.2
m0.2 m2.5 m UHPRC columns were tested and the evaluation was based upon
the obtained values of incident and reflected blast pressure, as well as column
central deflection and displacement near the supports. The post explosion
damage of the UHPRC columns was recorded and a systematic analysis of the
experimental data was conducted. The experimental results show that the
UHPRC can enhance the blast resistant capacity against the shear and flexural
failure effectively.
1
INTRODUCTION
The prediction of the structural response to blast loading has become increasingly urgent in
recent years with the rising threat of terrorism. Consequently, the engineering community has
begun to re-visit conventional approaches in the design of high security and military facilities.
There are two main approaches to protect the structures against the accident or international
explosion hazards. One approach is to reduce the damage by enhancing the structure with
external layers (e.g., aluminum foam); the second approach is to strengthen the structure to
better resist the explosion-induced blast loads by utilizing the ultra-high performance reinforced
[1]
concrete (UHPRC) . The main aim of the present research is to investigate the capabilities and
dynamic response of ultra-high performance reinforced concrete (UHPRC) columns against
close-in blasts through full-scale blast experimental tests.
[2]
Ultra-high performance fibre-reinforced concrete is a relatively new cementitious material ,

which has been developed to give significantly higher material performance than conventional
[3]
. Ultra-high
concrete, fibre-reinforced concrete or engineered cementitious composites
[4]
performance concrete (UHPC) has a high compressive strength between 150 and 400 MPa , up
_______________________________
School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering, the University of Adelaide, SA, Australia 5005
PLA University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, China
#
Department of Civil Engineering, Curtin University, WA, Australia
615
J. Xu, C. Wu, H.B. Xiang, Y. Su, Z.X. Li, Q. Fang, H. Hao, Z. Liu, Y.D. Zhang and J. Li
to 10 times the compressive strength of normal strength concrete (NSC). The tensile capacity of
[5]
the concrete is also greatly enhanced to approximately 30MPa . There are two important
considerations in choosing the UHPRC members to resist blast loading. Firstly, UHPRC is
capable of preventing the catastrophic progressive failure; secondly UHPRC can reduce the
[6]
fragmentation due to the blast wave propagation or projectile impact . Unlike NSC which is
prone to tensile failure and extensive cracking, the fibres in UHPRC create a homogeneous
matrix in the concrete mix and they can bridge the gaps among micro-cracks thus retard crack
extension. As described previously, the most significant improvements of UHPC are its high
compressive and tensile strengths when comparing to normal strength concrete. After adding
[7]
fibres into the concrete matrix, slow yielding of the fibres extends the ductility plateau
.
Therefore UHPRC has better energy absorption capacity which could be favorable for its blast
resistance ability. To verify this, it is important to conduct field tests on UHPRC against blast
loads.
After thorough review of the public open literature very limited experimental data was found as
a result of the high costs and safety concern of field blast tests. Some available experimental
investigations were conducted to examine the blast resistance capability of the concrete
[8-11]
panels/beams/slabs made of ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) material
. Those tests
verified that the reinforced ultra-high performance fibre concrete (RUHPFC) slab which suffered
least damage was superior to all other concrete types, thus confirming that UHPRC is a more
effective material for use in structures susceptible to terrorist attack or accidental impacts.
However, most of the information and results provided by the studies have been used for
evaluating the application of UHPRC on slabs/beams and there is no published literature exists
pertaining to resistance and behavior of UHPRC columns under real blast testing. In this research
UHPRC column was tested to determine its dynamic performance under explosion load.
Comparison between UHPRC column and high strength concrete column with the same mix
proportions but without fibre reinforcements will be presented. The improved blast resistance
capacity of UHPRC column is high lightened e.
2
EXPERIMENTAL TESTS
2.1 Design of Specimens

There were two columns for this experimental program. An ultra-high performance reinforced
concrete column and a high strength reinforced concrete column (HSRC). Both the HSRC and
UHPRC columns have dimensions of 2500 mm*200 mm*200 mm. The geometry of the column
specimens, layout of the longitudinal reinforcements and spacing of the transverse reinforcement
are shown in Fig 1.
Figure 1: Typical cross section dimensions for concrete columns
616
The column specimens have been divided into two types, the column named HS was
produced using high strength concrete and the specimen named UH was constructed using ultrahigh performance fibre reinforced concrete members. The UHPRC column contains micro steel
fibre (MF) with 0.1 mm diameter with 6 mm length. The micro steel fibres which can sustain
tensile strength more than 4000 MPa were employed at a dosage of 2.5% for MF by volume.
Nanoscale material was added into the concrete matrix. For the reinforcement used in both
HUPRC and HSRC columns, the bar yield stress and ultimate strength are 1350 MPa and 1600
MPa. The charge weights, scaled distance, specimen geometry for the experiment are provided
in Table 1.
Table 1 Experimental program
Column
Section
HS-A
UH-A
cubic
cubic
Dimension (m)
0.20.22.5
0.20.22.5
Fibre
2.5%MF
Axial Load
(ton)
100
100
Charge
distance(m)
1.5
1.5
Suggested
explosives
(kg)
17.5
17.5
2.2 Experimental Set-Up

During the preparation of the tests, a cubic hole with dimensions 5 mx 1.7 m x 2 m was dug for
containing the specimen. The support apparatus used in the blast program is shown in Error!
Reference source not found.. The galvanized pipe frame was 2.6 m high and 2.5 m wide. The
base of the frame was bolted to the concrete ground, four frames were attached between the top
of the frame for stabilization. A specified steel frame with dimensions 2600 mm x 400 mm x 1000
mm was built with a clamping system to ensure that the test specimens were firmly placed inside
the frame to prevent the columns from uplifting. After placing the column on the supported frame,
the whole frame was descended to the ground level, this was done to prevent damage to the
frame caused by the highly directional blast loads acting along on the side surfaces and bottoms
of the specimens and also such set up can eliminate the clearing effect because the ground
surface acts as a target of infinite dimensions and the test specimen being part of this unlimited
surface.
a) Support frame
b) steel frame with clamping system

Figure 2: Experimental set up
2.3 Data Acquisition

The blast experimental programs required a variety of data acquisition devices which included:
Linear Variable Displacement Transducers (LVDTs), Stain Gauges, Pressure Transducers and
Digital Cameras. There were up to six channels available for data acquisition for the blast testing.
The sampling rate for the LVDTs, strain gauges and accelerometers was 20,000 samples per
second. For the pressure transducers the sampling rate was 2,000,000 samples per second.
Figure 3 shows the locations of five LVDTs on each test specimen. With a clear span height of
617
2500 mm, there is a LVDT placed at 1/2 (mid-height); the other two were placed at 1/3rd, and
1/6th distance along the clear span of the column. For measuring the incident and reflected
pressure, the reflected blast pressure transducers were placed at the distance of 0 mm, 380 mm
and 760 mm away from the centre of the specimen as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Data Acquisition

3
EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
In this section a synopsis of the experimental results are presented. The blast experimental
program observations are noted and the data recorded is briefly discussed and summarized.
3.1 Pressue Time History
For all of the events the reflected pressures were measured, see Figure 3 above for the
location of the pressure sensor. The reflected pressure was successfully recorded for each of the
events. Figure 4 shows the reflected pressure history for HS-A, the reflected pressure transducer
was located 1.5 m away from the charge and the charge weight was 17.5 kg. Plotted against the
[12]
experimental pressure in the solid red line is the theoretical pressure predicted by TM5-1300
which can then be plotted as a triangular pressure time history. The negative pressure measured
after the positive phase of the impulse is negligible and was not considered in the present study.
[12]
, on average under predicted the shock velocity, pulse duration,
It was found that TM5-1300
and the time to the end of the impulse. The experimental peak reflected pressure recorded was
43 MPa. The highest peak reflected pressure predicted from TM-5 was 28 MPa. The impulse
error was about 23% less than the experimental impulse. This error may be attributed to the
limitations of this simplified TM-5 method which neglects the true physics of the blast wave. When
describing the blast-structure interaction phenomena, TM-5 assumes the load time history is
applied to all parts of the surface at the same time and this assumption provides a poor
[13]
approximation for close-in blast effects
.
618
45
40
Experimental data with charge weight

17.5kg
Pressure (MPa)
35
30
TM-5 prediction
25
20
15
10
5
0
-53.7287
3.7289
3.7291
3.7293
3.7295
3.7297
3.7299
3.7301
3.7303
3.7305
time (sec)
Figure 4: Experimental and Theoretical Pressure time history
3.2 Deflection Time History
LVDTs were attached to measure the deflections of the column. To assess the effectiveness
of the UHPRC in enhancing the blast resistance of the column, the typical displacements for
cases HS-A and UH-A which are used to compare the UHPRC and HSRC columns under the
same blast pressure are plotted in Figure 5. HS-A exhibited the greatest displacement of 47.1
mm and remained with residual deflection of 2 mm, clearly acting in the plastic range of the
member. When comparing with the HS-A (with maximum deflection of 47.1 mm), there is a
significant improvement of the response by reducing the maximum deflection on both mid-span
and near supports for UH-A (with the maximum deflection of 28.7 mm) under the same axial load
and blast loading conditions. In addition, as shown in Figure 6, under the effect of the same
charge weight 17.5kg, it is clear to see the effectiveness of the UHPRC since the UH-A column
suffered typical light flexural failure, and the specimen remained virtually in one piece. At the
same time HS-A failed by a combination of diagonal shear near supports and flexural failure with
considerable breakup at the center of the column; also, the concrete separated from the
reinforcements and massive fragments were produced. This is because the blast with close
standoff distance may impart large amount of energy on the column in the form of wave
propagation, and HS-A which has low tensile resistance may fail under the tensile reflection wave
[14]
. The steel fibres in UH-A contributed to limiting the breach and spall
on the back surface
velocity under blast and allowed concrete to develop additional tensile capacity by bridging
[15]
. As mentioned by Brandt [16], mixing discontinuous fibres into a concrete mix
tensile cracks
can achieve a somewhat uniform dispersion, large single cracks are then re-placed with dense
systems of micro-cracks. This comparison clearly prove that the UH-A, sufficiently reinforced to
withstand the flexural and shear stresses, can effectively enhance the blast resistance capacity
when subjected to blast loading.
619
10
0
0
0.002
0.004
0.006
0.008
0.01
0.012
0.014
Deflection (mm)
-10
-20
UH-A
-30
-28.65
HS-A
-40
-47.14
-50
-60
Time(Sec)
Figure 5: Comparison between the displacement time history of UHPRC and HSRC columns
Figure 6: Post failure diagrams of the column specimens

CONCLUSIONS
The main objective of this research was to test the effectiveness of UHPRC and HSRC columns
against explosive loading. Two specimens were tested to determine their response under blasts, a
UHPRC column and a HSRC column. The blast loading pressure distribution was studied and
comparison was made with the TM-5 guideline. The dynamic responses of UHPRC and HSRC
columns have been presented with considering the effects of the fibre content. The blast testing
620
results indicate the resistance is greatly enhanced in UHPRC column when compared to HSRC
member. As fine fibres control opening and propagation of microcracks, UHPRC has also been shown
to reduce spalling and increase fracture toughness under blast loading.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors gratefully acknowledge the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant
51278326 and the ARC Discovery Grant DP140103025.
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FRP-retrofitted concrete slabs," Engineering Structures, vol. 31, no. 9, pp. 2060-2069, 2009.
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panels reinforced with externally bonded GFRP laminates," Composites Part B: Engineering ,
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Florida, Florida, 2012.
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ultra-high strength concrete and reactive powder concrete," Construction and Building Materials ,
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621
th
ANALYSIS ON DYNAMIC RESPONSES AND FAILURE MODES OF

LIQUID-FILLED PIPELINE STRUCTURES UNDER BLAST LOADING
Shi Yan*, Xuelei Jiang , Baoxin Qi and Wenxin Zhang
*
Shenyang Jianzhu University

Hunnan New District Road #9, China 110168
e-mail: <syan1962@163.com>
Keywords: Pipeline structure; blast loading; liquid and pressure; failure mode; dynamic
responses
Abstract. The liquid-filled pipe structure for liquid transport is an important lifeline
project which might be subjected to dynamic loading such as blast loading.
Therefore, its an important significance to antiknock design. In general, the transport
pipeline structure has liquid or gas medium in it, and has a certain circumferential
force and radial pressure within the wall of the tube. At present, for the study of
mechanical properties of liquid-filled pipeline structures under explosion load is in the
initial stage. In this paper, by using finite element software ANSYS/LS-DYNA, the
antiknock performance of pipeline structure with different liquid and different degree
of pressure in it is numerically analyzed. The results of the analysis show that the
antiknock performance for the pipe structure with liquid and pressure in it is higher
than that of the empty pipe.
1
INTRODUCTION
Pipeline engineering as an essential mean of transportation in today's society has solved the
problem of long distance transport of hazardous materials, but when crude oil gas or other dangerous
medium is transported in pipelines, it may cause explosion because of the construction defects,
quality problems, earthquake and other accidents. Once there is an explosion happened on the
pipeline, the consequence is unpredictable. In 2013, for example, 4 explosion accidents were caused
by the pipeline in China, which made great loss of lives and property. Therefore, the study of
antiknock explosion performance and how to put forward effective explosion protection measures of
pipeline structure become the focus in current research. At present, the study about failure modes
and dynamic responses of empty pipe structures under explosive loads has been mature, but the
antiknock performance of pipe structures with certain of liquid and pressure for the interior remains to
be further studied.
The method of theoretical analysis combined with numerical simulation is generally used by
[1]
researchers to study pipeline structure under the explosion load. Y.T. Gu and Q. Wang developed
an effective numerical approach to assess the nonlinear dynamic responses of a near-bed submarine
pipeline. A numerical example was firstly presented to verify the effectiveness of the present method.
Then, the coupled technique was used to simulate the nonlinear dynamic fluid-structure interaction
problem of a near-bed pipeline, which originally developed a numerical approach to model this special
fluid-structure interaction problem. It had demonstrated by the examples that the presented approach
[2]
was very effective and had good potential in the practical applications. Matta and Lawrence put
forward that the appearance of the fracture was indicative of a detonation event rather than a static
______________________________
,
Civil engineering , Shenyang Jianzhu University, China
623
Shi Yan, Xuelei Jiang, Baoxin Qi and Wenxin Zhang
overpressure. The pipe initially failed under hoop stress, generating cracks that propagated up and
down the length of the pipe for several inches. On the pig launcher side of the rupture, the crack
bifurcated and both branches turned rapidly, resulting in complete severing of the pipe. K.Y. Lam and
[3]
Z. Zong studied the dynamic response of a simply supported underwater laminated pipeline lying on
the seabed subjected to underwater explosion shock. A modal analysis technique is employed to
obtain the dynamic response of the pipeline subjected to underwater explosion shock. From results
obtained in this paper, it can be found that the dynamic response of the pipe was local deformation.
Compared with the strengths in the circumferential and the longitudinal directions, the strength of the
radial direction for the pipe was weaker.
In China, Yao Yuzhong considered establishing the fluid pipe model, established on the basis of
the coupling of the fluid and the pipe, and through the finite element equation to compute the dynamic
[4]
responses of the pipe, the model was applied to the actual projects with good results. Li Bo used the
General Purpose Finite Element Analysis software ANSYS/LSDYNA combining with the structural
characteristic of large-scale oil storage tanks, to analyze the dynamic response of oil storage tanks
subjected to blast loads, which considered such factors as fluid-solid interaction between the fluid,
water and air for example, the structure of steel oil storage tanks, and material nonlinearity and so on.
[5]
He tested the reliability of the model and the destruction mechanism of oil tank. S. Yan et al studied
the dynamic response of buried pipelines under explosion load, and performed the comparative
analysis of gas pipeline and pipeline antiknock response differences. He found that as the pipeline
loaded by the force of the pressure on the pipeline, pipeline speed, acceleration, and displacement
effect were very small, and the liquid in the pipe had less impact on the pipeline by the pressure, but
the speed, acceleration, and displacement of the pipeline had greater impact.
2
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE FINITE ELEMENT MODEL
The SOLID164 elements are usually used in pipe structures. The relevant parameters of the pipe
are determined by the Code for Design for Oil Transportation Pipeline Engineering of China
(GB50253-2003), the pipe dimensions are shown in Table 1
LEN(cm)
1000
OD(cm)
ID(cm)
TH(cm)
54
50
4
Table 1: Parameters of steel tubes
Considering the practical situation, the support span of overhead pipeline is 5m. A three span
pipeline is calculated in this paper and the numerical simulation is performed. The simulated pipeline
calculation diagram is shown as Figure 1.
Figure 1: The diagram for the calculated pipeline

The SOLID164 element is used for the
liquid inside the pipeline (crude oil), the
explosion (TNT) adopted the SOLID164
element, and the air surround the liquid and
explosion is SOLID164 element. The sweep
method is used in mesh. The pipeline, internal
liquid and air are equal to the size of the mesh,
and the global size control set is 1 cm. The
finite element model is shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Finite element model
624
MATERIAL PARAMETERS AND THE EQUATION OF STATE

3.1 Pipe parameters
The nonlinear kinematic hardening (BKIN) model which is independent of strain rate and can be
considered as the strain rate failure is used in the pipeline. Cowper - Symonds model is used to
define the strain rate and the yield stress with strain rate factor is also used. The g-cm-s unit system
is used in this paper, and the material parameters of pipeline are shown in Table 2.
DENS
3
(g/cm )
EX
(Pa)
NUXY
Yield Strength
(Pa)
7.85
2.07
0.3
0.410
Tangent Modulus
(Pa)
-2
-2
5.010
Table 2: Material parameters of steel tubes

3.2 Liquid and the equation of state parameters (Crude oil)
The NULL fluid material unit and the Gruneisen equation of state are used for the internal liquid in
pipeline in this paper, and the numerical simulation is carried out for the antiknock analysis of the
pipeline structure. Parameters are shown in Table 3 and Table 4.
DENS
3
(g/cm )
EX
(Pa)
0.81
The Relative
Volume Of
NUXY
Expansion
And Erosion
-11
-4
0
-110
8.6810
0
Table 3: Material parameters of oil (Crude oil)
Pressure
Cut-off Value
(Pa)
Dynamic
viscosity
coefficient
S1
S2
S3
r0
E0
0.148
2.56
-1.986
0.2268
0.50
2.89510
The Relative
Volume Of
Compression
Erosion
0
V0
-6
1.0
Table 4: Parameters of Gruneisen equation

3.3 Explosive and the equation of state parameters
The effect of explosion impact load on the pipe structure in the practical engineering which is
produced by the adjacent overhead pipeline explosion is studied in this paper. Therefore, according to
the TNT equivalent method, the TNT quality of 13kg is selected. The material unit in LS-DYNA is used
for the explosive, and the stress is defined through the JWL state equation, and the related
parameters are shown in Table 5 and Table 6, respectively.
3
(g/cm )
DEN
Detonation wave pressure

PCJ(Pa)
Detonation velocity
D(cm/s)
1.63
0.27
6.93
Table 5: Parameters of TNT

A(Pa)
B(Pa)
3.713
3.210
-2
R1
R2
4.15
0.95
0.30
Table 6: Parameters of JWL
E
3
J/cm
-2
7.010
3.4 Air and equation of state parameters

In order to make the air region can completely cover the explosive, pipeline and oil liquid, the air
region size is 1.5m0.54m10m, and the complete transmission boundary is used to simulate free
field explosion in the air region by applying the constrains on air domain peripheral nodes as nonreflecting-boundary. The air is defined with NULL air material model and the linear
polynomial equation of state (EOS) which is used for defining air and fluid model of the material and
625
the energy is linearly distributed. The parameters of air material and the linear polynomial state are
shown in Table 7 and Table 8, respectively.
DENS
3
(g/cm )
-3
1.2510
EX
(Pa)
NUXY
dynamic
viscosity
coefficient
Pressure Cutoff Value (Pa)

-12
The Relative Volume

Of Expansion And
Erosion
The Relative Volume

Of Compression
Erosion
-7
-1.010
1.7510
Table 7: Parameters of NULL

C0
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
E0
V0
0.40
0.40
2.510
-6
1.0
Table 8: Parameters of EOS

3.4 Boundary condition
The air region peripheral nodes are defined as non-reflecting-boundary. For the pipeline, the fixed
end constraints are imposed on the both side of the pipe wall and the vertical load is applied in the
middle. For the liquid, the both sides of the fluid in the pipe do not impose any restriction.
4
ANALYSIS OF THE NUMERICAL RESULTS
In this paper, four kinds of working cases for the pipeline structure under explosion load damage
is analyzed, respectively. For the Case 1, the pipeline is considered without any medium and pressure
in it. For the Case 2, the liquid medium filled half of the pipeline which is 1/2 liquid inside pipeline is
analyzed. For the Case 3, the pipeline is filled with liquid medium. For the Case 4, the pipeline is filled
with liquid medium, and pressure of 2 MPa is applied on the radial inner wall of the pipeline.
Figure 3: A diagram calculation
626
Figure 4: Diagram under different operating cases

(1)The comparative analysis of the liquid and tube wall for the relative displacement time history
response is performed. A point on tube wall and 3 points x1x2x3 at y-coordinate and z-coordinate
on internal liquid shown in Figure 3 are selected as the reference points for analysis.
As shown in Figure 5, liquid inside pipeline under the act of shock waves in explosion produces
certain displacement in Case 2. This is because the internal liquid is half filled in the pipeline, and
shock waves first contact the tube wall, then through the rigid contact and spread to the internal liquid,
which makes impact of effects on the liquid and sway back and forth in the pipeline. The
displacement-time curve of liquid and tube wall in Case 3 is consistency, which improves the model
and realizes the fluid-structure interaction of the pipeline and internal liquid. In Case 4, the pressure
on internal tube wall has effectively constrained to the wall, which makes the vibration of the pipe and
liquid have a significant reduction compared with Case 3 under explosion load.
0.2
1.0
A point
x1
x2
x3
A
x relative displacement(cm)
x-displacement(cm)
0.1
0.0
-0.1
-0.2
-0.3
-0.4
0.5
0.0
-0.5
-0.5
-1.0
-0.6
0
10
15
10
15
20
time(ms)
Time(ms)
(a) x-relative displacement in Case 1
(b) x-relative displacement in Case 2
627
x2
0.2
x2
0.1
A point
x3
x3
0.1
A point
x-displacement(cm)
x-displacement(cm)
x1
x1
0.2
0.0
-0.1
-0.2
0.0
-0.1
-0.2
-0.3
-0.3
0
Time(ms)
Time(ms)
(c) x-relative displacement in Case 3
(d) x-relative displacement in Case 3
Figure 5: x-relative displacement of liquid and tube wall in 4 Cases

(2) The comparative analysis of effective pressure in pipeline under different Cases under the
explosion. For the pipe structure under explosion shock wave load, the stress position is positive to
center point, and then spreads outward. Along with the continuous explosion shock wave, the pipeline
continuously receives impact load, but its little impact of pipeline. Relative to condition 1, due to its
[6]
internal liquid sloshing and effect on blast shock waves around-flow in Case 2, Case 3 and Case 4,
the stress on tube wall produces complex changes, therefore, different degree of multiple peaks are
shown in Figure 6. The maximum stress appeared in Case 1 is 131.7 MPa which is less than 350MPa
of the yield strength of steel.
140
A point
120
50
Efective Stress(MPa)
Effective Stress(MPa)
A point
60
100
80
60
40
20
40
30
20
10
0
0
0
10
15
20
Time(ms)
10
15
(a) Case 1 (MPa)
(b) Case 2 (MPa)
50
40
A point
A point
40
20
Time(ms)
30
20
10
30
20
10
0
0
10
15
20
Time(ms)
10
15
20
Time(ms)
(c) Case 3 (MPa)
(d) Case 4 (MPa)
Figure 6: The effective stress at point A of tube under different Cases

(3)The comparative analysis of tube wall and internal liquid in different Cases is performed. As
shown in Figure 7, the pipeline structure is filled with liquid, and the blast energy acting on the tube
628
wall decreases along with the increase of internal liquid. Because the explosion energy is keeping
unchanged, the existence of pipeline internal liquid will absorb a certain degree of explosion energy,
and the more liquid filled in, the more energy will be absorbed.
empty pipeine
180
internal liquid
pipeline
100
160
90
80
Internal Energy(KJ)
Internal Energy(KJ)
140
120
100
80
60
40
70
60
50
40
30
20
20
10
0
0
10
15
20
time(ms)
(a) Internal energy in Case1

90
15
20
(b) Internal energy in Case2

90
pipeline
internal liquid
80
pipeline
internal liquid
80
70
Inrernal Energy(KJ)
70
Inrernal Energy(KJ)
10
time(ms)
60
50
40
30
60
50
40
30
20
20
10
10
0
0
10
15
20
time(ms)
10
15
20
time(ms)
(c) Internal energy in Case 3
(d) Internal energy in Case 4
Figure 7: Internal energy of pipeline and liquid

(4)The comparative analysis of effective displacement at point A on the tube wall under different
conditions is performed.
6
A point on pipeline
result displacement(mm)
0
Case1
Case2
Case3
Case4
Cases
Figure 8: The result displacement at point A of tube under different Cases

As shown in Figure 8, under the same explosion load, the peak displacement of pipeline structure
filled with liquid and stamping decrease. The pipeline in Case 4 can bear more stress, because the
629
inner pressure on tube wall and pressure on outer wall of the blast can interact with each other and
offset.
5
CONCLUSIONS
Through the comparative analysis of dynamic response of pipelines with different liquid level and
pressure under external explosion load by using the ALE algorithm, the following results can be
concluded:
a) An FEM model is set up to numerically analyze the fluid-structure interaction of the explosives,
air, pipeline and internal oil liquid.
b) The point being close to the blast point is first suffered the explosion shock wave, resulting in
the most easily reaching the plastic deformation of the pipeline and the most vulnerable to be
damaged. The rest part of pipeline can produce vibration under the action of the explosion, but
not enter into the plastic stage.
c) The internal liquid can absorb explosive energy, and the capacity of absorption is related to the
internal liquid extent. The more liquid filled in the pipeline, the more explosive energy can be
absorbed.
d) The internal stamping liquid in pipeline can have a positive effect to antiknock ability, which
means that for the same pipeline under explosion load, the pipeline filled with internal
pressured liquid can bear stronger explosion load.
A pipeline finite element model of four kinds with varying degrees of filling liquid and a certain
pressure is established in this paper to simulate the dynamic response of different cases under the
same blast load, and the proposed method can provide a certain basis and theoretical support for
antiknock design of pipeline in the future research.
REFERENCES
[1]
Gu Y T, Wang Q. A coupled numerical approach for nonlinear dynamic fluid-structure interaction

analysis of a near-bed submarine pipeline[J]. Engineering Computations, 2008, 25(6): 569-588.
[2] Matta, Lawrence M, Haussmann, Gregory J. Pipe explosion during pigging procedure[J]. Pipeline
& Gas Journal, 2008, 235 (10): 82, 84-86.
[3] Lam K Y, Zong Z, Wang Q X. Dynamic response of a laminated pipeline on the seabed subjected
to underwater shock[J]. Composites Part B: Engineering, 2003, 34(1): 59-66.
[4] Wang Wei, Li Bo. Analysis of dynamic response of large-scale liquid-storage vertical cylindrical
tank under blast loads[D]. Harbin Institute of Technology, 2011. (in Chinese)
[5] Yan Shi, Xu Yingru. Numerical analysis of dynamic response of buried pipeline by blast
considering multiphase coupling[D]. Shenyang Jianzhu University, 2012. (in Chinese)
[6] Shen Zuwu, Zhang Yaohui. Numerical simulation of blast shock waves around-flow effect[D].
Journal of Wuhan University of Technology, 2006, 28(2): 42-44. (in Chinese)
[7] Kristoffersen K, Vaagsaether K, Bjerketvedt D, et al. Propaneair pipe explosion experiments
data for estimation of 1-D burning velocity in slow regimes[J]. Experimental thermal and fluid
science, 2004, 28(7): 723-728.
[8] Skacel R, Janovsky B, Dostal L. Small-scale physical explosions in shock tubes in comparison
with condensed high explosive detonations[J]. Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process
Industries, 2013, 26(6):1590-1596.
[9] Wang Deguo. Safe distance of overhead parallel pipeline calculated by numerical simulation of
gas pipeline explosion[J]. Journal of China University of Petroleum, 2013, 37(5): 175-180. (in
Chinese)
[10] Li Xinping, Dai Yife. Test study and numerical simulation analysis of explosion in steel tubes [J].
Rock and Soil Mechanics, 2009, 30: 5-9. (in Chinese)
[11] Hallquist J O. LS-DYNA keyword users manual[J]. Livermore Software Technology Corporation,
2007
[12] Du Dijian, Ma Shuguang. Numerical simulation for dynamical stress of buried pipelines under
explosion ground shock waves[J]. Chinese Journal of Underground Space and Engineering,
2007, 3(1): 181-186. (in Chinese)
[13] An Yu, Dong Shaohua. Numerical simulation analysis of explosion shock wave impact on cross
section overhead pipeline[J]. Oil and Gas Pipeline Safety, 2013, 281-284. (in Chinese)
[14] Liu Q, Bai C, Li X, et al. Coal dust/air explosions in a large-scale tube[J]. Fuel, 2010, 89(2): 329335.
[15] Lu Guoyun. Experimental investigation on impact perforation failure of water-filled pressurized
tube[J]. Acta Mechanical Solid Sinical, 2004, 25(3):291-297. (in Chinese)
630
th
ROBUSTNESS OF BOLTED-ANGLE CONNECTIONS AGAINST

PROGRESSIVE COLLAPSE
Bo Yang*, and Kang Hai Tan
*
School of Civil Engineering, Chongqing University

No. 83 Shabeijie, Shapingba District, Chongqing 400045, China
e-mail: <yang0206@cqu.edu.cn>
Keywords: Progressive collapse, Bolted-angle connection, Deformation capacity, Large

deformation, Mechanical model, Fracture, Component-based model, Beam-column
joints, Catenary action, Experimental tests
Abstract. Traditional design of connections is limited to moment-rotation

characteristics and the information about the deformation capacities of connection
components is quite limited. Thus, it is necessary to develop a new mechanical
model, which could predict the deformation capacity of each connection
component. In this paper, a new mechanical model of bolted-angle connections is
developed. In the proposed model, the following issues are addressed: (i) the
interaction between angles and bolts, (ii) failure criteria to determine the
deformation capacities of connection components, and (iii) load limits due to bolt
fracture. Finally, the proposed mechanical model is validated by the experimental
results and the predictions of the model agree well with the test observations.
This paper also presents a series of experimental tests about bolted-angle beamcolumn joints under a middle-column-removal scenario. The experimental results
demonstrate the ductility and load-carrying capacities of three connection types
with different angle thicknesses in catenary action mode. Based on the proposed
mechanical model of bolted-angle connections, a component-based beam-column
joint model is also developed to predict the behaviour of bolted-angle beamcolumn joints up to total failure. The validation study indicates that the proposed
models can represent the key responses of bolted-angle beam-column joints
under a middle-column-removal scenario, including the formation of flexural
action at small deformation stage, the development of catenary action at large
deformation stage and fractures of the connection components at the last stage.
Based on the proposed joint model, frame analyses are conducted. The analytical
results of the frame models demonstrate that the conducted joint tests could
represent the behaviour of prototype steel frames against progressive collapse.
The effect of horizontal restraint stiffness, which is critical to the development of
catenary action, is also investigated in this paper.
______________________________
Key Laboratory of New Technology for Construction of Cities in Mountain Area (Chongqing University), Ministry
of Education, China
School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

631
Bo Yang and Kang Hai Tan
INTRODUCTION
1
Previous experimental tests indicated that bolted-angle connections normally performed

better than other types of connections in the development of catenary action. This is due to
extremely high ductility (rotational capacity) through deformation of the connected angles. The
1
experimental tests have also shown that after large rotations have occurred, beam-column joints
are subjected to pure tension and tensile failure controls the final failure modes of these joints.
2, 3
The research works of Yu et al.
also demonstrated that at the stage of large deformation,
fracture of the connection components determined the ultimate resistances of joints. Thus, it can
be concluded that the behaviour of beam-column joints under pure tension governs the structural
resistances against progressive collapse. Therefore, the behaviour of beam-column joints under
pure tension should be well understood in order to assess the robustness of steel buildings
against progressive collapse. In addition, the failure criteria to determine the deformation
capacities of beam-column joints under tension should be articulated and quantified to predict the
ultimate resistances of joints at large deformation stage. However, traditional design of
connections is limited to moment-rotation characteristics and the information about the
deformation capacities of connection components is quite limited. Thus, it is necessary to develop
a new mechanical model, which could predict the fracture of each connection component and the
development of catenary action. In this research project, a component-based model will be
developed to predict the behaviour of bolted-angle connections under pure tension. In this model,
the deformation capacities of connection components can be predicted. Although in reality, beamcolumn joints were subjected to large tensile forces due to catenary action after large rotation, it
is believed that the most critical connection component, which has the largest axial deformation,
will control the final failure. The deformation capacity of this critical component can be predicted
by the proposed model.
In this paper, a new mechanical model will be developed. The new mechanical model includes
the interaction between the angles and the bolts, and considers the failure mode of bolt fracture.
In addition, a new failure criterion to determine the deformation capacities of bolted-angle
connections is proposed and this developed model will be validated by the conducted
experimental tests. Also, nine experimental tests has been carried out on bolted-angle beamcolumn joints under a middle-column-removal-scenario. In addition, based on the proposed
mechanical model, a component-based model is developed to predict the behaviour of boltedangle beam-column joints up to total failure under middle-column-removal scenarios. Finally,
frame analyses are conducted based on the developed component-based model.
2
TEST PROGRAMME OF BOLTED-ANGLE CONNECTIONS UNDER TENSION
In total, fourteen bolted-angle connections were tested under tension. The specimens were
subjected to a monotonic tensile force, which was applied to vertical steel plates that were
clamped to the testing machine, as shown in Figure 1. The tests were carried out under
displacement control at a speed of 0.025mm/s up to failure of the specimens.
The deformation history of all specimens had five stages: (1) elastic stage before bolt
slippage, (2) bolt slippage stage, (3) elastic stage after bolt slippage, (4) transition stage, and (5)
mechanism deformation stage. Figure 2 shows the load-displacement curve of Specimen A90-850-. The curve from Point 0 to A represents the first stage. Pretension load was applied onto the
bolts during the hand-tightening process. During the first stage, applied load was transferred
through friction caused by pretension of bolts at the vertical legs. When the applied load
overcame the bolt friction slip resistance, bolt slippage occurred and the deformation curve went
into the second stage, from Point A to B as shown in Figure 2. During the second stage, the
deformation continued to increase without any significant increase in load. When the gap
between the bolt shanks and the holes was closed, the deformation history went into the third
stage, from B to C as shown in Figure 2. During this stage, the applied load was transferred
directly through the contact between the bolt shanks and the holes rather than through friction. It
is noticed that the stiffness from Point O to Point A is greater than the stiffness from Point B to
Point C. This is probably due to the loss of the preload of the bolts in tension connecting the
horizontal leg of the angles. At Point C of Figure 4, the bolted angles yielded and the loaddisplacement curve went into the fourth stage (transition stage). At Point D, a mechanism was
formed. At the last stage (mechanism deformation stage), the increased load was due to material
hardening and geometric nonlinearity. It can be seen from Figure 2 that the load increase at the
last stage is much higher than the yield strength, which was reached at Point C on Figure 2.
Figure 2 indicates that at small deformation stage (from Point O to Point D), the load only
632
increased from 0kN to 183kN while at large deformation stage (from Point D to Point E), the load
increased from 183kN to 546kN, which is almost double of the load increase at small deformation
stage. From this observation, it can be concluded that the load-displacement responses of boltedangle connections were dominated by the response at large deformation stage rather than at
small deformation stage.
Figure 1: Test Set-up of Bolted-angle

Connections under Tension
Figure 2: Load-displacement curve

of Specimen A90-8-50-
Totally, there are five types of failure modes observed in the tests. The first failure mode is
angle fracture at bolt holes and failure mode of angle fracture close to the heel was also observed
in many tests. It is found that these two failure modes would occur when thin angles or larger
diameter bolts were used. The third and forth failure modes are angle fracture at bolt holes and
close to the heel with yielded bolts. When the angles became slightly thicker or the bolt diameters
were smaller, significant plastic deformations of the bolts took place. It means the failure mode
also depends on the strength ratio between the angles and the bolts. The last failure mode is bolt
fracture with yielded angles.
3
DEVELOPMENT OF A MECHANICAL MODEL OF BOLTED-ANGLE CONNECTIONS
The experimental results indicate that the load-displacement responses of bolted-angle

connections were governed by large deformation. The increase in load after angle yielding was
much larger than the yield strength. This is due to the developed tensile forces in angles and
material hardening effect. In addition, the fracture of angles or bolts determined the ultimate load
capacities of bolted-angle connections. The test results demonstrated that the strength ratio
between angles and bolts affected the failure mode. Therefore, the developed component-based
model should consider the following effects: (i) tensile membrane action and material hardening
effect of angles at large deformation stage, (ii) failure criteria to determine the deformation
capacities of bolted-angle connections, and (iii) interaction between angles and bolts.
633
Figure 3: Proposed mechanical model of bolted-angle connections under tension
A general load-displacement relationship of bolted-angle connections predicted by the

proposed mechanical model, is shown in Figure 3. The load-displacement curve at large
deformation stage (FT,Rd<F<Fu) can be calculated by using an incremental method. The ultimate
4
deformation can be calculated by Equation (18) given in Yang and Tan . Finally, the obtained
4
ultimate load should satisfy the requirement of Equation (20) given in Yang and Tan , which
defines the failure mode of bolt fracture.
The mechanical model developed in the previous section was validated against the results of
the experimental tests presented in Section 2. The loading resistances predicted by the proposed
5
model and Astaneh-Asls model are compared in Table 1. The deformation capacities predicted
5
by the proposed model and Astaneh-Asls model are summarized in Table 2. Overall speaking,
the proposed model gives better predictions than Astaneh-Asls model. The predicted loading
resistances and deformation capacities of Astaneh-Asls model were always smaller than the test
results. This is probably because Astaneh-Asls model was derived based on the cyclic loading
tests. Due to the effect of fatigue, ductility of connections is not as good as the connections under
monotonic loading conditions.
Specimen
A90-8-50-
A90-8-60-
A90-8-40-
A90-9-50-
A90-9-50-
A90-9-60-
A90-9-40-
A90-10-50-
A90-10-60-
B150-90-11-50-
B150-90-11-60-
B150-90-11-40-
C125-11-75-
C125-11-60-
Mean
Standard deviation
Test results
T (kN)
546
520
629
549
513
498
576
696
620
688
699
729
533
733
Proposed model
FP (kN)
FP/T
580
1.06
500
0.96
697
1.11
646
1.18
575
1.12
515
1.03
627
1.09
745
1.07
721
1.16
685
1.00
692
0.99
677
0.93
564
1.06
662
0.90
1.06
0.08
Astaneh-Asls
FA (kN)
446
408
496
511
439
403
488
624
572
594
544
660
501
558
model
FA/T
0.82
0.79
0.79
0.93
0.86
0.81
0.85
0.90
0.92
0.86
0.78
0.91
0.94
0.76
0.85
0.06
Table 1: Comparison between the predicted ultimate loads and the test results
634
Specimen
Test results
(mm)
A90-8-50-
A90-8-60-
A90-8-40-
A90-9-50-
A90-9-50-
A90-9-60-
A90-9-40-
A90-10-50-
A90-10-60-
B150-90-11-50-
B150-90-11-60-
B150-90-11-40-
C125-11-75-
C125-11-60-
Mean
Standard deviation
64
82
58
52
51
67
39
66
75
59
80
44
66
65
Proposed model
P (mm)
P/
63.3
0.94
68.6
0.88
56.5
0.90
55.9
1.02
57.2
1.05
64.7
0.94
45.7
1.07
66.4
0.93
84.2
1.06
52.7
0.86
70.8
0.84
36.7
0.80
68.1
1.20
58.6
0.85
0.95
0.11
Astaneh-Asls
A (mm)
41.0
45.6
35.8
38.3
43.5
48.5
37.8
44.3
49.5
45.2
50.6
39.0
58.2
50.9
model
A/
0.64
0.56
0.62
0.74
0.85
0.72
0.97
0.67
0.66
0.77
0.63
0.89
0.88
0.78
0.74
0.12
Table 2: Comparison between the predicted deformation capacities and the test results
4 TEST PROGRAMME OF BOLTED-ANGLE BEAM-COLUMN JOINTS UNDER A MIDDLECOLUMN-REMOVAL SCENARIO
As shown in Figure 4, after the removal of the middle column, the internal forces and
deflections of the middle and the side connections are anti-symmetric about the middle of the
beam span. Thus, the inflection point is located at the middle of the beam span during the
deflection process. Therefore, only one-half of the beam span on both sides is simulated using
pin conditions, as shown in Figure 4. The behaviour of the middle and the side connections,
including load-carrying and rotation capacities, can be represented by the specimens. Nine tests
were carried out. Three types of connections, including web cleat, top and seat angle and TSWA
6
connections are investigated using three angle thicknesses (8mm, 10mm and 12mm) .
Figure 4: Prototype beam-column joint
635
The test results indicate that an increase of angle thickness changes the failure mode. When
the angle thickness was 8mm, failure mode of angle fracture at the heel was observed, as shown
in Figure 5. When the angle thickness was increased to 10mm, the failure mode also changed to
angle fracture with yielded bolts (Figure 6). But when the angle thickness was further increased to
12mm, the failure mode of bolt fracture with yielded angles was observed, as shown in Figure 7.
Figure 5: Failure mode

of angle fracture at the heel
Figure 6: Failure mode

of angle fracture with yielded bolts
Figure 7: Failure mode of bolt fracture with yielded angles
5 DEVELOPMENT
OF
A
COMPONENT-BASED
MODEL
CONNECTIONS UNDER MIDDLE-COLUMN-REMOVAL SCENARIOS
OF
BOLTED-ANGLE
In this section, a component-based model of bolted-angle connections will be developed. In

the component-based method, connections are divided into a series of components. The
assembly of these components can predict the performance of joints under different loading
conditions. The proposed component-based model of bolted-angle connections is shown in
Figure 8.
Figure 8: Component-based model of bolted-angle connections
636
The proposed mechanical model of bolted-angle connections under tension has been used in
this component-based model. As shown in Figure 8, the component-based model has been
simplified by combining all the components at one bolt row as one equivalent spring. In this
model it is assumed that the springs of k1, k3-1, k3-2 and k3-3 can sustain tensile forces while all
the compression forces are sustained by the spring of k2.
Figure 9: Comparison of the analytical predictions against the test data of Specimen W-12
Figure 10: Comparison of the analytical predictions against the test data of Specimen TSWA-10
Based on the proposed mechanical model, the force-displacement of each component can be
obtained. Then, these force-displacement relationships are introduced into the general FEM
7
program ABAQUS simply as properties of spring elements. By using ABAQUS solver, the loaddisplacement curves of the bolted-angle beam-column joints can be predicted. The proposed
component-based beam-column joint model is validated against the results of the experimental
programme described in Section 4. The vertical force-middle column displacement relationships
from the component-based models for Specimens W-12 and TSWA-10 are compared with the test
results in Figures 9 and 10. It can be observed that the component-based model predictions are
in close agreement with the experimental results. The models can simulate the key responses of
bolted-angle beam-column joints under a middle-column-removal scenario, including the
formation of flexural action at small deformation stage, the development of catenary action at
large deformation stage and fractures of the connection components at the last stage.
637
FRAME ANALYSES
Having gained the confidence in the reliability of the component-based model, frame analyses
are carried out by incorporating the proposed joint model into the frame analyses. One of the
objectives of the frame analyses is to identify the difference in structural performances between
simplified joint and frame models under middle-column-removal scenarios. In addition, in the
section, the effect of horizontal restraint stiffness, which plays a critical role in the development of
catenary action, is also studied.
Figure 11: Frame model and joint model
The prototype steel frame is shown in Figure 11 (a). In the frame model shown in Figure 11
(b), the whole two beam spans and four connections at the these two spans are modelled. The
two columns at the two sides are restrained by surrounding structure elements. The connections
are simulated by the developed component-based model, which is presented in Section 5. In the
experimental tests and the joint model, an inflection point was assumed to be located at the
middle of the beam span and only one-half of the beam span at both sides of the beam-column
joint was used, as shown in Figure 11 (c). The numerical results of the frame models are
compared with the joint experimental results and joint models in Figure 12. It can be found from
Figure 12 that the frame models predict the same load-displacement curve with the joint models.
This indicates that the conducted joint tests can represent the behaviour of the prototype steel
frame. The obtained connection rotation angles, loading resistances and internal beam axial
forces from the joint tests are in close agreement with the frame model.
638
Figure 12: Comparison of the fame models against the test results and joint models for TSWA-12
The stiffness of the horizontal restraint has a significant influence on the mobilisation of
catenary action. In order to investigate this effect, a parametric study is conducted. Two
connections including W-12 and TSWA-12 are considered in this study. To illustrate the effect of
horizontal restraint stiffness, the stiffness term is normalized by the elastic stiffness of the
connections under pure tension, as follows:
Ka
Kc / 2
(1)
where Ka is the horizontal restraint stiffness, Kc is the elastic stiffness of one beam-column connection
under tension and is normalized stiffness ratio.
Figures 13 and 14 show the simulation results under different horizontal restraint stiffnesses for W12 and TSWA-12, respectively. Both the vertical loads and axial forces of beams are compared. It can
be seen that the responses of the frames are not sensitive if is greater than one. It means if the
horizontal stiffness is greater than the frame stiffness under tension, the performance of the frame is
only affected by the beam-column connections. However, if is less than one, the influence of the
horizontal restraint stiffness on the behaviour of steel frames is very significant.
Figure 13: Effect of horizontal restraint stiffness for W-12
639
Figure 14: Effect of horizontal restraint stiffness for TSWA-12

7
CONCLUSIONS
A mechanical model of bolted-angle connections under tension has been developed based
on the experimental tests. The test results were used to validate the proposed mechanical
model. The novelty of this model is that the large deformation response of bolted-angle
connections due to material and geometric nonlinearities is included. It is found that the
predictions of this model agree well with the fourteen bolted-angle connection test results.
After that, an experimental programme of nine tests on bolted-angle beam-column joints
under a middle-column-removal scenario was presented. A component-based model is also
developed to simulate the test results. Finally, frame analyses were conducted in order to
study the difference between joint model and frame and study the effect of horizontal restraint
stiffness.
REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
B. Yang and K.H. Tan, Experimental tests of different types of bolted steel beam-column joints
under a central-column-removal scenario, Engineering Structures. 54(9):112-130 (2013).
H.X.Yu, I.W. Burgess, J.B. Davison and R.J. Plank, Tying capacity of web cleat connections in
fire, Part 1: Test and finite element simulation, Engineering Structures. 31(3):651-663.
H.X.Yu, I.W. Burgess, J.B. Davison and R.J. Plank, Tying capacity of web cleat connections in
fire, Part 2: Development of component-based model, Engineering Structures. 31(3):697-708
(2009).
B. Yang and K.H. Tan, Robustness of steel angle connections against progressive collapse:
Mechanical modelling of bolted-angle connections under tension, Engineering Structures.
57(12):153-168 (2013).
J. Shen and A. Astaneh-Asl, Hysteretic behavior of bolted-angle connections, J Construct Steel
Res. 51:201-218 (1999).
B. Yang and K.H. Tan, Robustness of bolted-angle connections against progressive collapse:
Experimental tests of beam-column joints and development of component-based models, Journal
of Structural Engineering-ASCE, 139(9):1498-1514 (2013).
ABAQUS, ABAQUS analysis user's manual version 6.9, ABAQUS Inc. (2009).
640
th
ANALYSIS ON ENERGY DISSIPATION OF RECYCLED AGGREGATE

CONCRETE UNDER DYNAMIC COMPRESSION LOADING
Shuisheng Yu, Yubin Lu and Yong Cai
Key Laboratory of Testing Technology for Manufacturing Process of Ministry of Education
Southwest University of Science and TechnologyMianyangSichuan 621010, China
e-mail: <yuss.1987@163.com>
Keywords: recycled aggregate concrete (RAC), replacement percentage of recycled coarse

aggregates, SHPB test, dissipation energy, degree of damage
Abstract. A series of uniaxial compression tests under different impact velocities on

recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) samples with various replacement percentages
of recycled coarse aggregates (RCA), i.e. 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%, were
carried out using large diameter (100 mm) split Hopkinson pressure bars (SHPB).
The relationship between the degree of damage and energy dissipation of RAC was
studied. Test results show that the dissipation energy per unit volume increases with
the increase of impact velocity, showing exponential relationship. While the dynamic
compressive strength and the dissipation energy per unit volume shows nonlinear
relationship. The dissipation energy per unit volume of RAC first decreases then
increases with increasing the replacement percentage of RCA under the same
impact velocity. When the replacement percentage of RCA is around 50%-75%, the
dissipation energy per unit volume is lowest. Relationship between the degree of
damage of RAC samples and the dissipation energy per unit volume has good
consistence, mainly with one to one correspondence. But there is no
correspondence between the degree of damage and the impact velocity. This study
offers theoretical basis for the engineering application of RAC.
1
INTRODUCTION
Recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) is a new type of concrete made from disuse concrete after a
series courses of disposal, such as breaking up, washing, filtration, classification, and combination on
[1]
a certain proportion . RAC can realize the effective recycling of waste concrete, which is of great
significance for protecting environment, saving resources and developing ecological architecture, and
[2, 3]
is often considered as one of the main measures of developing green ecological concrete
. The
current study of RAC is mainly concentrated on the mechanical properties and physical properties
under quasi-static loading [4-14]. There are a few studies on mechanical properties under dynamic
loading [15, 16], but investigation on energy dissipation has not been reported yet. Thus, in this study,
a series of uniaxial compression tests on RAC with various replacement percentages of recycled
coarse aggregates (RCA) were carried out using large diameter (100 mm) split Hopkinson pressure
bars (SHPB). From the perspective of dissipation energy, the dissipation energy regularity of RAC
under impact loading is studied, and the relationship between dissipation energy and the degree of
damage is analyzed. Investigating the physical mechanism of the degree of damage provides
theoretical basis for the engineering application of RAC.
641
Yu Shuisheng, Lu Yubin and Cai Yong
THE ENERGY PROPERTIES OF SHPB TEST

[17],
When tests on RAC were conducted using SHPB device, according to Ref.
the energy of
incident wave, reflected wave and transmission wave during the period of loading start point to
unloading can be obtained from following equations, respectively,
WI ( t ) = EAc I2 ( t )dt
0
WR ( t ) = EAc R2 ( t )dt
0
WT ( t ) = EAc T2 ( t )dt
0
(1)
(2)
(3)
where EA and c is the elastic modulus, cross sectional area and longitudinal wave velocity of SHPB
bars material, respectively. I , R and T is incident, reflected and transmission strain wave,
respectively; WI ( t ) , WR ( t ) and WT ( t ) is the energy of incident, reflected and transmission wave,
respectively.
Based on the principle of energy conservation, the total dissipation energy of a specimen in the
process of SHPB test, WS ( t ) , can be calculated by
WS ( t ) = WI ( t ) WR ( t ) WT ( t )
(4)
This part of dissipation energy in a RAC specimen is mainly used for the formation of new fracture
surface, crack extension and the growth of micro cracks, the kinetic energy of fragmentations, and
other dissipation energy such as heat energy and radiant energy. Heat energy and radiant energy can
[18]
be ignored in SHPB tests .
According to the results of the kinetic energy of fragmentations from SHPB tests on brittle
[18]
materials ,
WK 0.69v + 0.22
=
WS
100
(5)
in which is striking velocity, the maximum velocity in the SHPB tests of this study is 12m/s, thus
W
the values of K is within 8.5%, which indicates that the proportion of kinetic energy in the
WS
dissipation energy is small and can be ignored, and most of energy in SHPB specimens will be used
for the damage of RAC.
As specimens have processing errors, and dimensions of each specimen are not equal, to
compare the relative value of dissipation energy, the total dissipation energy is converted into
dissipation energy per unit volume(W), viz. the ratio of total dissipation energy, WS , and volume of
specimens, VS ,
W=
WS
VS
(6)
To characterize the energy dissipation ability of RAC under impact loading in SHPB tests, the
dissipation energy rate, , is defined, which is the ratio of total dissipation energy and incident energy,
=
3
WS
WI
(7)
TEST MATERIALS AND SHPB TEST
3.1 Test materials and combination ratio

Raw materials used for RAC specimens are (1) RCA taken from waste concrete of a Mianyang
road, with unclear design strength, the waste concrete is broken by a jaw crusher, graded and
cleaned to RCA of diameters from 10 to 20 mm; (2) natural coarse aggregates (NCA) are natural
cobbles of diameters from 10 to 20 mm; (3) ordinary Portland cement of 42.5 grade; (4) fine
642
aggregates are natural river sand of continuous grading with fineness modulus of 2.28; and (5)
Mianyang tap water.
3.418
Recycled
coarse
aggregate
0
Replacement
percentage/
%
0
1.465
2.564
0.854
25
1.465
1.465
1.465
1.709
0.854
0
1.709
2.564
3.418
50
75
100
Specimen
type
Cement
Water
Sand
Natural coarse
aggregate
PC-0
0.477
1.465
RC-25
0.477
RC-50
RC-75
RC-100
1
1
1
0.477
0.477
0.477
Table 1: The combination ratio of recycled concrete in test

Mix proportions largely influence the mechanical properties of concrete. To ensure the flowability
during concreting and the strength after molding of RAC, the mix proportion of RAC specimens used
in this study is cement: water: fine aggregate: coarse aggregate=1:0.477:1.467:3.422, where coarse
aggregates include NCA and RCA. According to the difference of replacement ratios of RCA, there
are five different types of specimens, as shown in Table 1. PC-0 stands for normal concrete
specimens, and RC-25, RC-50, RC-75 and RC-100 stand for RAC specimens with the replacement
ratio of RCA of 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%, respectively. The diameter and thickness of cylindrical
specimens is 100 and 50 mm, respectively.
3.2 SHPB Test
Dynamic compression tests of RAC are performed on 100 mm diameter SHPB setup as shown in
Figure1(a). Specimens before and after facture are shown in Figure 1(b). In SHPB tests, it is required
that uniform stress state can be achieved as early as possible in RAC samples, the amplitude of pulse
oscillation can be reduced, and correct pulse shape is obtained for approximate constant strain-rate
loading. In this study, for striking velocities <6 m/s, 6-10 m/s and 10-12 m/s, three different kinds of
pulse shapers are used, that is, paste board of 0.67 mm in thickness and 54.27 mm in diameter, H62
brass of 1 mm in thickness and 20 mm in diameter, and H62 brass of 1 mm in thickness and 30 mm in
diameter pulse shapers were respectively designed.
(a) Overall setup
Before impact
After impact
(b) Specimen, incident and transmitted bars
Figure 1: The 100-mm-diameter SHPB apparatus
4
TEST RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The time-history curves of incident energy, reflected energy and transmission energy in SHPB
tests are shown in Figure 2. It is observed that, with the increase of time, the incident energy,
reflected energy and transmission energy also increase, and tend to be stable after reaching a certain
643
value. The incident energy is greater than the sum of the reflected energy and transmission energy.
This difference is the absorption energy of RAC specimens in the process of impact loading.
Figure 2: Time-history curves of incident, reflected and transmitted energy of recycled

aggregate concrete in an SHPB test
4.1 The influence of velocity on the energy dissipation rate
The relationship of dissipation energy rate and striking velocity is shown in Figure 3. It is found that,
no matter how the replacement ratio of RCA varies, the dissipation energy rate of RAC does not
present a certain rule with the increase of striking velocity. Generally, as the striking velocity increases,
the incident energy increases correspondingly, and the total dissipation energy of RAC also increases,
but the dissipation energy rate does not necessarily increase.
Figure 3: The relationship between energy dissipation rate and velocity

4.2 The influence of velocity on the dissipation energy per unit volume
The relationship of dissipation energy per unit volume and striking velocity is shown in Figure 4.
The dissipation energy per unit volume increases substantially with the increase of striking velocity,
showing an exponential relationship.
The relationship of dissipation energy per unit volume and striking velocity can be expressed as
follows,
W = a exp(b )
(8)
For different replacement percentages of RCA in RAC specimens, unidentified variables of a and b
in Equation (8) are different, as shown in Table 2. The fitted curve is in good agreement with
2
experimental data in Figure 4, where high coefficient of determination R is also summarized in Table
2.
The relationship of dissipation energy per unit volume of RAC and the replacement percentage of
RCA is shown in Figure 5. Under the same striking velocity, the dissipation energy per unit volume of
RAC first increases and then decreases with the increase of replacement percentage of RCA. When
the replacement percentage is between 50% and 75%, the dissipation energy per unit volume is
smallest, showing that the energy absorption capacity of RAC at this instance is relatively weak.
644
Figure 4: The relationship between velocity and dissipation energy per unit volume
Figure 5: The relationship between recycled concrete energy dissipation per unit volume and recycled
coarse aggregates replacement percentage
a
b
2
R
PC-0
7.523
0.258
0.887
RC-25
5.416
0.291
0.980
RC-50
7.905
0.229
0.937
RC-75
5.725
0.284
0.995
RC-100
14.132
0.177
0.898
Table 2: Parameters in Equation (8) for recycled aggregate concrete specimens with different
replacement percentages of recycled coarse aggregates
4.3 The influence of dissipation energy per unit volume on the strength
The relationship of dissipation energy per unit volume and dynamic compressive strength of RAC
is shown in Figure 6, which has a nonlinear relationship. It can be expressed by Equation (9). For
different replacement percentages of RCA in RAC specimens, parameters in Equation (9) are
2
summarized in Table 3. The coefficient of determination R between the fitted curve and experimental
data are also summarized in Table 3.
= mW 2 + nW + l
645
(9)
Figure 6: The relationship between recycled concrete dissipation energy per unit volume and strength
m
n
l
2
R
PC-0
0.015
-0.868
63.69
0.387
RC-25
0.0015
0.079
32.08
0.576
RC-50
-0.0042
0.67
17.808
0.701
RC-75
-0.0089
1.098
11.854
0.634
RC-100
-0.0033
0.647
11.738
0.970
Table 3: Parameters in Equation (9) for recycled aggregate concrete specimens with different
replacement percentages of recycled coarse aggregates
4.4 The influence of dissipation energy per unit volume on degree of damage
The relationship between the degree of damage and dissipation energy per unit volume or striking
velocity of RAC specimens is shown in Figure 7. Basically, the degree of damage increases with the
increase of dissipation energy per unit volume, but not consistently increase with increasing striking
velocity. For the 0% replacement percentage of RCA, the striking velocity of the specimen B-4 is 5.5
m/s, greater than that of the specimen B-10 (4.8 m/s), but its dissipation energy per unit volume and
the degree of damage is less than those of B-10. When the replacement percentage is 25%, the
striking velocity of specimen F-9 is less than F-7, both the degree of damage and dissipation energy
per unit volume are higher. When the replacement percentage is 50%, the striking velocity difference
of H-4 and H-9 is very small, with 4.8 m/s and 4.9 m/s, respectively, but both the degree of damage
and dissipation energy per unit volume of H-9 are greater than those of H-4. When the replacement
percentage is 75%, the striking velocity of J-11 (5.5 m/s) is greater than J-14 (4.9 m/s), and the
striking velocity difference of J-11 and J-12 (5.6 m/s) is very small, but the degree of damage and
dissipation energy per unit volume of J-14 and J-12 are greater than those of J-11. When the
replacement percentage is 100%, the striking velocities of D-7 and D-8 are equal (4.9 m/s), but the
degree of damage and dissipation energy per unit volume of D-8 is greater than those of D-7.
Similarly, the striking velocities of D-1 and D-6 are equal (9 m/s), but the degree of damage and
dissipation energy per unit volume of D-1 is greater than those of D-6.
Figure 7 presents that the degree of damage and dissipation energy per unit volume of RAC
specimens has very good consistency. When specimen breaks into blocks, the dissipation energy per
unit volume is small, which is mainly because that the destruction form of RAC is the damage of
interfaces between mortar and aggregates, and aggregates do not fracture. When the dissipation
energy per unit volume gradually increases, the degree of damage correspondingly becomes serious,
and aggregates start to break. The reason is that the inertia effect of micro-cracks leads to the
extension of cracks on aggregates, which consumes more energy. But there is no correspondence
between the degree of damage and striking velocity. At low striking velocities, specimens may present
damage forms of crushing destruction, while under high striking velocities, bursting into blocks.
646
4.6 KJ/m 3.8 m/s
71.5 KJ/m 9 m/s
72.3 KJ/m 9 m/s
70.0 KJ/m 9.7 m/s
66.5 KJ/m 8.8 m/s
24.9 KJ/m 5.5 m/s

28.6 KJ/m 4.8 m/s
(a) PC-0
20.7 KJ/m 4.2 m/s

30.3 KJ/m 5.8 m/s
(b) RC-25
21.7 KJ/m 4.9 m/s

24.6 KJ/m 5.6 m/s
(c) RC-50
27.5 KJ/m 4.9 m/s

28.3 KJ/m 5.6 m/s
(d) RC-75
26.3 KJ/m 4.9 m/s

75.9 KJ/m 9 m/s
(e) RC-100
15.7 KJ/m 4.7 m/s
17.2 KJ/m 4.8 m/s
25.8 KJ/m 5.5 m/s
23.6 KJ/m 4.9 m/s
82.0 KJ/m 9 m/s
Figure 7: The relationship between degree of damage and dissipation energy per unit volume or
impact velocity
5
CONCLUSIONS
A 100 mm diameter SHPB system was used to investigate the dissipation energy of RAC
specimens at striking velocities in the range of 6-10 m/s. Main conclusions can be drawn below,
(1) With the increase of striking velocity, the dissipation energy rate of RAC is discrete, which
does not present certain regularity. The dissipation energy per unit volume increases with the
increase of striking velocity, showing an exponential relationship. The dynamic compressive strength
and dissipation energy per unit volume has a nonlinear relationship.
647
(2) Under the same striking velocity, the dissipation energy per unit volume of RAC firstly
increases and then decreases with the increase of replacement percentage of RCA, whose value is
lowest when the replacement percentage is between 50-75%.
(3) Although the replacement percentage of RCA is different, but the degree of damage and
dissipation energy per unit volume of RAC has good consistence, mainly with one to one
correspondence. But there is no correspondence between the degree of damage and striking velocity.
At low striking velocities, RAC may present crushing destruction, and under high striking velocities it
may burst into blocks.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge the sponsor by the National Natural Science Foundation of
China (51308480).
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25(10):17-20. (2003)(in Chinese)
[2] Xing ZX, and Zhou YN. Study on the main performance of regenerated concrete. Journal of
North China Institute of Water Conservancy and Hydroelectric Power, 19(2):30-32. (1998)(in
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[3] Vlastimir Radonjanin, Mirjana Malesev, Snezana Marinkovic, et al. Green recycled aggregate
concrete. Construction and Building Materials, 47:1503-1511.(2013)
[4] Xiao JZ, Li WG, Sun ZH, et al. Properties of interfacial transition zones in recycled aggregate
concrete tested by nanoindentation. Cement & Concrete Composites, 37:276-292.(2013)
[5] Jodilson Amorim Carneiro, Paulo Roberto Lopes Lima, Monica Batista Leite, et al. Compressive
stress-strain behavior of steel fiber reinforced- recycled aggregate concrete. Cement & Concrete
Composites, 46:65-72.(2014)
[6] Liu Q, Xiao JZ, Sun ZH. Experimental study on the failure mechanism of recycled concrete.
Cement and Concrete Research, 41:1050-1057.(2011)
[7] Eduardus A.B. Koenders, Marco Pepe, Enzo Martinelli. Compressive strength and hydration
processes of concrete with recycled aggregates. Cement and Concrete Research, 56:203212.(2014)
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properties of concrete. Construction and Building Materials, 23:1163-1167.(2009)
[9] Xiao JZ, Li WG, Fan YH, et al. An overview of study on recycled aggregate concrete in China
(1996-2011). Construction and Building Materials, 31:364-383.(2012)
[10] Xiao JZ, Huang YJ, Yang J, et al. Mechanical properties of confined recycled aggregate concrete
under axial compression. Construction and Building Materials, 26:591-603.(2012)
[11] C. Thomas, J. Setien, J.A. Polanco, et al. Durability of recycled aggregate concrete. Construction
and Building Materials, 40:1054-1065.(2013)
[12] Liam Butler, Jeffrey S. Wast, Susan L. Tighe. Effect of recycled aggregate from multiple sources
on the hardened properties of concrete with equivalent compressive strength. Construction and
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[13] Paula Folino, Hernan Xargay. Recycled aggregate concrete-Mechanical behavior under unixial
and triaxial compression. Construction and Building Materials, 56:21-31.(2014)
[14] Lu YB, Chen X, Teng X, et al. Experimental study on quasi-static compressive mechanical
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based on split hopkinson pressure bar tests. Latin American Journal of Solids and
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Sciences,37(5):745-762.(2000)
648
th
NONLINEAR FITTING RESEARCH OF BRIDGE PROBABILISTIC

DEMAND MODEL PARAMETERS
Xinzhe Yuan, Yutao Pang1, Guoyu Shen2 and Wancheng Yuan3
*State Key Laboratory for Disaster Reduction in Civil Engineering, Tongji University
Room 702 of Bridge Engineering Department, No.1239, Siping Road,
Shanghai 200092 , China
e-mail: <2587civil@tongji.edu.cn>
Keywords: probabilistic seismic demand model, engineering demand parameters, intensity

motions, logarithm nonlinear regression
Abstract: Probabilistic seismic demand analysis is an important part of

performance-based earthquake engineering (PBEE), and the core task is the
establishment of probabilistic seismic demand model (PSDM). A log-linear regression
relationship between the earthquake intensity and the median value of engineering
demand parameter is assumed in the establishment of PSDM by cloud method,
which will result in computing deviations. Actually, the logarithm regression
relationships vary between different engineering demand parameters (EDPs) and
intensity motions (IMs). A 3D finite element model of three-span continuous RC
bridge is established and 40 real ground motions are randomly selected as inputs.
The deformation of abuts and bearings and the curvature of piers are chosen as
EDPs and the peak ground motion (PGA) is chosen as IM. The logarithm regression
relationships between the chosen EDPs and IM are fitted by linearity, parabola and
cubic parabola respectively. The results show that there is a significant nonlinear
logarithm relationship between the chosen EDPs and IM. The conclusion could be
used as a reference to select the parameters and regression models in probabilistic
seismic demand analyses.
1
INTRODUCTION
The research of performance-based bridge structure seismic design is getting more and more
attention from earthquake scholars at home and abroad recently. A new generation of
performance-based earthquake engineering research framework is proposed by the U.S. Pacific
Earthquake Research Center (PEER). Probabilistic seismic demand analysis is an important part of
the framework, and the core task is the establishment of probabilistic seismic demand model (PSDM).
The probabilistic seismic demand model can be established in two ways. One is the cloud method and
the other is the scaling method. The probabilistic seismic model is usually established by the cloud
method based on some theoretical assumptions. However, for scaling method, all of the seismic waves
are proportionally enlarged or decreased to obtain the IDA curves of different bridge components with
Fund project: the national natural science fund (509781949091501151278376);
the ministry of transport of western science and technology project (20113185191410)
1
Pang Yutao, male, from Taizhou, Zhejiang Province, Doctor,(1988)
2
Shen Guoyu, male, from Hefei, Anhui Province, Doctor, (1990)
3
Yuan Wancheng, male, from Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province, Professor, Doctor, (1964)
649
Xinzhe Yuan, Yutao Pang, Guoyu Shen and Wancheng Yuan

[1]
IDA analyses , and the probabilistic seismic demand model is established by analyzing the IDA
curves statistically. Wide researches and applications are conducted on these two methods by
[2]
domestic and foreign scholars: Yu Xiaohui et al. discussed the reasonableness of PSDM basic
assumptions within four RC frame structures of different heights and fortification levels, 100 actual
[3]
ground motions as input; Kevin Mackie et al. used the cloud method to obtain the probabilistic
[4]
seismic demand model of structures with nonlinear dynamic time history analysis; Feng Qinghai
analyzed the seismic vulnerability and the risk probability of super large bridges by IDA analysis
[5]
method; Payam Tehrani et al. used fast IDA algorithm to analyze the responses of four-span straight
bridges subjected to different earthquake types.
Compared to the cloud method, the IDA analysis has relatively higher accuracy, but it needs more
computation time as well. Generally speaking, one IDA curve needs at least 10 incremental steps, thus
making the IDA calculation time 10 times of the cloud method. Therefore, if the accuracy of cloud
method can be improved and the results can be more approximate to the IDA analysis, it will use less
time to get more accurate probabilistic seismic demand models and fragility curves. An exponential
regression relationship is assumed between the engineering demand parameters (EDPs) and the
earthquake intensities (IMs) by the cloud method, which could cause computing deviations to the cloud
method. Therefore, the logarithm regression relationship is fixed and researched in this paper by
analyzing five bridge components and building their probabilistic seismic demand models to decrease
the cloud method model assumption deviations. According to the previous discussion, the IDA
analyses results are taken as reference because of the high accuracy.
2
PROBABILISTIC SEISMIC DEMAND MODEL
The most important step of bridge seismic risk assessment is establishing the earthquake fragility
curves, and to establish the fragility curves, the key steps are the probabilistic seismic demand
analysis and the establishment of probabilistic seismic demand model. The model can be built in two
ways-the cloud method and the scaling method.
2.1
The cloud method
For the cloud method, the key point lies in the relationship between the peak responses of bridge
[6]
structure components and ground motion intensity by statistic regression analysis with energy law ,
whose basic steps are as follows:
1) Select the ground motion records which can reflect the regional geology characters of the site
where structures locate;
2) Build the three-dimensional finite element models of structures;
3) Obtain the samples of IMs and EDPs by nonlinear time history analysis;
4) Establish the probabilistic seismic demand model by regression analysis of samples with energy
law.
[7]
According to the energy law, there is an exponential function relationship between IMs and the
mean values of EDPs. The equation is as follow:
D = aIM
or ln ( D ) = ln a + b ln ( IM )
(1)
Where a and b are regression coefficients. Take the logarithm on both sides to facilitate the use of least
square method fitting. The fitting variance ln D is calculated by following formula:
n
ln D =
[ln( EDP ) (ln a + b ln IM )]

i =1
n2
(2)
Where n is the number of nonlinear history time analysis and EDPi is the seismic peak response of
structure.
In the probabilistic seismic demand model, EDPs of structures are closely related to the IMs. The
capacities of structures are usually used to define different damage state functions. Therefore, for a
particular damage state, the failure probability Pf of a structure component can be presented by the
seismic structure demand S d and the structure capacity Sc as follow:
Pf = P[
650
Sd
1]
Sc
(3)
As both
S d and Sc are assumed to be lognormal, and thus Pf can be calculated with the
standard normal distribution function as follow:
ln( Sc )
Sd
Pf =
2
2
d + c
Where
2.2
and
(4)
are respectively the lognormal distribution variances of
S d and Sc .
IDA analyses
For scaling method, the key point is obtaining the relationship between IMs and the seismic peak
responses of bridge structural components by IDA analysis. Compared to the cloud method, the IDA
analysis has relatively higher accuracy, but it needs more computation time as well. Since the scaling
method doesnt need to assume a certain probability distribution function between IMs and seismic
responses, so the calculation of probability of structure damage is relatively simple with the following
formula:
P[ DI LSi IM ] =
ni
N
(i = 1, 2,3, 4)
(5)
Where ni is the number of IDA curves beyond the limit state function, N is the total number of IDA
curves, DI is the damage index, LSi is the limit state value of given damage index.
Scaling method has relatively higher analyzing accuracy, but it needs longer calculating time. The
cloud method is just opposite. Both methods are widely used in seismic fragility analyses. A 3D finite
element model of three-span continuous RC bridge is established with OpenSees and 40 real ground
motions are randomly selected as inputs in this paper. The peak ground motion acceleration (PGA) is
chosen as IM. Moreover, the sectional curvature of piers and the deformations of abutments and
bearings are chosen as EDPs. The logarithm regression relationships between the chosen EDPs and
IM are researched in this paper, to figure out whether the regression relationship of cloud method can
be improved by changing the mathematic models. In addition, it is necessary to note that the
regression methods are compared to IDA analyses results because of its recognized high accuracy.
3
3.1
THE COMPUTATION MODEL AND SELECTION OF SEISMIC WAVES

Model introduction
This paper takes a three-span reinforced concrete continuous beam bridge for example, of which
the cross-section of the pier column is square, 1.5m wide and 8m high. The single span is 38m long.
Figure 1 shows the overall layout of the concrete bridge. The main beams use C50 prestressed
concrete and the piers use C40 concrete. The steels are HRB335, and the longitudinal reinforcement
ratio is 0.8% and the stirrup reinforcement ratio is 0.5%. The bridge 3D nonlinear finite model is
established by OpenSees. Superstructures remain resilient under earthquake, so the model uses
linear elastic beam-column element simulation; meanwhile piers use elastic-plastic fiber element
simulation. Collision cells are used to consider the effects of collision between main beams and
abutments under earthquake. For simplicity, the paper doesnt take the pile-soil interaction, assuming
the piles consolidated at the bottom.
Figure 1: Overall layout of RC the continuous beam bridge
651
3.2
Selection of seismic waves and input parameters
U.S. Pacific Earthquake Research Center corrected the original seismic records and added some
strong motion records on the base of PEER strong motion database. This paper selects 40 seismic
waves in accordance with the venue type from PEER, whose magnitudes range from 6.0~6.7, and
PGAs range from 0.068~0.877. The epicenter distances of all waves are more than 10Km, and the
duration is 30s long. Figure 2 shows the seismic response spectrum of all waves with 5% damping
ratio.
[8]
Ground motion can be described by strength indicators like PGA, PGV, SA (T), etc. Padgett et
cetera evaluated the efficiency, applicability and hazard computability of IMs and showed that: PGA is
a relatively more suitable ground motion intensity index. Therefore, this paper chooses PGA as input,
and inputs the seismic waves longitudinally to research the responses of bridge structural components
under longitudinal earthquake.
2.5
Sa(T,5%)/g
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
/s
Figure 2: Seismic response spectrum

4
4.1
COMPARISONS AND ANALYSES

Numerical model computations
The selected 40 seismic waves are amplitude modulated from 0.1g~1.0g, then input into the
numerical model for nonlinear time history analysis to obtain the peak responses of bridge structural
components, from which the IDA curves of each component are derived. Then the all the IDA curves of
a single component are taken the average to obtain the mean IDA curve, which reflects the average
response to PGA from 0.1g~1.0g.
Afterwards, the selected 40 seismic waves are randomly amplitude modulated to derive 80 seismic
waves. And then the 80 waves are input into the numerical model for nonlinear time history analysis to
obtain the sample points of cloud method.
4.2
Mathematic regression model selection
A suitable mathematical model should be selected when analyzing the computing results,
because the fitting accuracy is directly affected by the mathematic model. Theoretically speaking, the
[9]
higher order of the fitting mathematical model has, the higher the fitting accuracy are . Therefore, a
high order mathematical model is used in this paper to improve the fitting of cloud method, assuming
that there are logarithm regression relationships between the chosen EDPs and IM. The linear,
quadratic, cubic parabola are used to fit the time history analysis results in this paper, and the fitting
results of cloud method are compared to the IDA log-mean curves of each component in figure 3.
652
-2.5
-2
-3.0
-3
-3.5
-4.0
-4.5
-5.0
IDA result
Linear fitting
Parabola fitting
Cubic parabola
-5.5
-6.0
ln[EDP=Deformation]
ln(EDP=Deformation)
-4
-5
-6
IDA result
Linear fitting
Parabola fitting
Cubic parabola
-7
-8
-9
-6.5
-2.5
-2.0
-1.5
-1.0
-0.5
0.0
-2.5
-2.0
ln[IM=PGA(g)]
-2.0
-2.5
ln[IM=Deformation]
-2.5
-3.0
-3.5
IDA result
Linear fitting
Parabola fitting
Cubic parabola
ln[EDP=Deformation]
-2.0
0.0
-3.0
-3.5
IDA result
Linear fitting
Parabola fitting
Cubic parabola
-4.0
-4.5
-5.0
-5.0
-2.5
-0.5
(b). Active abutment deformation
-1.5
-4.5
-1.0
ln[IM=PGA(g)]
(a). Passive abutment deformation
-4.0
-1.5
-2.0
-1.5
-1.0
-0.5
0.0
-2.5
-2.0
-1.5
-1.0
-0.5
0.0
ln[IM=PGA(g)]
ln[IM=PGA(g)]
(c). Fixed bearing deformation
(d). Sliding bearing deformation
-6.5
ln[EDP=Curvature]
-7.0
-7.5
-8.0
IDA result
Linear fitting
Parabola fitting
Cubic parabola
-8.5
-9.0
-9.5
-10.0
-2.5
-2.0
-1.5
-1.0
-0.5
0.0
ln[IM=PGA(g)]
(e). Pier sectional curvature

Figure 3: Logarithm regression models comparison of different bridge components
The regression model comparisons of abutment deformation under passive soil pressure and
under active soil pressure show that the log-linear regression is the best fitting method among linear,
quadratic parabola, and cubic parabola mathematic models. However, comparisons of the rest
components testify that the cubic parabola is most suitable as regression model of cloud method.
There is a significant nonlinear logarithm regression relationship between the chosen EDPs and IM of
bearings and piers.
5
CONCLUSIONS
A three-span continuous beam brigde is taken for example in this paper, to research the regression
relationship of the probabilistic seismic demand model of cloud method. The peak ground motion
acceleration (PGA) is chosen as IM and the sectional curvature of piers and the deformations of
abutments and bearings are chosen as EDPs. Some conclusions are drawn as follows:
(1) The relationship between abutment deformation under passive soil pressure and PGA is significant.
653
The log-linear regression and nonlinear logarithm regression between abutment deformation under
active soil pressure and PGA are both significant. Comparisons of the rest components testify that the
cubic parabola is most suitable as regression model of cloud method. There is a significant nonlinear
logarithm regression relationship between the chosen EDPs and IM of bearings and piers.
(2) The paper tries to figure out whether the regression relationship of cloud method can be improved
by changing the mathematic models by chaning the basic assumption and using high order parabola
mathematic models as the regression models. For the chosen EDPs and IM, the improvement of
abutment deformation is slight, while the improvements of bearing deformation and pier curvature are
remarkable, which make the probabilistic seismic demand model by the cloud method more
approching to the IDA results, and the curves are basically the same trend. It proves that there is a
significant non-linear logarithmic relationship between the pier secitonal curvature, bearing
deformation and PGA. The results can be taken as reference when researchers select the parameters
and regression models in probabilistic seismic demand analyses.
Next the fragility curves of chosen bridge components will be established to figure out the
influences brought by nonlinear logarithm regression mathematic models.
REFERENCES
[1] Bo Yi, Lv Xilin, Zhou Ying, Huang Zhihua. Studies on the multi-levels of hybrid structures using
incremental dynamic analysis[J]. Structural Engineers, 2009, 25(2): 77-84.
[2] Yu Xiaohui, Lv Dagang, Wang Guangyuan. Discussions on probabilistic seismic demand
models[J]. Engineering Mechanics, 2013,30(8): 172-179.
[3] Mackie K, Stojadinovic B. Probabilistic seismic demand model for California highway bridges[J].
Journal of Bridge Engineering, 2001, 6(6): 468-481.
[4] Feng Qinghai. Study on seismic vulnerability and risk probability analysis of super-Large bridge.
Shanghai: Tongji University, 2008.
[5] Tehrani P., Mitchell D., Seismic response of bridges subjected to different earthquake types using
IDA[J]. Journal of Earthquake Engineering, 2013, 17(3):423-448.
[6] Shome N., Cornell, C.A., Bassurro, P., Carballo, J.E. Earthquakes, records, and nonlinear
responses[J]. Earthquake Spectra, 1998.14(3), 469500.
[7] Zhang Juhui, Hu Shide. State of the art of bridge seismic vulnerability analysis research [J].
Structural Engineers, 2005, 21(5): 76-79.
[8] Padgett, J.E., Nielson B.G., DesRoches R. Selection of optimal intensity measures in probabilistic
seismic demand models of highway bridge portfolios [J]. Earthquake Engineering &Structure
Dynamics, 2008, 37(5):711725.
[9] Rao Fang. A method for improving the accuracy of the least square method [J]. S& M Electric
Machines, 1998,25(6):5-7.
654
th
A COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT BLAST METHODS USED IN

DYNAMIC RESPONSE ANALYSIS FOR SINGLE-LAYER
RETICULATED SHELL SUBJECTED TO BLAST LOADING
Ximei Zhai* and Zhenyu Sun
*
School of Civil Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology

202 Haihe Road, Nangang District, Harbin 150090, China
e-mail: <xmzhai@hit.edu.cn> webpage: http://homepage.hit.edu.cn/pages/zhaiximei
Keywords: LOAD_BLAST_ENHANCED (LBE), Multi-Material Arbitrary Lagrangian
Eulerian (MM-ALE), Reticulated shell, Blast, Dynamic response
Abstract. As landmark buildings of a region and usually with dense population,

long-span spatial steel structures are quite probable to become the target of
terrorist activities. Therefore, it is of great importance to investigate the dynamic
response of long-span spatial steel structures under blast load in order to
effectively reduce casualties and economic loss. Three different methods of
numerical simulation were performed in this paper, including empirical blast
method (LBE), Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) method, and coupling of LBE
and ALE method. In order to make a comparison about computational efficiency
and precision between these three methods, finite element (FE) analysis software
ANSYS/LS-DYNA was used to set up the fine FE model of Kiewitt 8 single-layer
reticulated shell with span of 60m to simulate the dynamic response of structure
subjected to external blast loading. The dynamic response of the structure for all
these three methods were compared together and the discussion of results was
provided.
1.
INTRODUCTION
With the rising threat of terrorism, protection of important buildings against bomb attacks is
getting more attention. Usually, long-span spatial steel structure is the landmark building in the
local area, so the performance of such structures under blast loading should be investigated as it
is exceptionally important to reduce the damage under blast loading in view of the high risk.
Nowadays, the international investigation on buildings subjected to blast are mostly focused
on single structural components and steel frame structures, and some respond rules to blast were
1-12
obtained . But there is no relevant research on single-layer reticulated shell subjected to blast
loading till now all around the world. The main reasons are as follow:(1) the reasonable FE model
is difficult to be established because of its structural complexity; (2) the transmission of explosive
wave is influenced by medium of surroundings. For example, topography, distribution of local
buildings, and the shapes of building themselves can change the routine of the transmission of
13
explosive wave .
During recent years, several promising FE solutions have been pressented for determining the
response of structures subjected to blast loading. For simulating structures subjected to blast
loading, three different methods of analysis are available in FE analysis software LS-DYNA. First,
a purely Lagrangian approach. In this method, the blast pressure is computed with well calibrated
______________________________
School of Civil Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, China

655
Ximei Zhai and Zhenyu Sun
empirical equations of *LOAD_BLAST_ENHANCED (Conwep data) provided by LS-DYNA which

were derived using a compilation of results from thousands of explosive air blast experiments. In this
approach there is no need to model the air or explosive since the required input for the empirical
equations consist simply of the explosive charge weight and its position relative to the structure.
Computational cost is typically orders of magnitude less than the equivalent ALE simulation. However,
the restriction of this method is that obstacle should not exist between the charge and the target
structure. That is to say, shadowing of the blast wave due to the presence of intervening structures, or
perhaps parts of the target structure shadowing itself, are not accounted for by the empirical blast
equations. In addation, the shape of the charge can only be spherical or hemispherical. In other words,
the effect of the shape of charge can not be taken into account.
Second, the Multi-Material Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (MM-ALE) method. This method is
one commonly used approach involves explicit modeling of the air and explosive. The structure of
interest is usually treated as Lagrangian and fluid-structure interaction (FSI) is used for
communication between it and the ALE domain. The chief disadvantage of the ALE solver is the
large air domain that typically needs to be included in the air blast model to mitigated boundary
effects. The large domains computational burden is further aggravated by the need to use quite
fine mesh resolution to adequately resolve the air shock. Although, with wave and flow around
effects taken into consideration, it has an influence on analysis of more complex structure.
Third, Coupling of LBE and MM-ALE. This method permits the empirical blast load to be
applied to an ALE air domain, in essence a marriage of the two aforementioned methods. With
this technique only the air immediately surrounding the target structure is modeled with an ALE
domain. If intervening structures are present the air domain is extended as necessary to enclose
them. Blast pressure provided by the empirical laws are applied to a layed of ALE elements which
face the explosive charge and act as a source for the adjoining air elements. Subsequently, on its
own accord, the blast wave propagates through the remaining air domain eventually to impinge
on the structure. In this way, the strength of aforementioned methods are preserved and
combined to yield a new simulation technique which allows long standoff distance to be studied
without modeling copious air volumes while still retaining the ability to address shadowing and
14
focusing .
Long-span spatial steel structures are more complicated and much larger than civil buildings.
It is more difficult to find a suitable numerical simulation method to obtain the dynamic response
of these structures under blast loading. Therefore, available experimental test from reference14 is
modeled with all three methods to compare the accuracy and computational efficiency of the
three methods in this paper based on ANSYS/LS-DYNA. Meanwhile, ANSYS/LS-DYNA is used to
set up and simulated a fine FE model of Kiewitt8 single-layer reticulated shell with span of 60m
subjected to blast loading using these three methods. The dynamic response of the structure for
all these three methods were compared together and discussion of results was provided.
2.
2.1.
COMPARING MODELS TO EXPERIMENTS

Test description
15
A test result based on the previous work of A.Neuberger and S.Peles was used as the basis of
the comparison and varification of the three different blast simulation techniques. The experimental
test setup is shown in Fig.1 and Fig. 2. The target plate with diameter of 1m and thickness of 0.02m
was supported by two thick armor steel plates with circular holes that were tightened together with
bolts and clamps. The thick armor plate that faces the charge has a hole with inclined side walls to
prevent reflection of the blast wave to the tested target plate as shown schematically in Fig.2. The
charge weight for this testing had a net equivalent weight (NEW) of 3.75 kg of TNT. The spherical
charge was centered 0.2m over the target plate using fishermans net and was ignited from the center
of the charge.
2.2. Modelling and material parameter
In the ALE and Coupling approach, the cube was chosen as mesh configuration in the air domain
and the gridding size is 0.02m. Air domain is set to a cuboid with size of 1.2m1.2m0.7m and
15
1.2m1.2m0.2m respectively, taking account of the effect of the MM-ALE boundaries . The FE
models are shown in Fig.3. The air and TNT are simulated by SOLID164 element with 8 nodes. The
material modal of explosive is Mat-High-Explosive-Burn and the governing equation of detonation
16
products is JonesWilkinsLee (JWL) station equation which is shown as follow :
656
P = A(1
R1V
)e R1V + B (1
R2V
)e R2V +
(1)
Where A, B, R1, R2 and are the parameters of JWL state equation; P is hydrostatic pressure; V is
relative volume and E is the initial internal energy of explosive per unit volume. The main material
parameters of explosive are shown in Table 1, in which A, B, R1, R2 and can be obtained from
reference [17].
(b) After Testing
(a) Before Tesing

Figure 1: Experimental Setup
15
15
Figure 2: Schematic Drawing Of The Test Rig And The Measurement Set up
16
The material model of Mat-Null with Eos_Liner_Polynomial

air. Station equation is shown as follow:
station equation is applied to simulate
P = C 0 + C1 + C 2 2 + C 3 3 + ( C 4 + C 5 + C 6 2 ) E
(2)
where = 0 1 ( C2 2 and C 6 2 are zero if < 0 ); is current density; 0 is initial density; E is

material internal energy; C0, C1, C2, C3, C4, C5 and C6 are parameters of station equation and V0 is
initial relative volume. Parameters of air material are shown in Table 2.
The influence of geometric nonlinearity (large displacement, large rotation and large strain) and
material nonlinearity should be taken into consideration while simulating the structure subjected to
blast loading. The process of blast is transitory, only taking less than 100ms. So, the ultra-high blast
pressure impinging on the structure in a very short time precipitates high strain rate of steel, which
16
may significantly improve its strength. Thus, Piecewise Linear Plasticity material model is chosen,
which can reflect the effect of strain rate. Effective true stress, effective plastic strain and ratio factor
reflecting the influence of material mechanics prosperities given by strain rate can be defined
according to actual situation. Material model is shown as follow:
657
y ( effP , &effP ) = y ( effP )[1 + (
&effP
c
(3)
)P ]
where &eff is the effective plastic strain rate; C and P are the strain rate parameters, C=40 and P=5
are chosen respectively; and
y ( effp )
is the yield stress without considering strain rate. The initial
yield stress of steel is 207MPa; elastic modulus is 206GPa; Poisson ratio is 0.3; the effective plastic
18
strain at failure was defined as 0.25. The yield stress versus effective plastic strain at failure state is
shown in Fig.4.
(a) ALE
(b) Coupling
Figure 3: FE model of ALE and Coupling
-3
/kg.m
D / m.s-1
PCJ/ GPa
A / GPa
B / GPa
R1
R2
E0 / GJ.m-3
1630
6930
21
374
7.33
4.15
0.95
0.3
Note: is explosive density; D is initial velocity of explosive; PCJ is detonation pressure; E0 initial internal energy of
detonation.
Table 1: Material parameters of TNT explosive
0 /kgm-3
C1/MPa
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
E/MPa
V0
1.290
-0.1
0.4
0.4
0.253
1.0
Table 2: Material parameters of air
2.3.
Comparison between experiment and three numerical methods
In this part, the simulation results from LBE, ALE and Coupling of ALE and LBE, respectively, were
compared with experimental data provided by reference [15]. The results of the three different blast
methods are shown in Fig.5. Fig.6 shows the state of the plate before and after blast. The relative
error between simulation and experiment is shown in Table 3.
15
The maximum displacement of the experiment was 0.054m . The LBE(0.050m) method
underestimates maximum displacement response and ALE(0.065m) and Cpupling(0.060m)
overestimate it. The relative error of LBE is minimum and ALE is maximum. As shown in Fig.5, the
shape of the curves are similar and the maximam midpoint displacement of Coupling and ALE occur a
little sooner than LBE. By comparing the simulative values and experiential values, the numerical
simulation of three methods is applicable for this study.
3.
3.1.
THE DYNAMIC RESPONSE COMPARISON OF KIEWITT8 SINGLE-LAYER RETICULATED

SHELL SUBJECTED TO EXTERNAL BLAST LOADING
Introduce model
A typical Kiewitt8 single-layer reticulated shell is chosen in this paper with span of 60m, rise-span
ratio of 1/5 to investigate the dynamic response by using above-mentioned methods. The member of
reticulated shell, purlin hanger and purlin are simulated by BEAM161 element which considers the
658
LBE
Coupling ALE of LBE
ALE
0.01
0.00
280
-0.01
270
Displacement (m)
eff
Effective true stress y( ,eff)(MPa)
effect of transverse shear strain. SHELL163 element is used to simulate roof boarding. The sets of
2
explosive and air are same with Section 2.2. The roof load of 1200 N/m is considered by increasing
the density of roof boarding. The cross section of reticulated shell members including main bar, weft
bar, diagonal bar shown in Fig.7 and purlin hanger is 1686.0 and 764.0 ( steel tube, outer
diameter in mm wall thickness in mm), respectively. The diameter and length of rivets is 12mm and
200mm, respectively, and there are seven rivets for each purlin. Channel cross section is usually used
in buildings; however, hollow rectangular section is taken to simulate purlin to make modal
establishing more conveniently. The cross section of purlin is 140503.5 (depth in mm width in mm
wall thickness in mm), respectively. Roof boarding is made of steel and insulation material (steel
thickness 2mm and insulation material 80mm).
260
250
240
230
220
-0.03
-0.04
-0.05
-0.06
210
200
-0.02
-0.07
0.00
0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25

P
Effective plastic strain( eff )
0.000
0.30
0.001
0.003
0.004
0.005
Time (s)
Figure 4: Curve of Effective Stress-Strain
Figure 5: Midpoint Displacement versus Time
Figure 7: The Member of

Reticulated Shell
Figure 6: The State of The Plate Before and after Blast

Result of comparison
Maximum displacement of
midpoint (m)
Relative error (%)
0.002
LBE
0.050
ALE
0.065
Coupling
0.060
7.81
20.93
11.83
experiential values
0.054
Table 3: Maximum displacement of midpoint and relative error

The stiffness and ultimate strength of insulation is very low compared with steel and the ultimate
bearing capacity of insulation occupies less than 3% while only considering roof boarding subjected to
tension. So, insulation material is ignored and not included while setting up roof boarding modal to
simplify calculating in modeling. The way of connection between purlin hanger and purlin is common
node which is also suit to the connection between rivet and roof boarding. Phenomenon such as
reflection occurs when the air blast wave encounters obstacles in the process of propagating outward
from the central point of explosion. To get the most adverse responses of structure, reflected
boundary is chosen to simulate ground in this paper. In the ALE and Coupling method, half modal is
set up in order to reduce calculating hours and symmetric constraints are applied to symmetric
boundary. Air domain is set to a cuboid with the size of 80m40m22m in ALE method and
15
66m40m22m in Coupling, taking account of the effect of the MM-ALE boundaries . Except for the
symmetry plane and the ground, none-reflected boundary is applied for the other outer boundaries to
simulate an infinite air domain. The FE model and the details of reticulated shell are shown in Fig.8.
659
Figure 8:
8 Numerical Model of the Structure
3.2.
The comparisin of the dynamic

ynamic response
Ten different charge weight are chosen. Those are 352.22kg, 44.03kg, 13.05kg, 5.50kg, 2.82kg,
1.63kg, 1.03kg, 0.69kg, 0.48kg, 0.35kg.
0.35kg The standoff distance, from the center of the explosive
charge to the target structure, in this part is 5m and the charge is 1.2m above the ground,
ground located in
1/3
1/3
the symmetric section. Correspondingly, the scaled distance (Z) are 0.708m/kg , 1.416 m/kg ,
1/3
1/3
1/3
1/3
1/3
1/3
1/3
2.124 m/kg , 2.832 m/kg , 3.541 m/kg , 4.249 m/kg , 4.957 m/kg , 5.665 m/kg , 6.373 m/kg ,
1/3
7.081 m/kg , respectively. After observing, 0.5 second is enough for the structure to obtain the
maximum dynamic response. In order to save the computational cost, all examples calculation time
are taken for 0.5 second.
18
The shell's node displacement is able to response the stiffness
iffness of reticulated shell . The node
which has the maximum displacement increment is referred as maximum resultant displacement node
and this node's displacement increment is called as maximum resultant displacement in this paper.
Each example's resultant displacement curve of LBE, ALE and Coupling is shown in Fig.9.
Fig.9 Fig.10
shows the comparison of maximum resultant
result
displacement between LBE, ALE and Coupling.
Cou
The
relative diference between
n LBE, Coupling and ALE is shown in Table
T
4.
(a) Resultant Displacement(b) Resultant Displacement(c) Resultant DisplacementDisplacement

Time Curve of LBE
Time Curve of Coupling
Time Curve of ALE
1/3
1.416 m/kg )
Figure 9: Comparision of Response Curve for Reticulated Shell (Z=1.416
Figure 10: Maximum Resultant Displacememt versus Scaled Distance

The results indicate that the maximum resultant displacement of the three methods decrease and
the relative
tive difference between LBE, Coupling and ALE increase first and then decrease according to
660
scaled distance. The relative diference increase remarkably and reached the maximum at
1/3
1/3
1/3
2.832m/kg as scaled distance increase from 0.708 m/kg to 2.832 m/kg ; With the continued
increase of scaled distanced, the relative diference begin to declines slowly. As shown in Fig.9, the
shape of the curves are similar and there is a little difference between LBE, Coupling and ALE when
1/3
scaled distance is 1.416 m/kg . In Table 4, the resultant displacement of ALE is the maximum and
the one of LBE is the minimum. The relative difference between Coupling and ALE is less than the
one between LBE and ALE, the maximum is 13.29%. Also, the displacement nephogram and
effective plastic strain nephogram are shown in Fig.11. The maximum resultant displacement of the
three methods all appears at the same node 530 and the deformation appears in the same region.
The effective plastic strain nephograms have the same rules.
Scaled distance
(m/kg1/3)
0.708
1.416
2.124
2.832
3.541
4.248
4.956
5.664
6.372
7.08
D1
(m)
D2
(m)
D3
(m)
D2- D1
100%
D2
2.674
1.390
0.812
0.411
0.237
0.174
0.144
0.124
0.106
0.091
3.289
1.810
1.086
0.617
0.328
0.225
0.176
0.150
0.130
0.111
3.081
1.607
0.973
0.535
0.291
0.203
0.164
0.140
0.121
0.103
18.70
23.20
25.23
33.39
27.74
22.67
18.18
17.33
18.46
18.01
D2- D3
100%
D2
6.32
11.22
10.40
13.29
11.28
9.78
6.82
6.67
6.92
7.21
Note: D1,D2,D3 mean the maximum resultant displacement of LBE, ALE, and Coupling of LBE and ALE, respectively.
Table 4:Maximum resultant displacement and relative diference
(a) Displacement Nephogram

of LBE
(b) Displacement Nephogram

of Coupling
(c) Displacement Nephogram

of ALE
(d) Effective Plastic Strain

(e) Effective Plastic Strain
(f) Effective Plastic Strain
Nephogram of LBE
Nephogram of Coupling
Nephogram of ALE
Figure 11: Displacement Nephogram and Effective Plastic Strain Nephogram
Fig.12 shows the resultant velocity of joint 1 ~ joint 4 shown in Fig.8 only when scaled distance is
1/3
0.708m/kg . The result that the blast wave reached joint 1 first of all can be obtained. According to
the characteristic of blast loading, the velocity of joint 1 can reflect the explosion load size and the
661
velocity of joint 2 ~ joint 4 can reflect rules of the transmission of dynamic response. The velocity of
joint 1 reaches about 33m/s in only 0.04s in LBE method. Meanwhile, due to the duration of blast
loading is very short, the velocity of joint 2 which is close to joint 1 had just a little change. The velocity
of joint 1 stop increasing after 0.04s. Additionally, the velocity of joint 1 decreased as it must drag joint
2 down. The resultant velocity of joint 2 reaches maximum, 19m/s, in about 0.1s. Similarly, the
resultant velocity of joint 3 and joint 4 reach maximum orderly. The shape of the curves of the three
methods are similar and have the same rules. The resultant velocity of ALE is the maximum and the
one of LBE is the minimum.
The cross section of BEAM161 that represents the reticulated shell member has four integration
points. The symbol nP indicates the number of plastic integration points of the cross section is equal
or greater than n. For example, 1P stands for at least one integration point yielded on tube member
section and 4P shows that the entire section has yielded. The Average Plastic Strain (APS, the
arithmetic mean of all members) is also used to illustrate the magnitude of plastic development of the
components in this section. Summary of the structural responses are showed in Table 5. The
proportions of 1P ~ 4P versus scaled distance is shown in Fig.13. As shown in Table 5, the APS of
reticulated shell, purlin hanger, purlin, roof panel decrease according to the increase of scaled
1/3
distance. Some of purlin hanger and rivet become invalid when scaled distance is 0.708m/kg and
1/3
1.416m/kg . In Fig.13, the proportion of yield member decrease as the increase of scaled distance.
The line of 1P is close to the line of 2P; The line of 3P is close to the line of 4P. The result can be
obtained that bending moment is the main inner force of the yield members. The difference between
the three methods decrease as the increase of scaled distance. The difference between LBE and
Coupling is larger than the one between ALE and Coupling. The proportion of yield member of ALE is
the maximum and LBE is the minimum.
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
-5
0.5
1
2
3
4
40
0
-5
1
2
3
4
40
Resultant Velocity (m/s)
35
45
45
1
2
3
4
40
45
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
-5
0.5
0.0
0.1
Time (s)
Time (s)
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
Time (s)
(a) Resultant Velocity-Time

(b) Resultant Velocity-Time
(c) Resultant Velocity-Time
Curve of LBE
Curve of Coupling
Curve of ALE
Figure 12: Resultant Velocity of Joint 1 ~ Joint 4
60
Proportion of yield member (%)
LBE1P
LBE2P
LBE3P
LBE4P
Coupling1P
Coupling2P
Coupling3P
Coupling4P
ALE1P
ALE2P
ALE3P
ALE4P
50
40
30
20
10
Figure 13: Proportion of Yield Member versus Scaled Distance
3.3.
The comparoson of the computational efficiency
All the simulations for this study were run using single precision SMP-DYNA 5.0. Table 6 contains
comparison of model size and the statistics on the CPU time for these models. It is worth to mention
the effectiveness of implemented methods. The ALE formulation, due to the greater number of
elements modeling the air medium and its complex mathematical background, is much more
662
computationally expensive. The ALE model took approximately 6 hours longer for completion than the
Coupling method and 28 times more than LBE. The Coupling method model took 22 times more than
LBE method for completion.
4.
CONCLUSION
In this paper,three different methods of numerical simulation were performed, including empirical
blast method (LBE), Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) method, and coupling of LBE and ALE
method. The FE software ANSYS/LS-DYNA is used to build a kiewitt8 single-layer reticulated shell
model. The research on the dynamic response of the structure subjected to the blast loading was
impelmented ,through using LBE, ALE and Coupling method, by changing net equivalent charge
weight. The conclusion can be obtained: (1) By comparing the simulative values with experiential
values, the veracity and reliability of these methods can be convinced. (2) The change rules of the
resultant displacement-time curves, displacement nephogram, effective plastic strain nephogram,
resultant velocity-time curves and proportion of yield member are similar and the difference between
the three methods can be accepted. To sum up , all the dynamic response of ALE are the maximum
and the ones of LBE are minimum. (3) The methods can be used to undertake research on the
dynamic response of the structure subjected to the blast loading and the veracity and reliability of the
methods can be convinced. Different methods suit diffenent situations. If there are obstacles between
charge and the target structure, Coupling or ALE may be suitble; If long standoff distance is of
interest, LBE or Coupling may be suitable.
Reticulated
Shell
APS/10-2
(Proportion of Failure Elements)

LBE
Reticulated
Shell
Coupling
member
ALE
LBE
Purlin
Coupling
ALE
LBE
Purlin
Coupling
Hanger
ALE
LBE
Roof Panel
Coupling
ALE
LBE
Rivet
Coupling
ALE
LBE
Proportion
Coupling
of 1P/%
ALE
LBE
Proportion
Coupling
of 4P/%
ALE
0.708
0.102
0.125
0.140
0.075
0.090
0.099
4.15%
4.84%
4.84%
0.150
0.165
0.176
4.17%
4.66%
5.20%
50.88
55.63
57.63
30.38
35.50
37.75
1.416
0.045
0.057
0.066
0.041
0.050
0.056
3.294
1.38%
2.08%
0.122
0.129
0.135
2.12%
2.22%
2.33%
44.75
49.63
51.38
24.14
27.00
29.38
2.124
0.026
0.033
0.038
0.027
0.034
0.038
3.082
3.125
3.452
0.104
0.113
0.119
0.194
0.207
0.217
40.63
45.38
47.50
18.35
21.75
23.75
2.832
0.019
0.024
0.027
0.021
0.025
0.029
2.903
2.308
3.231
0.095
0.103
0.108
0.182
0.196
0.203
34.13
39.38
43.75
14.25
17.13
18.63
3.541
0.017
0.021
0.024
0.018
0.022
0.025
2.789
2.965
3.086
0.090
0.097
0.101
0.175
0.186
0.194
29.88
34.38
36.63
14.88
15.88
13.63
4.248
0.015
0.019
0.021
0.017
0.020
0.023
2.633
2.834
2.954
0.084
0.092
0.096
0.165
0.178
0.186
27.13
30.50
31.88
12.38
14.25
15.00
4.956
0.012
0.016
0.018
0.014
0.018
0.020
2.386
2.627
2.744
0.075
0.083
0.088
0.150
0.165
0.172
23.63
27.38
29.25
11.63
13.38
15.00
5.664
0.008
0.011
0.013
0.010
0.013
0.015
2.084
2.322
2.472
0.064
0.072
0.078
0.131
0.146
0.155
19.13
23.00
25.75
9.25
11.25
11.75
6.372
0.004
0.007
0.009
0.006
0.009
0.010
1.816
2.047
2.165
0.055
0.063
0.067
0.114
0.128
0.136
15.25
17.88
19.25
6.25
8.88
10.63
7.081
0.002
0.004
0.006
0.003
0.005
0.007
1.576
1.786
1.910
0.048
0.055
0.059
0.099
0.112
0.120
11.00
15.00
16.13
3.75
2.75
7.25
Note: the number with % is proportion of failure element; the number without % is average plastic
strain.
Table 5: Summary of the structural responses according to different scaled distance
No. of elements
Initial time step
Total CPU time
Element processing time
(% of total CPU time)
Contact algorithm
(% of total CPU time)
LBE
32580
7.52E-06
01:18:35
Coupling
4132425
7.52E-06
22:11:26
ALE
500900
7.52E-06
27:59:22
63.94
62.11
76.93
31.63
34.35
21.91
Table 6: Statistics on three blast medels
663
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors wish to acknowledge the support from National Nature Science Foundation of China
under the Grant No. 51378151.
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[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
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664
th
FIELD TEST ON MONOLITHIC TEMPERED GLASS WINDOW

RESPONSE UNDER EXPLOSIVE LOADS
Xihong Zhang1,*, Hong Hao2 and Zhongqi Wang3
*
School of Civil, Environmental, and Mining Engineering, the University of Western

Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley WA 6009, Australia
e-mail: <xihong.zhang@uwa.edu.au>
Keywords: Monolithic pane, thermally tempered glass, field blast test
Abstract. Post-event investigations show that the breakage of monolithic glass

window under explosion always leads to enormous injuries and fatalities as a
result of ejecting glass shards flying at high speed towards people in the occupied
area. The substantial terrorist bombing and accidental explosion threats have
fueled the necessity of fully understanding the behavior of glass window under air
blast wave for better human protection. In this study, a series of full-scale field
blasting tests were carried out to investigate monolithic glass window responses
under blast loading. 1.5m1.2m monolithic tempered glass panes were fixed
onto a fully enclosed reinforced concrete block purposely constructed to support
the window specimens for the tests. TNT explosives of 5kg and 10kg were
detonated at different stand-off distances in front of the windows. Window central
displacements were measured using mechanical linear variable displacement
transducer (LVDT). The entire pane deformation was tracked with high speed
cameras at a tracking dot matrix. Two different window failure patterns were
found and analyzed with high speed images and the collected glass fragments.
The recorded pressure and impulse scatters together with previous test data were
then used to check the accuracy of UFC and ASTM design standard guides.
1
INTRODUCTION
Building faade has attracted much attention over the past years, as it is considered extremely
vulnerable under blast loading. Recently, much effort has been directed towards understanding
1
and modeling of retrofits of glass windows . Nevertheless, there is still a lack of sufficient
investigations in open literature on the response of monolithic glass window. Considering the
history and development of architecture, monolithic glazing has been ubiquitously used as
windows for decades. It is therefore crucial and important to fully understand the behavior of
monolithic glass at the scene of explosion events.
Analytical study on predicting glass pane response generally simplifies the window structure to
an equivalent single degree of freedom system (SDOF). The accuracy of SDOF system prediction
depends very much on the dynamic resistance function, which is difficult to be accurately derived.
2
Non-linear large deflection theory was generally employed to determine the resistance function.
______________________________
1
School of Civil, Environmental, and Mining Engineering, the University of Western Australia, Australia
2
University and Curtin University Joint Research Center of Structural Monitoring and Protection, School of Civil
and Mechanical Engineering, Curtin University, Australia
3
The State Key Laboratory of Explosion Science and Technology, Beijing Institute of Technology, China
665
Xihong Zhang, Hong Hao and Zhongqi Wang

3
Numerical methods are also popularly used to assist the assessment of glass behavior. Moore
used finite element method to determine the load-deflection curves for simply supported glass
4
panes. The concluded resistance functions were adopted by Meyers for his SDOF analysis of
glass responses under blast load. The failure of glass pane was governed by pane deflection,
which leads to a maximum tensile stress of 110MPa, or the deflection exceeds 10 times pane
thickness.
5
To guide blast resistant window design, two standards, i.e., UFC 3-340-02 and ASTM
6
E1300 , provide guidance on the analysis of glass vulnerability. UFC code simplifies monolithic
4
pane into a SDOF model, which basically follows Meyerss method . It also provides a special
section outlining the design procedures with design charts for determination of tempered glass
capability. The ASTM standard provides similar design charts, which specifies an equivalent 3second design pressure and applies glass type factor to normalize tempered glass to annealed
glass.
Despite a large amount of experiments conducted on glass windows, the number of testing
results in open literature is very limited due to security concerns. Recently, a couple of testing
7
results were distributed for public release. For instance, Meyers et al. reported shocktube tests
on monolithic tempered glass panes. In their test, the pressure duration was reported to be over
8
150ms, which is beyond the scope of general blast loading. Weissman et al. evaluated the
vulnerability of glass windows in wood and aluminum frames. Empirical design criteria were
suggested which defines the maximum overpressure that a glass pane could withstand. It should
be noted that except the peak reflected pressures and glass failure states there were not much
details provided in these literatures. There is in general a lack of testing data on the response of
monolithic tempered glass available for public access.
In this study, field blasting test results are presented on 5 monolithic tempered glass
specimens with the recorded blast pressures and glass pane responses. The fracture
characteristics of glass panes were recorded and analyzed. The test results are used to check
the accuracy of the design standards.
2
EXPERIMENT SETUP
A single storey RC frame (3.4m widex3.2m deepx2.0m high) as shown in Figure 1a was
constructed to support the windows. Each testing glass pane is 1.5mx1.2m. The glass pane was
fully clamped using 20mm thick steel strips with 50mm embedment on all sides.
Windows
RC
block
HS
camera
TNT
a) Testing site
b) Matrix of tracking dots
Figure 1: Test arrangement

The blast pressure was recorded with a pressure gauge positioned on the front wall. Glass
pane central deflection was monitored with two mechanical LVDTs. The pressure and
displacement transducers were wired to a data acquisition system with a sampling frequency of
500kHz. Two sets of high speed cameras (FASTCAM SA3 by Photron) were used with the aid
of pre-plot tracking dot matrix on glass panes (Figure 1b) to monitor the failure process. Post
image analysis was performed to derive the pane displacement history at each marked dot. The
cameras were filming at 2kHz frame rate. The imaging processes were triggered by external
wires glued directly to the charge. Table 1 lists the 5 monolithic panes tested, where 6mm and
666
10mm panes were subjected to the blast pressures from 5kg and 10kg TNT explosives detonated
at different distances.
wcrack
wrupture
Test
Pane
tpane
W
R
Pr
Ir
(mm)
(mm)
No.
No.
(mm)
(kg)
(m)
(kPa)
(kPa ms)
38.8
88.6
3
3-1-2
6
10
12.3
82.2
413.3
5
5-1-2
10
5
10
72.9
268.1
42.4
90.6
9
9-1-2
6
5
6
220.0
363.9
18.2
63.2
11
11-1-2
10
10
12
84.7
296.8
12
12-1-2
10
10
9
141.5
459.4
18.4
68.1
Table 1: Summary of testing scenario
3
RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
3.1 Testing results

TNT was used as the primary explosive with RXG as booster charge. Table 1 lists the blast
loads measured for the current series of tests. Figure 2 depicts the typical reflected pressure
recorded by the pressure sensor for Test 3, where a triangular pressure can be observed for the
positive phase, which is then followed by a long lasting negative pressure. Comparing with the
5
estimation of UFC 3-340-02 , the measured reflected pressures are about 5% and 25% higher for
the positive and negative phases. The reflected impulses are about 17% and 9% larger
respectively. Consistent variations are found, which is probably because of the testing site
configuration and the influence of the booster charge.
Figure 2 shows the recorded pane central deflection history from LVDT in Test 3. As can be
observed, the 6mm thickness pane begins to deform at 21ms as the shock front arrives. With the
assistant of high-speed camera image, it is found that at about 26ms glass crack initiates when
central displacement reaches 38.8mm. Pane deformation develops till it grows to 88.6mm when
critical rupture is formed at 29ms tearing the glass pane into pieces.
120
Pressure
Deflection
120
Pane
rupture
40
60
Cracks
initiate
-40
0
20
40
deflection (mm)
Pr (kPa)
80
180
-60
60
time (ms)
Figure 2: Reflected pressure time history and impulse of Test 3

Figure 3 depicts the process of pane deformation-till-failure from the snapshots of high-speed
camera images for Pane 9-1-2 and Pane 12-1-2. Cracks initiate throughout these two tempered
glass panes as their central deformations reach 42.4mm and 18.4mm respectively. The difference
in central deflections at crack is mainly attributed to different pane thicknesses. The cracked
tempered glass panes are sticked together without forming any fragments. At 12ms, when central
deflection rises to 90.6mm, Pane 9-1-2 ruptures with the formation of a few critical cracks
separating the entire glass pane into several giant pieces. The ruptured pane further breaks into
more numbers of smaller pieces, which are propelled into the testing cell under the action of blast
wave. Similarly, at 19ms rupture occurs to Pane 12-1-2 when its central deflection reaches
68.1mm. Under the effect of blast wave, the broken pane further shatters into numerous smaller
pieces.
In Test 5, the 10mm thick tempered glass pane survives the blast loading from 5kg TNT
detonated at 10m distance. No obvious damage was found on the glass pane, since any
667
insignificant crack would lead to continuous crack to the tempered glass pane. This shot provides
a good reference of the blast resistant capacity of the 10mm tempered glass.
t=7ms
t=10ms
t=12ms
a) Pane 9-1-2
t=23ms
t=13ms
t=16ms
t=19ms
b) Pane 12-1-2
t=30ms
Figure 3: Snapshots of HS images of Pane 9-1-2 and 12-1-2

3.2 Failure pattern
Two different failure patterns can be observed through the high-speed camera images. Like
Pane 9-1-2 glass pane deforms in a planar pattern where stress concentrates at four corners with
dense and more numbers of cracks along the boundaries, whereas the pane central regions
break into few large pieces with some dominant cracks. In contrast, for pane 12-1-2 radial major
cracks could be observed extending from the pane centrals. Circular cracks could also be found
accompanying these radial cracks.
60
100
Column1
Column2
Column3
Column4
Column5
50
deflection (mm)
deflection (mm)
95
90
85
80
Column1
Column2
Column3
Column4
Column5
-500 -300 -100
40
30
20
10
100
300
500
-500
-300
Depth (mm)
-100
100
300
Depth (mm)
a) Pane 9-1-2 at 12ms
a) Pane 12-1-2 at 16ms
Figure 4: Deflection contours Fragments
668
500
In order to elaborate the difference in glass failure pattern, pane displacement contours are
presented and analyzed. The high-speed camera image sequences at the tracking matrix on
glass panes are post-processed and interpreted using a tracking algorithm to form the deflections
at each point. Considering pane symmetry, the deflections of the left 5-column are provided. As
shown in Figure 4b, pane 12-1-2 deforms in spherical shape under the blast loading. At 16ms, the
deflections of the glass on Column1 (along window boundary) are around 10mm. The deflections
elevate progressively towards pane central (about 35mm). A clear cone can be observed at pane
central. In comparison, Figure 4a indicates that glass Pane 9-1-2 experiences large deformations
near its boundaries. Pane central area responds relatively slower than its boundary regions. At
12ms, the deflections at the centres of each column are about 87mm; while in comparison the
deflections near the boundaries are over 95mm. These observations indicate that Pane 12-1-2
fails mainly due to flexural mode while Pane 9-1-2 mainly by shear failure mode.
Further evaluation on glass fragments (shown in Figure 5) found that glass pane failed in
spherical pattern (Pane 12-1-2) results in slender glass shards generally with sharp ends. These
are products of shattered glass near the pane centrals. In contrast, almost squared shape large
fragments were found for glass panes failed in planar pattern (Pane 9-1-2). The current
assessment criteria only consider fragment mass and ejecting velocity when evaluating fragment
threats. But apparently jagged glass shards with sharp ends are a lot more threatening than a
squared shard at the same mass and speed. Observation herein concludes that tempered glass
panels failed at different patterns could result in different glass fragments. Spherical failure tends
to produce large jagged fragments, which pose serious threat to residents. Therefore, it is
valuable for personnel protection to investigate monolithic tempered glass failure patterns when it
is subjected to blast loading.
a) Spherical failure
b) Planar failure
Figure 5: Glass fragments from spherical and planar failure modes

To study the contributing factors leading to different failure patterns, Table 2 summaries the
failure patterns and glass pane information including natural frequency T n, crack time tc, and
corresponding blast loading. As can be found, glass pane failure pattern is primarily governed by
the ratio of crack time over natural frequency, which means that larger tc/T n ratio leads to
spherical failure of glass pane, while smaller tc/Tn ratio results in planar failure. The reason
behind is that spherical failure which is flexural response of plate requires longer time for glass
pane to deform. In contrast, planar failure is formed mainly due to direct shear along window
boundaries, where glass panel would not have sufficient time to response but fail directly under
overwhelming blast loading. It should be noted that the glass failure pattern and fragment
geometry should depend on the blast loading conditions, glass type, boundary conditions and
dimensions, etc. The limited testing data herein indicate that when the primary failure mode of the
panel is flexural more generated fragments tend to be sharp, whereas they are more likely to be
squared shape if the failure mode is governed by shear failure at the panel boundaries. More
studies are deemed necessary to derive a general conclusion on the correlations between
fragments geometry and the blast loading and glass panel conditions.
669
Pane
No.
Z
1/3
(m/kg )
Tn
(ms)
tc
(ms)
tc/Tn
Pr
(kPa)
Ir
(kPa ms)
Failure
type
3-1-2
9-1-2
11-1-2
12-1-2
5.71
3.51
5.57
4.18
23.16
23.16
13.90
13.90
2.82
1.30
2.00
3.00
0.12
0.06
0.14
0.22
82.20
219.99
84.69
141.47
413.25
363.86
296.78
459.35
Planar
Planar
Spherical
Spherical
Table 2: Summary of glass failure patterns in different test specifications

3.3 Pressure and impulse analysis
The pressure and impulse (P-I) data for the 10mm panes tested are plotted with the P-I
diagrams generated according to UFC and ASTM standards to check the accuracy of these
8
design guides. Previous blast test results by Weissman et al. are also included in the analysis.
Pr (kPa)
1000
failure
no failure
Weissam et al. 8
ASTM
UFC Pinned
UFC Fixed
100
10
10
100
1000
10000
Ir (kPa ms)
Figure 6: P-I diagrams for 10mm tempered glass with testing data
As shown in Figure 6, as ASTM standard only provides a 3-second equivalent pressure that
glass window can withstand, window frangibility is represented by a straight line which covers
dynamic and quasi-static regions. UFC guide uses SDOF model. The blast resistant capacities
(Pr) of tempered glass at various time durations are incorporated to form the P-I curves. As
shown, the two design standards provide consistent estimations when the damage is flexural
mode governed, i.e., in the quasi-static region of the P-I diagram. Both ASTM and UFC standards
only provide glass vulnerabilities for simply supported panel, which differs from the fully fixed
boundary condition in the current test. Modification is therefore performed. Following the
procedures of UFC3-340-02, a SDOF model is created for monolithic pane with fully fixed
boundary. A non-linear large-deflection model is generated to derive the static resistant function
using ABAQUS. The failure of glass pane is governed by the maximum tensile stress. Plotting the
derived P-I curve into Figure 6, it can be found that the new P-I curve gives closer prediction.
Based on field testing results, Weissman et al. gave empirical glass failure pressures at different
8
time duration . Through comparison it can be observed that the empirical failure criterion by
Weissman et al. fits closely with the derived P-I curve especially in the quasi-static regime. The
new derived P-I curve gives slightly conservative estimation when comparing with the testing data
of the current study. This can be attributed to the following possible reasons: firstly, the assumed
deflection shape for the glass pane is not accurate. As demonstrated above, glass pane could fail
in either spherical or planar pattern. A unified elastic or plastic deflection shape would lead to
inaccuracy in estimation. Moreover the failure criteria of UFC standard may not be accurate. UFC
standard judges pane failure by glass tensile strength. However, recent study found that glass
9
dynamic tensile strength will be amplified considerably under high strain rate loading . The static
failure strength of 110MPa for tempered glass adopted in UFC 3-340-02 is very likely to
underestimate real glass strength by ignoring the dynamic increase effect, which consequentially
leads to a lower estimation of glass window resistance capacity. The ASTM standard gives no
670
general methodology to derive the window capability other than the provided simply supported
boundary conditions. Therefore, no further derivation or comparison is conducted with the ASTM
standard.
4
CONCLUSION
Field blasting tests are conducted to investigate monolithic tempered glass response to blast
loading. The reflected pressures and the pane central deflection histories are presented. The
entire pane displacements are monitored with the tracking matrix by the high-speed camera
images to provide an overview of glass pane deformation and failure pattern. Different glass
failure patterns are observed, which is found to be highly related to the ratio of loading duration
over natural period of glass pane. The accuracy of the design guides UFC and ASTM in
estimating glass window vulnerability are evaluated with the blasting test results as well as
previous testing data. It is found that the design guides may not give very accurate estimations,
especially when the failure of the glass pane occurs in the impulsive region.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to thank Australian Research Council for financial support. Support
from the State Key Laboratory of Science and Technology of Beijing Institute of Technology with
its collaborative research scheme under project number KFJJ11-3 is also acknowledged. The first
author would also like to thank the University of Western Australia for providing Ad Hoc
scholarship.
REFERENCES
[1] X. Zhang, H. Hao, G. Ma, Parametric study of laminated glass window response to blast loads,
Engineering Structures, 56 (2013) 1707-1717.
[2] S. Timoshenko, S. Woinowsky-Krieger, S. Woinowsky, Theory of plates and shells, McGraw-Hill
New York, 1959.
[3] D.M. Moore, Proposed method for determining the thickness of glass in solar collector panels,
NASA STI/Recon Technical Report N, 80 (1980) 24755.
[4] G.E. Meyers, Design Criteria and Preliminary Acceptance Test, DTIC documents available online,
(1984) 153.
[5] UFC 3-340-02, Structures to Resist the Effects of Accidental Explosions, Department of Defense,
United States of America, 2008.
[6] ASTM E1300-09, Standard practice for determining the load resistance of glass in buildings, West
Conshohocken, PA, USA, 2009.
[7] G.E. Meyers, D. Baldwin, P. Mlakar, State of the Art of Blast Resistant Windows, DTIC Document,
available online (1994).
[8] S. Weissman, N. Dobbs, W. Stea, P. Price, Blast Capacity Evaluation of Glass Windows and
Aluminum Window Frames, DTIC Document, available online (1978).
[9] X. Zhang, Y. Zou, H. Hao, X. Li, G. Ma, K. Liu, Laboratory Test on Dynamic Material Properties of
Annealed Float Glass, International Journal of Protective Structures, 3 (2012) 407-430.
671
th
SHEAR PROPERTIES OF ORGANIC ANCHORAGE ADHESIVE

FOR POST-INSTALLED REBAR POST-ELEVATED
TEMPERATURES
Yu Zhang*, , Guo-Biao Lou, Ke-Peng Chen* and Guo-Qiang Li

*
College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University

e-mail: <zhangyu1983xinxin@163.com> webpage: http://www.steelpro.net/Default.aspx
Keywords: Anchorage adhesive, post-installed rebar, shear strength, post-cooling
Abstract. To investigate the effects of temperature on the shear properties of

anchorage adhesive, a series of pull-out tests were carried out postcooling from
elevated temperatures 25 o C , 60 o C , 100 o C , 160 o C ,200 o C , 260 o C , where the
heating process follows the ISO834 curve. Threetypes of commonly used anchor
adhesives were adopted and five tests of specimens are test under each
condition. The pull-out tests focus on the strength-slip relationships of adhesive
post-cooling from elevated temperatures. In the paper, the bond principal and
failure mode between the adhesive bar and the tube are discussed. A threestage or a four stage fitting formulation for strength-slip relationship between the
adhesive bar and the tube are also developed. Based on these, the shear
strength variation curve post-cooling from elevated temperaturesare contrasted.
The investigation result gives the ultimate strength and ultimate carbon point of
the anchorage adhesives which are useful for post strength design and post use
assessment.
1
INTRODUCTION
The post-installed technology originated from Europe and America. It is widely used within
construction industries in a wide range of applications, which vary from new construction projects
[1]
(Fig.1-a), to structure upgrades (Fig.1-b) and infrastructure requalification (Fig.1-c) . In order to use
the new technologyappropriately, the U.S. Certification Institute have established a code entitled
Evaluating the Performance of Post-installed Mechanical Anchors in Concrete (ACI355.2-01) in
[2]
2001 . Europe also suggested a special design code entitled European Techniques of Anchor
[3]
Guideline (ETAG2001)
for anchorage design. There are also some anchorage regulations in the
[4]
building code entitled Requirements for Structural Concrete and Commentary(ACI318-05) , Euro
[5]
Code for the Design of Concrete Structures(EC2-1992-1-1) and Design code for strengthening
[6].
concrete structure, (GB50367-2006)
The code mentioned above only regulate some mechanical
properties of the post-installed technique and the safety situations for anchorage adhesive at ambient
temperature, however none of the regulations consider temperature effects.
______________________________
Department of Building Engineering, Logistics University of PAPF, Tianjin, China
State Key Laboratory for Disaster Reduction in Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
673
Yu Zhang, Guo-Biao Lou, Ke-Peng Chen and Guo-Qiang Li
(a)New Construction Projects (b)Structure Upgrades (c)Infrastructure Requalification

Figure 1: Post-Installed Rebar Connections in Various Projects
[1]
As the fire remains one of the serious potential hazards, temperature effects should be considered
in the post-installed design for safety reasons. At elevated temperatures, the physical and chemical
properties of anchorage adhesiveswould suffer dramatic changes, resulting in the deterioration of the
[7].
mechanical properties which will influences the safety and post use of the whole structure
Generally, there are two types of anchorage adhesive products, namelyorganic anchorage adhesive
[8]
[9]
and non-organic anchorage adhesive . It is shown that organic anchorage adhesive is more
sensitive than inorganic anchorage adhesive when it is exposed to the temperature effects.
[9]
Investigation
has been conducted on the physical, chemical and mechanical properties of
anchorage adhesive. The Shear strength, which is one of the most important assessment parameters
[10]
for anchorage post-install uses, has been investigated by pull-out tests at ambient temperatures and
elevated temperatures[11-15] and the results shown that it decreases rapidly with the rising of the
temperatures. In 'Germany construction anchorage technical manual of fischer' [16], details respect to
fire designare given.
Especially, as the post-disaster reconstruction becomes more and more important, thepost-cooling
properties from elevated temperatures of anchorage adhesive are more important for post use after
elevated temperature disaster and that have never been investigated. To study the shear strength
performance of organic anchorage adhesivepost-cooling from elevated temperatures systematically, a
o
o
o
o
series of pull-out tests post-cooling from elevated temperatures 25 C , 60 C , 100 C , 160 C
o
200 C and 260 C to ambient temperatures are conducted, and the heating procedure follows the
ISO834 curve.Details of the laboratory resources, fabrication of the test specimens, experimental
process and results analysis are presented and discussed in the paper. Mathematical models will be
find to describing the underlying mechanical principles of physical phenomena.
2
EXPERIMENTAL OUTLINES
2.1 Test principle

The tests follow appendix J tensile strength determination method which isdetailed introduced in
[6]
Design Code for Strengthening Concrete Structure, GB50367-2006 , which provides detail
methods and steps of the tests. To study the effects of temperature on shear properties of anchorage
o
adhesive, series of pull-out tests are carried out post-cooling from elevated temperatures 25 C ,
o
60 C , 100 C , 160 C ,200 C , 260 C and the heating procedures follow the ISO834 curve. In the
furnace situation, temperature increases in the adhesive depending on the geometry of the
specimens. The non-uniform heating creates a thermal gradient along the adhesive which modifies
the stress distribution along the adhesive length. The test purpose is to determine the evolution of the
shear properties of anchorage adhesive as the rising of the temperature.
2. 2 Materials and specimens
Three types of organic anchorage adhesive, which are widely used in the present market, FISV360S
injecting anchorage adhesive AA Fig.2-a HM-500injecting epoxy modification anchorage
adhesiveABFig.2-band HIT-RE 500 anchorage adhesiveACFig.2-cwere chosen in
the tests. FISV360S is a styrene-free, quick-curing high-performance hybrid mortar (contains vinyl
ester resin and cement). Resin and cement as well as water and hardener are stored in two separate
chambers and are not mixed or activated until being pushed through the static mixer. Partially-used
cartridges can be easily reused by changing the static mixer. HM-500 injection-type epoxy resin
674
adhesive for rebar chemical anchor is a two-component, 3:1 ratio, high solids, modified epoxy resin
adhesive for use as a high strength, non-shrink anchor grouting material. HIT-RE 500anchorage
adhesive is an odourless epoxy, which is suitable for non-cracked concrete C20/25 to C50/60, dry and
water saturated concrete and diamond core holes et.al.
(a)FIS V360S injecting (b) HM-500 injecting epoxy modification(c) HIT-RE 500 anchorage
anchorage adhesive(AA)anchorage adhesive(AB)adhesive(AC)
Figure 2: Test anchorage adhesives
In the code [15], specimens are composited by ribbed bar and steel screw sleeve. The test
specimens system(Fig.3) is made up of HRB335 with the diameter 12mm, special steel sleeveand
thread rod. The special steel sleeve is made of 45 carbon steel with one-side inner diameter 16mm for
rebar implantation and the planted depth is 36mm. Another-side inner diameter of the sleeve is 24mm
for connecting the steel sleeve and screw rod to fix the specimen into the test equipment. Inner the
sleeve, there being trapezoidal screw depth 0.4m with 4mm each screw pitch. The special steel sleeve
is disposable and the screw rod can be reused.
d1=16
trapezoidal thread
pitch:4,depth:0.4
M24
(standard parts)
12 ribbed bar
L=1800mm
36
sealant joint
65
relief notch
D=26
sleeve
24
standard thread
M24
screw rod
d0=24
(a) sleeve (disposable)
24
(b) thread rod(reusable)
post-embedded bars
(c)specimen system
Figure 3: Dimension and shape of test specimens

2. 3 Laboratory Resources Used
The shear tests were performed on a CHT4106 (MTS Hydraulic Universal Test Platform, Shanghai)
series machine (Fig.4), equipped with a load cell of 1000 kN and instrumented to permit the
acquisition of displacements and loads. The heat tests required the use of a furnace, which could
enable a load test to be carried out inside it. A Y-Feng furnace (Fig.5) was used, providing working
o
o
temperatures ranging from 20 C to 1200 C with a rated voltage, power and current of 380V, 12kW
and 50A separately. The temperature inside the heating chamber of the furnace was monitored using
specially installed thermocouples. The size of the furniture is 300mm by 300mm by 350mm. The
evolution of the internal furnace and test specimens' temperatures during the heat process were
recorded by the data logger.
675
Figure 4: Shape and size of test equipment
Figure 5: Automatic registers of electrode furnace
2. 4 Test process
To study the shear strength of anchorage adhesive post-coolingfrom elevated temperatures, a
serious of specimens (Fig.6) were tested. The specimens were heated by the electric furnace
o
followed standardized ISO834 temperature variation curve.The test temperatures ranged from 25 C
o
to 240 C and five specimens were tested in each condition. The exact test processes were as follows
at first, heated the specimen to the fixed temperature and maintained a constant load, then switched
off the electric furniture andexposed the specimens to the ambient temperature. After cooling to the
ambient temperature, the specimen was tested. Records were made on the furnace and specimen
temperature, slip and the strength.
Figure 6: Maintenance anchorage adhesive specimens

3 EXPERIMENTAL PHENOMENA AND RESULTS
3.1Term introduction
In the entire description, the term ultimate strength represents the maximal uniform pull-out bond
stress that can be reached during the pull-out tests. The term ultimate slip represents the slip length
from the initial to the length when the pull out strength arrived at ultimate strength. The term uniform
ultimate strength represents the uniform of three ultimate strength conditions sourcing from five
specimens' results regardless of a maximum and a minimum result. The term shear strength
represents the maximal uniform tension shear strength that can be reached when increasing the
tensile load applied on the rebar. The term residual bearing capacity (RBC) is the radio of the
ultimate shear strength post-cooling from elevated temperature to it is at ambient temperature.
3.2 Experimental phenomena
As for the post-cooling tests, each of the specimens suffers rebar pull-out fractures and the rebar
dont yield or tensile failure during the test process, which fit the law of the original test design. The
change of the strength with the increase of the slip follows the law at elevated temperatures, but what
is different, there being pa pa sound all over the initial damage stage of the pull-out test. The
strength capacity decreases slightly post-cooling than at elevated temperatures and the ultimate slip is
676
larger than it is at elevated temperatures. What should pay more attention is it has jumping
phenomenon at some temperatures which are caused by carbon of the anchorage adhesive (Figs.7
and 8).
(a)60 C (b) 200 C

Figure 7: Carbon phenomenon of anchorage adhesive AB
post cooling from evevated temperature

30
25
35
ultimate carbon point
15
L
D
25
)(Mpa)
50
30
/(0.8
20
(0.8DL)(Mpa)
(0.8DL)(Mpa)
60
40
20
40
10
15
5
0
50
100
150
200
30
250
50
100
150
200
250
300
50
100
Temperature ( C)
Temperature ( C)
150
200
250
300
Temperature ( C)
aAA bABcAC
Figure 8: Contrast of uniform strength post-cooling from elevated temperatures
Tables1, 2 and 3present ultimate strength of AA specimens post-cooling from elevated temperatures.
Figs.9, 10 and11represent the uniform pull-out strength profiles of AA, AB and AC post- cooling from
various elevated temperatures using the slip-strength relationship by the force sensor of jack. Detailed
description of the pull-out procedure was presented previously in 2.1.4.
Table 1: The ultimate strength of AA specimens post-cooling
Post
temperatur
e
Ultimate strength
specimen
3
Uniform
ultimate
strength
kN
specimen
1
specimen
2
Shear
strength
MPa
Residual
bearing
capacity
25
29.65
30.76
31.54
30.65
21.18
60
22.96
24.45
23.89
23.77
16.43
78%
100
17.35
16.91
16.76
17.00
11.75
55%
160
8.67
8.91
8.73
8.77
6.06
29%
240
15.43
15.38
15.21
15.34
10.60
50%
677
Table 2: The ultimate strength of AB specimens post-cooling

Post
temperatur
e
Ultimate strength
specime
n3
Uniform
ultimate
strength
kN
specime
n1
specime
n2
Shear strength
MPa
Residual
bearing
capacity
25
39.55
40.22
39.81
39.86
27.55
60
36.65
37.21
37.11
36.99
25.56
93%
100
29.82
29.73
29.58
29.71
20.53
75%
160
28.06
27.67
27.73
27.82
19.23
70%
200
15.08
15.45
15.79
15.44
10.67
39%
260
16.08
15.86
16.12
16.02
11.07
40%
Table 3: The ultimate strength of AC specimens post-cooling

Ultimate strength
specimen
1
specimen
2
specimen
3
Uniform ultimate
strength
kN
25
44.86
46.21
45.28
45.45
31.41
60
45.62
43.29
45.49
44.80
30.96
99%
100
48.57
51.02
49.84
49.81
34.43
84%
160
50.46
50.54
50.77
50.59
34.96
101%
260
45.87
45.31
45.11
45.43
31.40
93%
Post
temperature
Shear strength
MPa
Residual
bearing
capacity
AA post-cooling
35
post 25.C
Original data
Fitting moel
post 260 C
30
AB post-cooling
Original data
Fitting model
post 25.C
40
post 60.C
Bond strength(KN)
Bond strength(KN)
post 60.C
25
20
post 100.C
15
10
post 100.C
30
post 160.C
20
post 200.C
post 260.C
10
post 160.C
0
0
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
10
15
S(mm)
Figure 9: Strength-slip curve and fitting models

of AA post-cooling from elevatedtemperatures
20
S (mm)
25
30
35
Figure 10: Strength-slip curve and fitting models

of AB post-cooling from elevated temperatures
AC post-cooling
Original data
Fitting model
50
.
Post 25 C
Bond strength(KN)
40
Post 60.C
30
Post 240 C
.
Post 100 C
20
Post 160.C
10
0
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
S(mm)
Figure 11: Strength-slip curve and fitting models of AC post-cooling from elevated temperatures
678
3.3 Results and discussion

3.3.1 Principles and results analysis
By assuming the uniform distribution of cohesive force along the planted depth, the formula to
[15]
determine the shear strength according to the design code
is expressed as follows:
t =
P
,
0.8 DL
(1)
where t is the shear strength of unit, mPa; P is the ultimate strength of unit, kN; is the
circular constantD is the internal diameter of the steel sleeve measured by mmL is the planted
[6]
length in mm. According to the code , the parameter D is regulated as 16mm and L is regulated
36mm. Based on Eq.(1), when the parameters D and L are fixed, the shear strength of the anchorage
adhesive depends only on the ultimate strength P.
Residual bearing capacity (RBC) is the radio of the tension shear strength post-cooling from elevated
temperatureto it is at ambient temperature expressed as follows:
RBC =
elevated / cooling ambient

ambient
(2)
,
where elevated / cooling is shear strength post-cooling, kN,
ambient is shear strength at ambient temperature,
kN.
o
The ambient temperature of these tests is 25 C . For AA, from Fig.9 and Table1, it can obtained
that RBC is 78%, 55%, 29% and 50% post-cooling. For AB, from Fig.10 and Table 2, it can obtained
o
that RBC is 93%, 75%, 70%, 39% and 40% after cooling from 60 C , 100 C , 160 C , 200 C and
o
240 C .For AC, from Fig.11 and Table3, it can obtained that RBC is 99%, 84%, 101%, and 93% postcooling.
In general, shear strength decreases rapidly at elevated temperatures but rises slightly post-cooling.
AB andAC are more sensitive than AA to temperature effects especially post-cooling. What is funny,
the change law of the sheer strength post-cooling is not linear; it decreases at first, rises slightly then
and decreases again as the rising of the temperature. The reason of the phenomenon is maybe it
reach the carbon point of the organic anchorage adhesive at the jumping points temperatures, which
need further analysis by the chemical and material researchers. In the paper, just named the particular
point 'ultimate carbon strength' whichcan be taken as the 'ultimate bearing strength' for post usedesign
of organic anchorage adhesives' structureafter elevated temperaturedisasters.
3.3.2 Mechanism Model Contrasts (SSM)
Based on the strength-slip curve(Fig.9-Fig.11) gained from experiment results above, the strengthslip relationship model post-cooling from some elevated temperatures can generally be divided into
three stages, i.e. rising stage, analogy yield stage and failure stage,or four stages, i.e. rising stage,
strength stageanalogy yield stage and failure stage. Thus, the theory analysis on the shear strength
of anchorage adhesive post elevated temperatures can adopt three-stage or four-stage model. In the
pre-damage classification, b represents ultimate shear strength of strength stage, s represents
ultimate shear strength of slip stage and d were defined in terms of the ultimate slip of the damage
stage. The fitting formulae and parameters at three stages model are expressed as follows (Fig.12)
/N
/N
s
Analog Yield Stage
Analog Yield Stage
Damage
Stage
b
d
Damage
Stage
Strength
Stage
d
Bond
Stage
Bond
Stage
Sc
Su
St
Sc
S/mm
Figure 12: Three stages strength-slip model

(SSM)
Su
St
S/mm
Figure 13: Four stages strength-slip model

(SSM)
679
A1S
P
=
= A2 + B2 S + C2 S 2
0.8 DL
S
A3 B3
bond
stage
ana log yield

damage
stage ,
(3)
stage
where A1, A2, B2, C2and A3are fitting parameters. The fitting formulae and parameters at four stages
model are expressed as follows(Fig.13)
A1S
P
b
=
=
0.8 DL A2 + B2 S + C2 S 2
A B S
3 3
bond
stage
strength stage
ana log
yield
damage
stage
stage
(4)
where values of fitting parameters A1, A2, B2, C2 and A3 are showed in the following Table 4 to Table 6
in different working conditions. What should pay more attention, there is an extra strength stage at four
stages model which is different from the phenomenon at three stages model, i.e. there is an obvious
long strength stage between the bond stage and slip stage of AC, which means the material of AC is
more strength than any other anchorage adhesives post suffering temperature effects. But the
strength stage in AA and AB are not obvious and can be ignored.
Table 4: The fitting parameters of AAat different temperatures
o
T/ C
A1
7.19
0.99
5.61
5.05
5.04
25
60
100
150
260
A2
-4.41
-3.01
2.61
-2.66
0.63
Parameters
B2
C2
11.29
-0.89
8.31
-0.67
4.35
-0.33
9.75
-2.06
3.83
-1.08
A3
73.98
43.87
36.53
13.07
6.40
B3
0.85
0.86
0.78
0.86
0.79
A3
74.21
107.52
88.03
45.89
123.90
B3
0.85
0.84
0.76
0.80
0.84
Table 5: The fitting parameters of AApost-cooling

o
T/ C
A1
7.18
2.83
4.95
4.45
3.99
25
60
100
150
260
A2
-4.46
-4.21
1.05
1.49
-9.21
Parameters
B2
C2
11.32
-0.90
4.59
-0.16
4.19
-0.25
3.33
-0.11
8.40
-0.37
Table 6: The fitting parameters of ABat different temperatures

o
T/ C
25
60
100
160
260
A1
2.99
4.44
6.03
5.36
5.19
A2
-10.18
0.62
0.79
3.69
-11.93
Parameters
B2
C2
8.79
-0.81
3.36
-0.58
3.64
-1.64
3.98
-0.15
12.59
-0.71
A3
36.82
15.03
4.71
74.84
113.04
B3
0.79
0.66
0.53
0.84
0.85
4 CONCLUSIONS
The paper carried out a series of tests to study the effects of temperature on shear properties of
anchorage adhesive. From the test results and theory analysis, the following conclusions can be
drawn from the investigation:
1Thetension shear strength of anchorage adhesive is sensitive to temperature andthe tension
680
shear strength of organic anchorage adhesive recovery slightly post-cooling than at elevated
temperatures.And the strength of the organic anchorage adhesive at the carbon point can be taken as
ultimate bearingstrength for post usedesign after elevated temperaturedisasters.
2A three-stage or four-stage fitting models are adopted separately for theory analysis on the
shear properties of anchorage adhesive post-coolingfrom elevated temperatures, and the fitting
accuracy is controlled by fitting parameters.
The results of the experiments have good values forpost elevated temperature strength design and
post use assessment.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research is supported by The National Science Foundation for Post-doctoral Scientists of
China with grant number 2014M551451 and The Natural Science Foundation of China with grant
number 51378378, which are gratefully acknowledged.
REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
Basics of post installed rebar connections (2009): 649-713.

ACI355.2-01(2001): Evaluating the performance of post-installed mechanical anchors in
concrete, ACI Provisional Standard.
[3] ETAG2001 (2001) European techniques of anchor guideline, EuropeanStandard.
[4] ACI318-05(2005) Requirements for structural concrete and commentary,ACI Committee 318
Structural Building Code.
[5] EC2-1992-1-1(1992) Design of concrete structures, European Standard.
[6] GB50367-2006(2006) Design code for strengthening concrete structure, China Building Industry
Press.
[7] Adam Cowlard, Adam Bittern, Cecilia Abecassis-Empis, JosTorero(2013) Fire safety design for
tall buildings,The 9thAsia-Oceania Symposium on Fire Science and TechnologyScience Direct,
62: 169-181.
[8] JIANG Chang-Jiu(2013) Experimental study on fire behavior of the inorganically post-installed
rebar connection, master degree thesis, Shandong jian zhu university (in Chinese).
[9] TR023(2006) European: Assessment of post-installed rebar connections. European Organisation
for Technical Approvals.
[10] ZHANG jian-rong, Huang HeJun, Wu Jin, Song Lei, Guo Xiaofei (2006) Study on bond-slip
relationship for shear resistance of adhesive steel bar in metal tube. Structural engineers, 22(3):
72-75 (in Chinese).
[11] LIU Chang-qing, Lu Zhou dao, Zhang xiuqiu, Wang kongfan (2010) Experimental study on
ultimate strength of post-installed rebar subjected to fire,Journal of harbin institute of technology,
42(12):1958-1961 (in Chinese).
[12] ZHANG Xiu-qiu(2008) Experimental study on the tensile capacity of specimens with postinstalled rebar anchorage exposed to fire,master degree thesis, Tongji university in china (in
Chinese).
[13] LI Zhan-hong(2007)Experimental study on the tensile capacity of post installed rebar specimens
under high temperature, master degreedthesis, Tongji university in china (in Chinese).
[14] LI Yu-hang(2013)Experimental study on post-installed rebar connection under high-temperature
and fire-resistance design method, bachelor degree thesis, Tongji university in china(in Chinese).
[15] LIU Chang-qing, Lu Zhou dao, Zhang xiu qiu, Wang kong fan(2010) Experimental study on
ultimate strength of post-installed rebar subjected to fire, Journal of harbin institute of technology,
42(12):1958-1961 (in Chinese).
[16] Technical handbook-Europe (2010)Fixing systems.
681
th
NUMERICAL ANALYSES ON CRACK AND DAMAGE MODES OF

RC STRUCTURAL COMPONENTS TO EXTERNAL LOADS WITH
XFEM
Yuefei Zhang, Qin Fang and Li Chen*
College of Defense Engineering, PLA University of Science and Technology
1, Haifu Xiang, Baixia District, Nanjing 210007, China
e-mail: <Chenli1360@qq.com>
Keywords: Reinforced concrete structure, Crack, Damage, XFEM
Abstract. The extended finite element method (XFEM), proposed in recent years,
is a numerical analysis method for solving discontinuous problems in materials
and structures. The principle of the XFEM consists in enriching the basis of the
classical finite element method by some singular functions around the crack tip
and by a step function along the crack line to take into account the discontinuity of
the displacement field across the crack. It retains all the advantages of traditional
finite element method and solves the difficulties of the discontinuities of the
internal of structure which needs to mesh in traditional finite element method. The
extended finite element method can improve the accuracy and reliability of
calculation on damage modes of structures to kinds of disaster. Because of the
advantages of the XFEM, it becomes the most efficient numerical methods for
solving discontinuous problems. In this paper, the three-dimensional extended
finite element method is applied to calculate the crack propagation and damage
modes of RC beam, combining with the finite element software ABAQUS. Some
theoretical explanation on XFEM was introduced firstly. Fine three-dimensional
FE models of the typical RC beam were built in the ABAQUS environment. The
crack propagation and damages modes on RC structural components under the
stationary and blast loads were analyzed, including the position and propagation
of cracks. The calculated results were compared with the observational tested
data to validate the XFEM analyses. The results reveal that the prediction of
crack path has a higher accuracy based on three-dimensional model of the
XFEM. The XFEM can appropriately predict the failure process and modes of
practical RC structures under the static or dynamic load. It is verified that
application of the XFEM to fracture mechanics can save the computation time and
can obtain higher precision. Because the geometry of crack is independent of the
computational mesh, the method is very attractive and has considerable potential
for problems in the analyses on structural damage and collapse modes subjected
to static and dynamic loads.
1
INTRODUCTION
Compared with steel, wood and masonry structures, due to it in terms of physical and
mechanical properties and material source has many advantages, reinforced concrete structure is
the most widely used and its development is also very fast. In the reinforced concrete structure,
683
Yuefei Zhang, Qin Fang and Li Chen
concrete will be cracked under small tensile stress and with the increase of external load, the
micro-crack of concrete will initiate, propagate, coalesce, until finally lead to reinforced concrete
structure failure. Because of the heterogeneity of concrete, the fracture process of concrete has
become more complex. The domestic and foreign scholars have not been solved the problem that
how to study this complex process from damage and fracture to failure. Currently , the research
on crack of reinforced concrete are summarized through a large number of reinforced concrete
1
beam experiment. Carmona, etc. studied the composite fracture process of the concrete and
reinforced concrete beams, and analyzed the effects of the longitudinal reinforcement, inclined
2
reinforcement and size on the composite fracture process. Yehia studied the bend of the
3
reinforced concrete beam through experiments. Galvez, etc. used asymmetric four-point bending
4
beam with unilateral incision to study mixed mode fracture. Prasad, etc. adopt notched beams
5
with longitudinal reinforcement to study mode fracture. Chen Depei etc. came to the conclusion
that size and span-depth ratio effects on fracture toughness in notched reinforced concrete
component through the test of cracks of reinforced concrete member are analyzed in the fracture.
Based on the test of different reinforcement ratio of reinforced concrete specimens, Zhang
6
Dingguo etc. discussed the relationship between fracture toughness and reinforcement ratio
when concrete with low reinforced ratio, also studied the failure process and characteristics of
reinforced concrete beam. However, experimental research needs to spend a lot of time and
money. Therefore, its necessary to adopt the numerical simulation method to analyze the
fracture process of reinforced concrete components.
The methods are commonly used to numerical simulate the fracture of reinforced concrete
including the finite element method, the numerical manifold method, the boundary element
method, the meshless method, the discrete element methods and so on. Among those methods,
the finite element method is the most mature and the most widely used, but it still has some flaws
7
that use the finite element method to analyze fracture process. G.M.Chen etc. applied concrete
damaged plasticity model to simulate the fracture process of reinforced concrete beams by FRP.
It can only get the crack propagation forecast, but cannot get the crack opening distance.
8
J.M.Sancho etc. used cohesive element to simulate mode fracture of concrete. Compared with
the experimental results, the results of numerical simulation are larger. In addition, the problem of
9
stress locking will appear in the calculation process. Jan ervenka etc. propose a combined
fractureplastic model for concrete and apply it to simulate reinforced concrete and can obtain
the trend of the crack but can't get continuous crack.
For the inadequacies of the finite element method, in 1999, the United States Belytschko
research team came up with a modified finite element method used to deal with discontinuous
10-11
problems. This method is called extended finite element method
. XFEM is under the standard
finite element framework, contiguous area use the standard finite element methods, in the region
of discontinuity, use amended displacement approximation function, and add a description for
discontinuous boundary. With the help of the existing research, on the premise of meeting the
partition unity, it can be better reflect the actual characteristics of continuous functions that
displacement approximation functions is added, it also can improve the precision. In addition, the
level set method or fast-forward law is adopted to describe discontinuity interface, so the
description of the discontinuous interface is independent of the finite element grid in order to
avoid to remeshing in the process of calculation.
In recent years, many scholars have done a lot of research on the fracture of reinforced
12
concrete based on extended finite element method. Dong Yuwen etc. analyzed the concrete
13
gravity dams with initial cracks using the extended finite element method. Fang Xiujun etc.
proposed cohesive crack model based on extended finite element method for simulation of
14
fracture of concrete beam. Zhang Sherong etc. applied extended finite element method to
simulate the fracture process of reinforced concrete gravity dam under earthquake. This article
adopts the extended finite element method and according to reinforced concrete beam
experiment, prefabricates the same initial crack in experiment and considers adhesive slip
between steel bar and concrete. Simulate the process from fracture to failure in reinforced
concrete, and get the path of crack extensions in reinforced concrete, the maximum crack width
and deflection of the beam. The results are compared with existing experimental results. It has a
certain impact on numerical simulation of reinforced concrete structures.
2
THE FUNDAMENTAL OF EXTENDED FINITE ELEMENT METHOD
In order to achieve fracture analysis, extension functions typically include the near crack-tip
asymptotic function (used to simulate the near crack-tip stress singularity) and discontinuous
684
function (used to represent the crack surface displacement jumps).So, the displacement vector
function:
m
u = N i ( x ) ui + N j ( x ) H ( x ) a j + N k ( x ) ( x ) bk
iI
Where,
jJ
kK
(1)
=1
N ( x ) is the common node displacement function, the first term ui is the
corresponding to successive portions of solving displacement in finite element method, the

second term
a j is the enrichment nodal variable, H ( x ) is the discontinuity jump function along
the crack surface, the second term reflects the displacement discontinuity characteristic in the
through crack region, the third term
bk is the enrichment nodal variable, ( x ) is the crack-tip
stress gradual function, reflecting the singularity of crack tip.
H ( x ) and ( x ) are the
enrichment functions. The first term can be used for all the nodes in the model; the second term
only can be used for the nodes of the elements that cut by crack; the third term only can be used
for the nodes of the elements that contain crack tip. I is the set for all of the ordinary nodes, J is
the set for all support or the cracks intercept of the nodes, K is the set for all support or contain
crack tip of the nodes.
Figure 1: Elements With Crack

Adopt step function as enrichment function:
Figure 2: The Local Coordinate System Of Crack
1
H ( x) =
1
if ( x x* ) n 0
(2)
otherwith
x is the point that the shortest distance between x and the

surface of crack, n is the outward normal of at x on the surface of crack.
Where, x is the sample point
In order to simulate cracks tip and improve expression of crack tip domain, crack tip enrichment
function is used to crack tip element. For linear elastic isotropic material, Westergaad function is
10
introduced as enrichment function for crack tip element . Expressed as follows:
685
F ( r , ) = 1 4 = r sin , r cos , r sin sin , r sin cos ,

2
2
2
2
Where,
(3)
( r , ) is the polar coordinate which crack tip as the origin of coordinates, the first term
is discontinuous at the two sides of the crack, the other three terms are continuous.
3
THE THEORY OF CONCRETE DAMAGED PLASTICITY
In the numerical simulation of reinforced concrete structures, concrete constitutive model has an
important effect on analyzing the data of reinforced concrete structures. Concrete constitutive model
mainly express the relationship between stress and strain for concrete at multiaxial stress. Stressstrain curve is constituted with the rise segment and the fall segment, especially the fall segment has
the characteristics that crack gradually extending and elastic softening when unloading and so on.
Damage mechanics theory not only considered that initial crack existing when under no stress, but
also reflected crack extending as a result of the damage accumulating. In ABAQUS, concrete
damaged plasticity model uses isotropic damaged elasticity in combination with isotropic tensile and
compressive plasticity to represent the concrete inelastic behavior. It is designed for applications in
which concrete is subjected to monotonic, cyclic, and dynamic loading.
15
For concrete under uniaxial compression :
nom =
In which
nom
2
1+ ( P P ) 2 ( nom P ) + ( nom P )
(4)
nom is the nominal compressive stress, nom is the nominal compressive strain, P and
are respectively the experimentally determined maximum compressive stress and the
corresponding strain,
was
set to be equal to the elastic modulus of the concrete
were set to be equal to the test value of the cylinder compressive strength
lnpl = ln (1 + nom )
For concrete under uniaxial tensile
16
nom (1 + nom )
Ec , P and P
f c and 0.002 respectively.

(5)
true = nom (1 + nom )
(6)
true = ln (1 + nom )
(7)
wt
( c2
)
w
w
= [1 + (c1 t )3 ]e wcr t (1 + c13 )e ( c2 )
ft
wcr
wcr
wcr = 5.14
Gf
ft
(8)
(9)
wt is the crack opening displacement, wcr is the crack opening displacement when
crack stress or fracture energy completely released, t is the tensile stress, f t is the concrete tensile
Where
strength under uniaxial tension,

a unit area,
4
G F is the fracture energy required to create a stress-free crack over
c1 = 3.0 , c2 = 6.93 .
THE THEORY OF BOND-SLIP
In reinforced concrete structures, the two totally different materials can work together mainly
because of the adhesive stress between steel and concrete, that is, the shear stress on contact
surface. Bond strength between steel bar and concrete mainly consists of friction force,
686
mechanical interaction force, and chemical adhesive force. After the concrete has hardened, steel
and concrete can transfer stress by adhesion stress, so that they have the same deformation
under load.
17
Bond-slip constitutive model references the CEB-FIP , it is calculated using the following
formula:
max ( s s1 )
0 < s s1
max
s1 < s s 2
=
s s2
max ( max f )( s s ) s 2 < s s 3
3
2
s3 < s
f
In this paper,
(10)
s1 = 0.6mm , s2 = 0.6mm , s3 = 1.0mm , = 0.4 , max = 2.0 f ck , f = 0.15 max
.
5
THE FRACTURE CRITERION
There are a lot of criterions to determine whether mixed mode fracture tend to expand, and the
more commonly used are maximum circumferential stress criterion, maximum tangential stress
criterion, strain energy density factor criterion, energy release rate criterion, and so on. There is a
little difference in fracture condition and extended angle that basically are dispersion within the
experimental data, using different guidelines on crack. Therefore all of them can be used, but
maximum circumferential stress criterion is the easiest and most commonly used in engineering.
For this reason, we introduce maximum circumferential stress criterion as mixed mode fracture
criteria. Maximum circumferential stress theory assumes the direction of maximum circumferential
tensile stress intensity factor as the propagation direction of the cracks; Crack expand when
maximum circumferential tensile stress intensity factor reached the threshold which is determined
by the material property. For example, introduce mixed mode fracture problems to indicate the
maximum circumferential stress criterion.
The stress component functions near the crack tip are as following:
r =
1
2 2 r
=
r =
K ( 3 cos ) cos 2 + K ( 3cos 1) sin 2

1
cos K cos 2 K sin

2
2 2
2 r
cos K sin + K ( 3cos 1)

2
2 2 r
(11)
(12)
(13)
When the circumferential stress reaches the maximum, cracks expand along the direction that
is perpendicular to the direction of the circumferential stress. While the radial stress is zero, the
circumferential stress can be considered as the principal stress. Based on this, we can get:
r =
1
cos 0 K sin 0 + K ( 3cos 0 1) = 0
2
2 2 r
(14)
So
K sin 0 + K ( 3cos0 1) = 0
(15)
K
1 K
0 = 2 arctan

+
8
4 K
K

(16)
Solve for
687
Therefore, the cracking criteria:
K max =
Where,
1
cos 0 K (1 + cos 0 ) 3K sin 0 = K c
2
2
K max is the maximum circumferential tensile stress intensity factor, K c is the
circumferential tensile threshold stress,

6
(17)
is the angle of crack expand.
SIMULATIONS, RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
6.1 Reinforced concrete beam with one notch

This numerical simulation is extracted from part of an experimental program aimed at the
1
mixed-mode fracture of a series of reinforced concrete beams with one notch . We are here
concerned with the fracture process and the relationship between load and crack mouth opening
steel
concrete
D(Kg/m)
E(GPa)
7800
2400
174
28.3
0.3
0.2
f y (MPa)
f c (MPa)
f t (MPa)
G f (N/mm)
563
36.3
3.8
0.0434
Note: the diameter of the steel bars is 2.5mm

Table 1: Detail mechanical properties of reinforced beam with one notch
Figure 3: Detail Dimensions Of Reinforced Beam With One Notch

displacement. Relevant mechanical properties, boundary conditions and dimensions are shown in
Table 1 and Figure 3. In this article, we number those beams as DN. Where D represents size of
beams, N represents number of longitudinal bars. We simulate small (S, D=75mm), medium (M,
D=150mm) and large (L, D=300mm) specimens reinforced concrete beam with some different
ratios. The width of all beams are same as 50mm. Concrete is modeled using the C3D8R
element that size is 0.05D0.05D5mm and steel is modeled using the T3D2 element that size is
0.05D in ABAQUS. The bond behavior between steel and concrete is modeled using the
Embedded command. The bilinear model and concrete damage plasticity model are adopted to
reflect the characterization of steel and concrete, respectively. We set up a plane as the initial
crack that is 50mm in wide and 0.33D in high. According to Assembly command in ABAQUS, the
plane is embedded at the bottom of the beam. We introduce maximum circumferential stress
criterion as the fracture criterion and linear energy-based damaged evolution model. In order to
reduce stress concentration, we set up some cushion blocks at loading point and supporter. We
use displacement load at loading point and restrain x, y, z direction at left supporter and y, z
direction at right supporter.
688
Regarding
egarding the crack path, a comparison with experimental results is shown in Figure 4-6. The
results of numerical simulation have an excellent agreement. However, it is worth mentioning that
only the initial crack expands.. For
or example, there is one crack appearing at mid-span in the
fracture process of L8. This
his is expected, as our method appoints crack location at the beginning,
so the new crack will not appear in fracture process. According
ccording to the results of concrete beams
Figure 4: Crack Paths Of

O S Series
Figure 5: Crack Paths

aths Of M Series
Figure 6: Crack Paths Of L Series

like S0, M0 and L0, we can find that the crack paths appear like a straight line in accordance with
model fracture under combined shear and bending. This
his is primarily due to the fact that the
tensile strength and shear strength of concrete are weak result in the crack path is biased toward
loading point at a small angle. While
hile the results of reinforced concrete beams indicate that
longitudinal barss work as soon as the beam starts to be loaded and subject more and more shear
stress with the increase of the reinforced ratios. The trajectory of the crack more and more
presents the characteristics of model fracture. The crack tip final position is becoming more
and more close to the loading point, too. In this article, the crack paths for different beam sizes
but the same reinforced ratio are similar. All of the beams broke by reason of the propagation of
the mixed-mode crack.
689
S10 XFEM
S20 XFEM
S10 XFEM
S10 TEST
S20 XFEM
S20 TEST
S10 TEST
S20 TEST
P(KN)
P(KN)
0
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
0.00
0.05
0.10
0.15
(mm)
0.20
0.25
0.30
CMOD(mm)
Figure 7: The Load-Deflection And The Load-CMOD Curve Of S Series
12
10
M10 TEST
M20 TEST
M40 TEST
10
M10 TEST
M20 TEST
M40 TEST
P(KN)
P(KN)
M10 XFEM
M20 XFEM
M40 XFEM
12
M10 XFEM
M20 XFEM
M40 XFEM
0
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
0.00
0.05
0.10
0.15
0.20
0.25
0.30
CMOD(mm)
(mm)
Figure 8: The Load-Deflection And The Load-CMOD Curve Of M Series
24
20
L10 TEST
L20 TEST
L40 TEST
L80 TEST
20
L10 TEST
L20 TEST
L40 TEST
L80 TEST
16
P(KN)
16
P(KN)
L10 XFEM
L20 XFEM
L40 XFEM
L80 XFEM
24
L10 XFEM
L20 XFEM
L40 XFEM
L80 XFEM
12
12
0
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
0.00
(mm)
0.05
0.10
0.15
0.20
0.25
0.30
CMOD(mm)
Figure 9: The Load-Deflection And The Load-CMOD Curve Of L Series

The load-displacement relations and the load-crack mouth opening displacement (CMOD) are
shown in Figure7-9. Although they are not extremely accurate, we can draw conclusions from
these relations. The behaviors of all beams are almost linear up the cracking load. From then on
the cracks of reinforced concrete beams propagate in a slow and relatively stable manner until
the crack tip reaches the top of beam, while the cracks of concrete beams expand in a fast way
and the bearing capacity drops rapidly that demonstrates concrete beam failure belongs to the
typical brittle failure. It also can indicate that the peak load is increased with the amount of
longitudinal bars, the load-displacement curve is roughly linearly increase before the peak load
and bearing capacity drops, but retain a certain bearing capacity that is increased with the
reinforced ratio after the peak load. Due to not using the bond-slip theory in this situation, the
numerical results are mostly bigger than the experimental results. However, with the reinforced
ratio increasing, the effect of the bond-slip theory is becoming not obviously, like the same
reinforced ratio as 0.26% (S20, M40, L80).
690
6.2 Reinforced concrete beam with notches

18
Lu Chunhua, etc. studied the cracking of reinforced concrete beams and analyzed the
different types of reinforcement ratios effect on the fracture process. This study references his
test L1-B shown as Figure 10 to establish numerical models. The parameters of concrete and
steel are shown in the Table 2.
In this study, the concrete is modeled using the three-dimensional eight-node reduced
integration element C3D8R. the concrete is assumed to be concrete damage plastic. The size of
concrete element is 30mm30mm30mm. The steel is modeled using the truss element T3D2.
The steel is assumed to be elastic-perfectly plastic. The size of steel element is 30mm. The bond
behavior between the longitudinal bars and concrete is modeled using the spring elements in
ABAQUS. Here, we consider the bond-slip effects on the crack mouth opening displacement. We
set three spring elements at common-nodes of the concrete and longitudinal bars elements to
respectively represent cohesive force between concrete and steel on the x, y, and z direction.
Because of the longitudinal bars will slip along the longitudinal direction, the spring stiffness of
the x direction is established by the bond-slip constitutive model mentioned above. The rests
directions have no slip due to the constraint of the concrete, so the spring stiffness is infinite and
set as 1e18 n/mm. However, it is not significant to consider the bond-slip between concrete and
the rest bars. We use Embedded command in ABAQUS to define the interaction between stirrups
and concrete or erection bars and concrete. We set up a series of plane as the initial cracks
those are the same as 150mm in wide and 30mm in high. According to Assembly command in
ABAQUS, the plane is embedded at the bottom of the beam. We introduce maximum
circumferential stress criterion as the fracture criterion and linear energy-based damaged
evolution model. In order to reduce stress concentration, we set up some cushion blocks at
loading point and supporter. We use force load at loading point and restrain x, y, z direction at left
supporter and y, z direction at right supporter.
L1-B
D(Kg/m)
E(GPa)
HRB500
HRB235
C30
7800
7800
2400
210
210
31.5
0.3
0.3
0.2
f y (MPa)
f c (MPa)
f t (MPa)
G f (N/mm)
583
235
22.54
2.14
0.12
Table 2: Detail mechanical properties of reinforced beam with notches
Figure 10: Detail Dimensions Of Reinforced Beam With Notches

The crack propagation process can be understood with the help of Figure 11. The XFEM
simulation shows that the prefabricated cracks are not cracking when the concrete tensile stress
in the tension zone does not reach the maximum tensile stress. As the load increases, these
prefabricated flexural cracks begin to propagate upwards. When the trajectory of flexural cracks
reaches a certain position, the other prefabricated cracks start to expand with increasing crack
widths and the cracks gradually become curved towards the loading points, and the most part of
tension concrete is out of work, the longitudinal steels subject more and more load but they are
not yield; The part of compression concrete comes to plasticity more obviously. The flexural
cracks conform to model fracture and the others conform to mixed-mode fracture. The
prefabricated cracking process in general agrees well with experimental observations.
691
Figure 11: The Cracking Process Of Reinforced Beam With Notches

N
Figure 12 illustrates the bond-slip theory has an effect on the crack mouth opening
displacement (CMOD). Itt can be seen that the test CMOD is bigger than the one that using the
strong bond assumption, but is smaller than the one that the bond-slip
slip theory is considered. The
reasonss are that: when using the strong bond assumption, we ignore the relative displacement
between concrete and longitudinal bars. Compared with experiment,, the bond force between
longitudinal bars and their surrounding concrete is stronger and limits the cracks propagating; On
the other hand, we confine the number of prefabricated cracks that not agree with the test result.
In fact, there are a lot of micro-cracks
micro
which are not considered. So
o the CMOD of prefabricated
cracks is bigger than the truth.
0.08
0.07
CMOD(mm)
0.06
0.05
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01
0
the strong
bond
the bond-slip
test
moment
Note: M is the bending moment and Mu is the ultimate bending moment.
Figure 12: The Average CMOD At Load About
bout M/Mu=0.4
6.3 Reinforced
einforced concrete beam under blast load
A series of tests on reinforced beams under blast load carried out by our team are used for
validating finite element models to simulate the fracture process of reinforced beams. Test beam
B82 is modeled in this study because its crack pattern is
is available for comparison. The beam B82
was clamped and tested under a blast load. It had a length of 2500mm and a cross-section
cross
of
200mm200mm. It was reinforced with two HRB335 steel with total nominal cross-sectional
cross
area
of 628 mm2 at an effective depth
depth of 180 mm. The beam was reinforced with stirrups that were
HRB235 with a cross-section
section of 50.3 mm2. For simulation, we use CPS4R element to model
concrete and T2D2 element to model steel in ABAQUS. To initiate cracks growth, four initial
cracks are placed
ed at the bottom of beam. We allow the cracks to expand only from the four
notches, although there are lots of micro-cracks
micro cracks that we cannot observe. We introduce maximum
692
circumferential stress criterion as the fracture criterion and linear energy-based damaged
evolution model. Here, the bod-slip theory and concrete damaged plasticity are neglected.
The concrete is modeled as elastic while the steel is modeled as elastic-perfectly plastic. The
concrete material properties are chosen as: mass density is 2400 kg/m3; Youngs modulus is
34.5 Gpa; Poissons ratio is 0.2; The dynamic tensile strength is assumed as 25Mpa; Fracture
energy is 0.16 N/m. and the steel material properties are chosen as: mass density is 7800 kg/m3;
Youngs modulus is 206 Gpa; Poissons ratio is 0.3; The yield strength is 466.7Mpa for
longitudinal bars and 483.5Mpa for stirrups.
Figure 13: Detail dimensions of B82

25
P1 in test
P2 in test
P1 in XFEM
P2 in XFEM
20
P/MPa
15
10
5
0
-5
0.0000 0.0002 0.0004 0.0006 0.0008 0.0010 0.0012 0.0014 0.0016
t/s
Figure 14: The explosion load in test and simulation
Figure 15: The test cracks pattern observed for B82 under explosion load
It cannot reproduce the explosive wave that results from explosion in air in ABAQUS. We load
the explosion load directly on the top of the beam to simulate explosion load. The explosion load
fall quickly with the increase of distance, so it is not uniformly distributed load. According to the
test, the load condition at the part that 760mm length at min-span is chosen to be the same as
the load P2 in Figure14 and the other parts as the load P1 in Figure 14.
Figure 15 shows the test crack pattern and Figure 16 shows the simulation result. Based on
the numerical result and its comparison with the test, it is obvious that the cracks pattern is
similar. In the fracture process under the explosion load, the crack mouth opening displacement
is increased rapidly, but the initial cracks do not propagate. After the explosive wave unloading,
the crack mouth opening displacement is fallen fast but then rise rapidly in a very short period of
time and the initial cracks expand. The performance of explosion cracks propagation conform
693
with the unloading destroyed,, even act as a dominant role in the destruction process of the
explosion crack.
Figure 16: The cracks pattern for B82 under explosion load in XFEM
7
CONCLUSION
In
n this paper, the extended finite element method is applied to model mixed-mode
mixed
crack
propagation in reinforced concrete. We consider the effects of the bond-slip theory and concrete
damaged plasticity and analyze the fracture process of reinforced beams with
w
one notch or
notches. Due
ue to the merit of XFEM, the crack paths can expand independently of the mesh. This
method does not need remeshing to model arbitrarily growing cracks and can improve
i
the
computational efficiency. The
he numerical results show that the crack mouth opening displacement
can be affected by the bond-slip
slip theory and the concrete damaged plasticity
ity model. This method
can get some resultss that hard to get in test. Both
oth static and dynamic examples show pleasing
accordance with the experiment observation.
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Glvez J C, Elices M, Guinea G V, et al. Mixed mode fracture of concrete under proportional and
nonproportional loading. International Journal of Fracture (1998).
Prasada M V K V, Krishnamoorthy C S. Computational
Computational model for discrete crack growth in plain
and reinforced concrete. Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering (2002).
Chen Depei, Xu Daoyuan, Xiang Zhenxian. Fracture toughness of reinforced concrete members.
Journal of Hohai University (1988).
Zhang Dingguo, Xu Daoyuan, Zhou Xiangui. Variation of fracture toughness of concrete with low
percentage of reinforcement. Journal of Hohai University (1990).
Chen G M, Chen J F, Teng J G. On the finite element modelling of RC beams shearstrengthened with FRP. Construction and Building Materials (2012).
Sancho J M, Planas J, Cendn D A, et al. An embedded crack model for finite element analysis
of concrete fracture. Engineering Fracture Mechanics (2007).
ervenka J, Papanikolaou
aou V K. Three dimensional combined fractureplastic
fracture plastic material model for
concrete. International Journal of Plasticity (2008).
Dolbow J, Belytschko T. A finite element method for crack growth without remeshing. Int. J.
Numer. Meth. Engng (1999)).
Belytschko
elytschko T, Black T. Elastic crack growth in finite elements with minimal remeshing.
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XFEM. Journal of Chongqing Jiaotong University (Natural Science) (2007).
FANG X, JIN F, WANG J. Simulation of mixed-mode
mixed mode fracture of concrete using extended finite
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Zhang S, Wang G, Yu X. Seismic cracking analysis of concrete
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using the extended finite element method[J]. Engineering Structures (2013).
Saenz Lp. Discussion of equation for the stress-strain
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Krishan, s. ACI J (1964).
Hordijk DA. Local approach to fatigue of concrete. PhD Thesis, Delft University of Technology
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FIP Model Code 90. London, UK: Thomas Telford Ltd (1993)).
CEB-FIP. CEB-FIP
LU C, JIN W, JIANG A, et al. Numerical analysis for crack width of reinforced concrete beam with
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slip effect. Journal of Central South University (Science and Technology) (2011).
694
th
SAFETY ASSESSMENT OF UNDERGROUND FACILITIES IN ROCK

MASS SUBJECTED TO SHOCK LOAD
Hongyuan Zhou, Zhiye Zhao* and Xiaojuan Wang
*
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University,

639798 Singapore, Singapore
e-mail: <czzhao@ntu.edu.sg>
Keywords: Underground facilities, shock load, rock mass, stress wave propagation,
safety
Abstract. Deep caverns and tunnels in rock mass were considered safe as rock
is hard and strong as well as shock wave attenuates quickly in naturally occurring
joints. With the development of explosive and penetration capacity of weapons,
confined explosions in rock mass give rise to threat to such underground facilities.
Therefore the safety of underground facilities should be re-assessed. The present
study investigates the safety of typical underground facilities subjected to
confined explosion in shallow rock mass. Discrete element method is combined
with hydrocode ANSYS AUTODYN to simulate the response and damage of
underground facilities. Factors affecting the shock load transmitting in rock mass
and underground facility damage are discussed.
1
INTRODUCTION
When subjected to blast loads, underground facilities provide excellent shelters for their
habitants since they are difficult to locate and relatively safe when explosion occurs in air or
ground surface, where the released energy is not fully coupled to the geo-media. In early years,
underground structures both in soil and in rock were generally considered safe. With the
development of penetration technology over the decades, fully coupled explosions in rock mass
by penetration weapons are realized, which gives rise to great threats to underground facilities.
The response of underground structures subjected to dynamic loading has long been a topic
of interest in protective engineering. When an underground detonation occurs, a shock wave is
generated propagating in all directions in geo-media such as soil and rock and attenuating rapidly
with increasing distance from the charge center. When the distance is relatively short, the
underground facilities may sustain damage due to strong ground shock.
On one hand, generally, the rock caverns are built relatively deep below the ground surface,
which are generally safe subjected to an air or surface blast due to the weak coupling between
the blast and rock mass in which the shock propagates. On the other hand, the naturally existing
joints in rock mass provide strong screening for rock-transmitted ground shocks since the
discontinuities, together with the infill, significantly attenuates high-frequency stress wave.
In the present study, the stability and potential damage of certain underground facilities such
as rock caverns and tunnels subjected to confined explosion in rock is of interest and
investigated, illustrated in Figure 1.
______________________________
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National University of Singapore

695
Hongyuan Zhou, Zhiye Zhao and Xiaojuan Wang
Figure 1: Illustration of an underground structure in rock mass subjected to confined

detonation generated ground shock
While the influence of the covering soil on the underground facilities behavior may be
negligible, the layer of covering soil is not considered in the present study. Due to the complexity
and unique discontinuous features of the rock mass, discrete element method (DEM) code UDEC
is applied.
2
MODELING AND APPROACH
With the DEM-based code UDEC, the response and damage of a rock cavern (or tunnel)
subjected to a ground shock are investigated.
2.1 Model geometry
The rock cavern of interest with a horseshoe shape, is simplified into a two-dimensional model
in plane strain manner, whose cross-section is shown in Figure 2. The cavern horizontal span is
30 m while both the side wall and dome height are 6 m.
In the real world, such cavern is in a depth roughly 30 to 50 m below the rock surface. The
rock mass surrounding the excavated cavern can be considered infinitely large. In numerical
model, on one hand, the model cannot be too large, otherwise the computation is too timeconsuming; on the other hand, the dimension of the numerical model cannot be too small,
otherwise the model boundary may have remarkable influence on the simulation results. To
address these issues and balance the tradeoffs, a numerical model of medium size is
established, whose dimensions are illustrated in Figure 2. The model is 180 m in horizontal
direction and 87 m in vertical direction, which satisfies the empirical requirement that the
dimension of the numerical model should be at least 4 to 5 times that of the excavated cavern to
minimize the influence of the boundary and at the same time, keeps the numerical model in a
1
manageable size . The distance between the cavern floor and the model bottom is 30 m while
that between the dome ceiling and the model top is 45 m.
Figure 2: Geometry of the numerical model
696
2.2 Boundary condition

Two types of boundary conditions are used in different calculation stages.
Initially, in the first stage, to calculate the in-situ stress field induced by gravity, the horizontal
movement of both side walls and the vertical movement of the bottom are set zero. The top
surface of the model is free, without any confinement. In so doing, when the gravitation
acceleration is applied to the whole model, every part of the rock mass will deform from the stress
free state to achieve a new equilibrium, in whose process the stress re-distributes and the in-situ
stress due to gravitation develops within the rock mass.
In the second stage, when the shock load propagates in the rock mass, there should be no
reflection at the artificial boundary of the numerical model. Therefore in this phase the boundary
is modeled as viscous boundary or non-reflective boundary. When stress wave propagating in
rock mass encounters this boundary, there will be no reflection, as if the wave goes through the
boundary and transmits to further region.
2.3 In-situ rock stress
Theoretically, if the static and dynamic behaviors of rock mass are elastic, according to the
superposition principle, the initially existing in-situ stress in rock mass and the propagation of
stress wave in rock mass are independent of each other, which implies that the in-situ rock stress
has no effect on the stress wave propagation in rock mass no matter the in-situ stress is low or
high. Then in the numerical simulation of the disturbance propagation, the in-situ stress field can
be completely neglected.
If the response of rock mass subjected to either static or dynamic load is inelastic, the
superposition rule no longer holds. As a consequence, the in-situ stress must be accounted for to
achieve a reasonable simulation.
In the present study, the in-situ stress is calculated as the stress within rock mass due to
gravity and confinement. The in-situ stress induced by tectonic movement is not considered.
2.4 Property of rock mass
Typical parameters of intact granite and joints, shown in Table 1 and Table 2, are used in the
model.
Table 1: Properties of intact granite
3
Density (kg/m )
Bulk modulus (GPa)
Shear modulus (GPa)
Cohesion (MPa)
Friction angle ()
Tensile strength (MPa)
2620
68.7
37.3
25
50
15
Table 2: Properties of rock joints

Joint condition
Natural and dry
Cohesion (MPa)
6
Friction angle ()
30
In addition to the physical parameters of joints in Table 2, stiffness of the normal spring and
shear spring of the contact in numerical model should also be specified to facilitate the
computation. The stiffness of the normal spring is 50 GPa and that of the shear spring is 25 GPa.
In the present study, it is assumed that two set of joints naturally occur in rock mass. The
spacing of each joint set is taken as 1 m.
2.5 Load
The load for the rock cavern is the ground shock induced by the confined detonation of
penetration weapon in rock mass. The explosion smashes a layer of rock immediately adjacent to
the detonation and creates a zone of plastic with major cracks. Then the shock propagates in
2, 3
further elastic region .
Of particular interest is the shock propagation in jointed rock mass and its interaction with the
cavern, while the confined explosion and smashed zone/plastic zone are not considered. In the
697
present study, it is assumed that the elastic zone for the confined explosion is a hemi-sphere on
the rock surface, as illustrated in Figure 3. There are two major steps for applying the load:
Figure 3: Illustration of load on the elastic zone boundary (not to scale)

Step I: Estimate time history of the rock particle velocity
Firstly ANSYS AUTODYN is employed to estimate the time history of the rock particle velocity
in the elastic zone. The rock mass is modeled as a square of 30 m by 30 m while high explosive
TNT is modeled as a circular zone in the center, with diameter 1 m. Due to the symmetry in both
the horizontal and vertical directions, one quarter of the model is analyzed, shown in Figure 4.
The rock mass is assumed continuous and linearly elastic. And there is no gap between the
explosive (the quarter circle) and the rock mass (the rest of the region). The
velocity/displacement of the left and bottom boundary is set as zero in horizontal and vertical
surface, respectively. The top and right boundary is set to be transmitting boundary or viscous
boundary, where no reflection will be generated when the waves encounter these boundaries.
A gauge is set in the location (10 m, 0 m) to record the time history of the rock particle
velocity.
In fact, either the stress time history or the particle velocity time history can be used as input
for further computation with UDEC. Even the displacement and acceleration time history can also
be used. On one hand, the velocity time history is naturally and directly obtained by dividing the
stress time history by the acoustic impedance of the rock, which is defined as the product of the
density and acoustic velocity. On the other hand, displacement and acceleration needs numerical
integration and derivation from the velocity respectively, in whose process error will be inevitably
introduced. To maximize the accuracy, the velocity time history of the rock particle is a
reasonable choice.
Figure 4: Calculate the time history of the particle velocity in the elastic zone (the solid quarter
circle is filled with TNT and the other zone is the equivalent rock mass)
It is worth noting that this procedure is only a rough estimation of the stress wave transmitting
into the elastic zone, where the smashed zone and the plastic zone with major cracks are not
698
incorporated. As the equivalent rock is assumed linearly elastic, it never fails. Therefore the
amplitude of the velocity time history of rock particle is remarkably over-estimated, as the
smashed and plastic zones taking a large amount of energy is not considered and only elastic
wave is modeled. This issue is addressed by combining the peak particle velocity corresponding
to the rock elastic limit and the size of plastic zone (in fact the boundary between the plastic and
elastic zones). According to the rule of thumb in engineering practice, the size of plastic zone in
hard rocks can be roughly taken as the cubic root of the TNT equivalent charge weight (in
imperial unit system). Therefore assume the penetration weapon carrying 1000 kg TNT and
detonating with full coupling in granite, the outer boundary of the plastic zone is 3.97 m, taken as
4 m. In addition, most rocks are plastically damaged with peak particle velocity of 0.7-1.0 m/s. In
the present study, 0.95 m/s is chosen as the threshold of peak particle velocity for rock plastic
damage while the duration and fluctuation pattern remain the same as that computed with
AUTODYN, shown in Figure 5. In fact, this loading history is achieved by reducing the peak
particle velocity to the rock elastic limit while keeping the history variation unchanged, which
leads to a conservative prediction, safer in engineering practice.
1.0
0.8
v (m/s)
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
-0.2
0.000
0.001
0.002
0.003
0.004
0.005
0.006
t (s)
Figure 5: Modified particle velocity time history of the boundary between elastic/plastic zones
Step II: Apply the particle velocity time history to UDEC
With the slightly over-estimated rock particle velocity time history, the DEM-based code UDEC
is employed to investigate the stability of the cavern. In UDEC, this velocity time history is applied
as a velocity boundary condition. As stated in the preceding step, the amplitudes of the time
history in every point of the hemi-spherical crater are exactly the same.
In UDEC, the hemi-sphere crater boundary is equally divided into 100 pieces. In each node,
the component of the velocity time history in horizontal and vertical directions are separately
applied, which are obtained by multiplying the resultant time history by direction cosine.
In computational mechanics, it is widely accepted that to effectively capture the stress wave
propagation in certain media, the time step should be taken as less than one half to one eighth
4
the ratio of minimum element size to wave velocity . In the present study, the ratio is chosen as
one twenty-fourth, which ensures the characteristics and effects of the stress wave propagation
to be fully captured.
3
3.1 Results
The numerical model with two joint sets is shown in Figure 6. While one set of the joints is
assumed horizontal, the other set is assumed to be 60 degree counter-clockwise from the
horizontal positive. This rock mass configuration is believed to be relatively weak thus the
prediction should be conservative in engineering practice.
699
Figure 6: Model with two joint sets (0 degree and 60 degree, diameter of plastic zone 4 m)
(a)
(b)
Figure 7: Rock cavern damage after the ground shock: (a) global view; (b) zoomed view
(a)
(b)
Figure 8: Shear displacement between joints: (a) 1 mm to 5 mm; (b) 5 mm to 10 mm
(a)
(b)
Figure 9: Joint opening: (a) 1 mm to 5 mm; (b) 5 mm to 10 mm
While the shock load only lasts for several milliseconds, the calculated time 268 ms (the time
for initial equilibrium calculation is deduced) is believed to be sufficient for assessing the cavern
stability and damage. Two major criteria are used to assess the damage of the cavern: the shear
displacement between joints and joint opening. In UDEC, the shear displacement and joint
opening are better demonstrated with more than one figures otherwise the damage with small
value will not be visible, as UDEC displays the thickness of the damage line proportionately with
predefined thickness as reference.
Figure 7 illustrates the damage zone of the rock cavern. There are some minor shear
displacements and joint openings in the region above the rock cavern. One envelop of the
damaged region is a joint of 60 degree and the other in the right is not asymmetrical. It is
observed, especially from the enlarged local view, that one block in the top left part of the cavern
700
roof falls down. This is possibly caused by tensile wave, induced from the reflection of the
compressive wave at the free surface (the cavern roof). The shear displacement and joint
opening are indicated in Figures 8 and 9.
However, the rock fall is a local behavior. More importantly, the cavern is still stable with no
global collapse when subjected to such an over-estimated dynamic load. The rock fall can be
prevented by installing supports such as rock bolts or cables.
3.2 Discussions
With the same approach, discussions on various aspects are made through altering certain
parameters while keeping the others unchanged. For instance, the cavern damage corresponding
to altered angle of one joint set, is illustrated in Figure 10. It is observed that the damage of the
rock cavern initially increases then decreases with the increasing joint angle from 15 to 90 degree
with an interval of 15 degree.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
Figure 10: Zoomed view of cavern damage with one joint set horizontal and the other: (a) 15
degree; (b) 30 degree; (c) 45 degree; (d) 60 degree; (e) 75 degree; (f) 90 degree
In addition, the spacing of rock joints plays a major role in rock cavern resistance to ground
shock, shown in Figure 11. The larger the spacing, the more resistant to the shock load.
701
(a)
(b)
(c)
Figure 11: Zoomed rock cavern damage with different joint spacing: (a) 0.5 m; (b) 1 m; (c) 2 m
With other parameters possibly influencing the cavern damage discussed, the parametric study
and discussions are summarized:

The cavern damage extent decreases with the distance between the explosion and the
cavern, both horizontally and vertically.
The damage extent of local rock fall significantly depends on the angle of the joint set: it
increases initially then decreases with one increasing joint set angle, while the other
horizontal joint set remains unchanged.
The rock joint spacing plays a major role in determining the cavern damage extent. The
smaller the spacing, the severer the damage.
The damage extent decreases with increasing cohesion and friction angle of rock joints,
respectively, but both effects are not remarkable.
Tensile strength and bulk/shear modulus of intact rock has limited effect on cavern
damage.
3.3 Limitations
Obviously 3-dimensional model provides the most accurate prediction of the underground
facility subjected to a confined explosion in rock. The reason is obvious: even the cavern with a
relatively large dimension ratio can be reasonably simplified as 2-dimensional, the shock load
induced by a confined explosion propagating in rock mass is typically 3-dimensional.
There are pros and cons of 3-dimensional simulation. The major drawback of 3-dimensional
numerical simulation is that it is computationally intensive and very time consuming.
Another drawback of 3-dimensional analysis is probably unique for rock mass related
problems (generally rock mass information cannot be obtained in detail so far): with the
properties of rock mass being not available, too accurate computation becomes meaningless.
5
According to Biggs , it is not reasonable and meaningful if the accuracy of the analysis itself is
higher than the accuracy of the input. The current problem has the similar nature to the
statement.
In fact, in the present study, the 2-dimensional approach over-estimates the damage. First,
while the estimated boundary between the plastic and elastic zone is applied, the model in 2702
dimensional actually delineating a problem in which the loading plane is semi-cylinder with infinite
length in the out-of-plane direction (plane strain assumption), rather than a hemi-sphere. While
the rock mass and cavern are also modeled in 2-dimensional, the load applied is obviously overestimated. Second, the confinement and damage resistance in the out-of-plane direction cannot
be accounted for with 2-dimensional model, which is deficient in mechanism. This confinement
effect, however, does exist in the real world. Both aspects lead to over-estimation of the rock
cavern damage.
Therefore, 3-dimensional simulation is more reasonable in terms of mechanism and will
provide more realistic prediction. In the future, even at a tremendous cost of computation time, at
least several 3-dimensional cases should be investigated.
4
CONCLUSIONS
The safety of underground facilities subjected to confined explosions in shallow rock is

investigated with discrete element method code UDEC. The load to the rock mass is chosen as
particle velocity time history at the boundary between the plastic and elastic zones, which is
computed with the finite different code ANSYS AUTODYN. The time history is input into UDEC
and the shock load propagation in rock mass as well as the rock cavern stability and damage are
simulated. The detailed damage pattern, shear displacement and joint opening are utilized to
quantify the damage. Parametric study of possible factors affecting the cavern damage is
conducted. It is found that the joint set orientation and joint spacing remarkably affect the cavern
damage while the effects of cohesion and friction angle of the rock joints, as well as the tensile
strength and bulk/shear modulus of intact rock on cavern damage are limited.
REFERENCES
[1] Itasca Consulting Group, Universal distinct element code: theory and background, Minneapolis,
Minnesota (2005).
[2] P.P. Roy, Rock blasting effects and operations, AA Balkema Publishers/ Taylor and Francis Group,
Leiden, the Netherlands (2005).
[3] H.K. Kutter and C. Fairhurst, On the fracture process of fracturing, International Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Mining Sciences, 8: 181-202 (1971).
[4] Y.Y. Jiao, S.C. Fan and J. Zhao, Numerical investigation of joint effect on shock wave propagation
in jointed rock masses, Journal of Testing and Evaluation, 33(3): 197-203 (2005).
[5] J.M. Biggs, Introduction to structural dynamics, McGraw-Hill, New York (1964).
703

INDEX OF AUTHORS
Name of Author
Page
Name of Author
Page
Abdel-jawad, Madhat
Abdel-Mooty, Md A. N.
Aboutaha, Riyad
Ahmad, I. R.
Alampalli, Sreenivas
Alhayawei, Sayed A.
Bai, Fengtao
Beppu, Masuhiro
Bermbach, Tim
Brewer,Timothy
Cai, Yong
Chao, Pian
Chen, Gang
Chen, Juntao
Chen, Ke-Peng
Chen, Li
Chen, Suwen
Chen, Wensu
Chen, X. W.
Chen, Xing
Chen, Zhiyi
Chouw, Nawawi
Chung, Steeve Kim Yuen
Clarke, S. D.
Clutter, J. Keith
Crawford, John E.
Cui, Jian
Cui, Yan-Xuan
Davidson, James
Dekoning, Kirsten
Du, Yong
Duan, Zhongdong
El Sayed, Waleed
Elgy, I
Fan, Feng
Fang, Qin
Fay, S. D.
Feng, Ran
Foo , Simon
Gant, M.
387, 431
287, 337
279
201
349
287
297
557
25
11
641
185
369
307
673
683
313
359
599, 605
313
89
1, 221, 237
479
515, 523
323
11
359
165, 173
297
131
251
245
337
515
473
455, 599, 605, 615, 683
515, 523
405
71
515
Gao, Kang
Gebbeken, Norbert
Girault, Gregory
Gong, Z. M.
Graczykowski, Cezary
Gu, Xianglin
Hao, Hong
213, 581
25
479
605
35
229
359, 369, 387,
439, 615, 665
369
599
379
387
35
398
99, 123, 149,
157, 307, 489
99
405
177, 191
359
207, 405
45
287, 337
245
259
505, 623
411
45, 397
59
11
589
455
105, 421, 455
177
259, 313, 447, 673
431
439, 615
447
573
89
xi
Hao, Yifei
He, L. L.
He, Qing-Feng
Hernandez, Francisco
Holnicki-Szulc, Jan
Horiguchi, Toshiyuki
Hu, Haitao
Hu, Haitao
Hu, Hengyang
Hua, Yufen
Huang, Xiaodong
Hughes, Dylan
Huo, Jingsi
Ishikawa, Nobutaka
Issa, Mohamed E.
Jankowski, ukasz
Jiang, Jian
Jiang, Xuelei
Kang, Shaobo
Katsuki, Satoshi
Koh, C. G.
Lan Shengrui
Lee Siew Chin
Li, Zhan
Li, Chen
Li, Guangyao
Li, Guo-Qiang
Li, Jingde
Li, Jun
Li, Liu-Lian
Li, Peng
Li, Yueyang

INDEX OF AUTHORS
Name of Author
Page
Name of Author
Page
Li, Zhibin
Li, Zhong-Xian
Liew, R. J. Y.
Lim, Ellys
Lin, Feng
Liu, J. Z.
Liu, Mei
Liu, Yanhui
Liu, Yao
Liu, Yi-Ren
Liu, Zhao-Ming
Liu, Zhenhui
Liu, Zhongxian
Lou, Guo-Biao
Lu, Guoxing
Lu, Guoyun
Lu, Limin
Lu, Yong
Lu, Yuan
Lu, Yubin
Ma, Guowei
Ma, Jialu
Mizuyama, Takahisa
Mohammed M. Ettouney
Niollet, Jean-Eudes
Nurick, Gerald N.
Ogawa, Atsuhisa
Ou, Feiqi
Ou, Feiqi
Pang, Yutao
Peng, Lizhengli
Qi, Baoxin
Qiu, Jun-Nan
Qu, Hui
Razaqpur, A. G.
Ren, Xin
Rigby, S. E.
Ruan, Dong
Salem, Ossama
Sekua, Krzysztof
573
359, 543, 615
59, 589
221
229
605
267
465
173
379
131
543
615
673
533
185
115
447
207
641
431
473
45
349
479
479
557
123
489
649
495
505, 623
131, 165, 173
405
71
191
515, 523
191
279
35
Shen, Changjian
Shen, Guoyu
Shen, Jianhu
Shi, Yanchao
Shibuya, Hajime
Shu, Dong Wei
Sielicki, Piotr W.
Stahl, Michael W.
Stewart, Mark G.
Su, Yu
Sun, Guangyong
Sun, Zhenyu
Taerwe, Luc
Tan, Kang Hai
Tang, Hai
Tao, Jin
Tay, C. G.
Tyas, A
Ueno, Hironori
Usmani, Asif
Wan, Jun
Wang, Zhongqi
Wang, Fengming
Wang, Hongwei
Wang, Jingyu
Wang, Peijun
Wang, Wenjie
Wang, Xiaojuan
Wang, Xudong
Wang, Yasheng
Wang, Yonghui
Wang, Zhihua
Warren, J. A.
Wei, Jianshu
Wu, Chengqing
Wu, H
Xiang, Hengnbo
Xiao, Jing
Xiao, Wenhao
Xiao, Yan
533
649
191
359, 543
45
201
551
323
73, 495
439, 615
177
655
115, 141
411, 631
229
141
59
515, 523
557
259
565
665
581
573
213, 581
267
237
695
267
573
589
185
515, 523
89
439, 473, 565, 615
599, 605
615
201
149
207
xii

INDEX OF AUTHORS
Name of Author
Page
Name of Author
Page
Xie, Yimin
Xu, Fengxiang
Xu, Juechun
Yan, Meizhu
Yan, Shi
Yan, Xiao
Yang, Bo
Yang, Chang
Yang, Jin
Yang,Shigang
Yi, Wei-Jian
Yu, Shuisheng
Yuan, Juyun
Yuan, Wancheng
Yuan, Xinzhe
Yuan, Yong
Yuan, Yong
Yuan, Yong
191
177
615
105, 421
505, 623
157
631
465
207
455
379
641
157
213, 581, 649
213, 649
99, 115, 123,
131, 141, 149,
157, 165, 173,
Yuan, Yong
Zhai, Ximei
Zhang, Wenxin
Zhang, Qingxia
Zhang, Wenxin
Zhang, Xihong
Zhang, Yadong
Zhang, Yiding
Zhang, Yu
Zhang, Yuqefei
Zhang, Zheshuo
Zhao, Shichun
Zhao, Zhiye
Zhi, Xudong
Zhou, Hongyuan
Zhou, Shiwei
Zhu, Hongbo
307, 489
655
623
245
505
665
455, 615
185
673
683
177
465
695
473
695
191
105, 421
xiii
International Conference on

14 - 15 November 2002, Singapore
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
iii
iv
Table of Contents
List of Papers / Authors
KEYNOTE PAPERS
Engineering and organisational issues related to the World Trade Centre
terrorist attack
M Bruneau, A Whittaker, A Reinhorn, J Berman, G Warn, C Huyck, B Adams
Fire-safety engineering of multi-storey office buildings - a risk perspective

C C Goh and I Bennetts
11
Terrorist threats against the Pentagon

R L Hall and L K Davis
25
Effect of underground explosions in rock on structures

H Langberg
39
A probabilistic approach for protecting people and buildings from terrorist attack
and other hazards
R G Little
49
Simulation for the collapse of WTC after aeroplane impact

X Z Lu and J J Jiang
57
Failure mechanism and retrofit concept of RC piers under impulsive vertical earthquake
A Miyamoto
61
Use of hydrocode modelling techniques to predict loading parameters free air

hemispherical explosive charges
D J Pope and A Tyas
75
Designing for anti-terrorism (Background, criteria and general considerations)

J Smith
83
A Quasi-Static procedure for predicting the deformation and failure of structures

intensed dynamic loadings
H M Wen
xv
101
TECHNICAL PAPERS
Centrifuge modelling of sheet-pile walls for mitigating liquefaction induced deformations
in highway embankments
K Adalier and A Pamuk
113
Centrifuge physical modelling in geotechnical dynamics

K Adalier and M K Sharp
121
Development of simplified hydrological method for dimensioning of storm water detention

basins / ponds
A R Awad and A S Al-Homoud
129
Design and construction of a blast absorbing protective structure

D D Barker and B F Harrison
137
Concrete deterioration due to steel reinforcement corrosion within Madinat Yanbu

Al Sinaiyah, Saudi Arabia
F M O Binsiddiq and V V Cabanting
141
Blast wave mitigation by water wall

M Cheng, Z J Liu, K C Hung and O Y Chong
153
New highly ductile designs for preventing injurious wall debris due to a terrorist bombing
J E Crawford and K B Morrill
159
Collapse analysis using fuzzy-logic

B Faust
167
Displacement response of bridge decks subjected to spatial ground motion and pounding
H Hao and A Deeks
175
Effects of spatial variations of blasting ground motion on dynamic structural response

H Hao
183
Load carrying characteristics of cylindrical shell under cyclic loading

T Hara
191
A challenge for reinforced concrete structures against corrosion

A Keyvani and N Saeki
199
Assessment of blast pressure using cantilevers

A Kulkarni and T S Lok
207
Lifetime reliability evaluation of existing concrete bridges

Y Liu and J R Zhang
215
Probabilistic models for lifetime resistance of reinforced concrete components

Y Liu and J R Zhang
223
Effects of quarry blasting on domestic buildings - a case study

T S Lok
229
Parametric study or RC frame damage under blast-induced ground excitation

Y Lu, S Q Sun, H Hao, YX Zhou and C C Seah
239
Ground shock criteria for underground ammunition storage based on lethality model
C Madshus, F Lvholt and H Langberg
247
xvi
TECHNICAL PAPERS
A rational tool for prediction of ground shock from explosions in rock
C Madshus, B V Vangelsten and H Langberg
255
Fire resistance of OPC and flyash cement mortars

Md A-Al Hassain, Md Kamruzzaman and Md S Hossain
263
Using Delphi technique in assessing fire policy and objectives for educational buildings
Mohd Fadzil bin Mohd Idris
271
Earthquake disasters and seismic design of buildings and structures in Vietnam

Nguyen Dai Minh, Nguyen Dang Bich and Ha Ahn Tu
283
Investigation of the structural damages caused by natural disasters on historical masonry

structures in the Northeastern Anatolia
M zbek and A I Unay
293
Response of RC frames to blast-induced ground motions

T C Pan, C L Lim and R P Dhakal
301
Response prediction of steel plate R C panels exposed to near field explosive loading
using simplified hydrocode models
D J Pope and A Tyas
309
Post Disaster mitigation - relief to human sufferings

A Qadir, M M Rafi and F Batool
317
Investigation of shear key conditions on behaviour of structural joints in precast

concrete structures
A R Rahai and H Safarmardanloo
323
Preventive measures of buildings against natural and man made hazards

M P Salgare
331
Required cover depth for specified service life of flyash blended concrete and normal
concrete exposed to a chloride environment
N Shafiq and I Kamaruddin
337
Designing for life safety in extreme events

F Wainwright and C Gibbons
343
Dynamic response analysis of large-scale field blast tests in rock mass

C Q Wu, Y Lu, H Hao, Y X Zhou and C C Seah
355
Effect of rust on cyclic ductility of steel members

S M Zahrai and M Bruneau
363
Protection of structural collapse of buildings due to fire

E K Mohanraj, P Murthi and S Thirugnanasambandham
371
Index of Authors
ix
xvii
2nd International Conference on

2 3 December 2004, Singapore
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
iii
iv
Table of Contents
KEYNOTE PAPERS
On the coupling of CFD and CSD methodologies for modeling blast-structure interactions
J D Baum*
Emerging technologies for preventing and predicting failures in civil infrastructure

J M W Brownjohn* and G H Tan
11
Design of package handling facilities and associated blast containment structures

J E Crawford* and J M Magallanes
25
Development of anti-ram barrier systems

J E Crawford, S Lan* and K J Best
37
Mechanical and durability model of high performance concrete subjected to high temperature
C E Majorana*, F Pesavento, D Gawin and B A Schrefler
51
Predicted responses of structures subjected to blast and blast-induced phenomena

V A Salomoni*
63
TECHNICAL PAPERS
Ductility of concrete structures
Hisham Abdel-Fattah*, Zaid Al Sa'doon and Osman Ibrahim
73
Selection and adjustment of concrete mix for enhanced sulfuric acid resistance
M N Abou-Zeid* and S A Khedr
79
Evaluation of control building doors against shock overpressures

S Ahmad* and J Iqbal
87
Application of active control technology for hazard mitigation of a deepwater compliant

offshore structure
Syed Khaleeq Ahmad*
95
xix
TECHNICAL PAPERS
Effect of bridge parameters on the natural periods of a suspension bridge
S Al Deen and T Manzur*
105
Heat-exposure and structural response analysis of concrete tunnel lining

R Cajka* and P Mateckova
113
Ductal - An ultra-high performance material for resistance to blasts and aggressive

environments
B Cavill*
119
Seismic vulnerability of irregular buildings

S Chandrasekaran* and U K Tripathi
129
A crack condition evaluation method for the deteriorated girder of r c bridge

Chen Ming-Cheng * and Wang Chung-Yue
139
Development of design tool for blast retrofit design of reinforced concrete columns
J E Crawford and Y Chhabra*
147
Numerical Simulation analysis of explosion damage shapes of RC slab under contact

detonation
Deng Guoqiang*, Dong Jun and Zhang Xiangbai
155
Prediction of long-term performance of corrosion resisting steel in the environment of

west coast of Karnataka (India)
S Devadas Bhat* and B R Samaga
159
Use of stainless steels for structural fasteners subjected to aggressive environments

F Felder*, Paul W Jokiel and Manfred Boretius
165
Effect of acidic waste water on concrete

U Ghani*, K M Khan and A R Ghumman
175
Fundamental study on repair technology of reinforced concrete

D Hanaoka*, S Miyazato and A Moriwake
183
Effect of sectional design parameters on fire resistance of reinforced concrete beams

Hsu Jui-Hiang*, C S Lin and C B Hung
191
Experimental investigation on contactile explosion damage effect to fiber reinforced concrete

slabs with soil bedding cushion
Hu Jinsheng*, Wang Anbao, Dong Jun, Deng Guoqiang and Yang Kezhi
199
Damage assessment of RC tee beams using a non-destructive testing method

C A Jeyasehar and S Thirugnanasambandam*
205
Assessment and repairing techniques for fire damaged concrete structures

K M Khan*, U Ghani, I Hafeez and N Ahmed
213
Tensile failure of concrete subjected to shock loading

T S Lok, Zhang Wanhong* and Lim Chee Hiong
221
Failure mechanism of two huge landslides caused by the heavy rainfall on Kyushu
S Murata* and H Shibuya
231
xx
TECHNICAL PAPERS
The use of hydrocode modelling to determine the alteration of blast waves through
covered trenches
D J Pope*
239
The use of hydrocode modelling to design steel plate protection systems against high
Velocity explosively formed projectiles
D J Pope* and M Greenway-March
247
Risk orientated natural hazard analyses along alpine railway lines

C Rachoy*, M Scheikl and A Henle
255
Assessment of soil eordibility profile - a case study at University Technology MARA, Malaysia
Z A Roslan* and K Nor Farahanim
263
Protection of major installation of Baira Siul Project from Terrorist attacks

A K Sachdeva* and V Salman
269
Subsidence phenomena - the Italian cases

V A Salomoni* and C E Majorana
277
Protection of concrete exposed to elevated temperatures and to direct fire

E S Serag, M N Abou-Zeid*, F H Fahmy and M M Abdel-Razek
285
Numerical investigation of rc beams rehabilitated with ferrocement

A Shahriar* and S Z Bosunia
291
FE modeling scheme to simulate the retrofitting effect of masonry infill with ferrocement
overlay
M Shahria Alam* and K M Amanat
297
Seismic isolation of cable-stayed bridge using laminated rubber bearings

B B Soneji* and R S Jangid
303
Response number analysis of the response of steel panels to near-field blast loading
A Tyas* and D J Pope
311
Aspects on terror attacks on dam constructions

A Vogel*
317
Damage effects of thin concrete slab subjected to projectile impact

X B Zhang*, Dong Jun and Deng GuoQiang
323
The evaluation of a commercial water tank barrier systems for mitigation of explosives
fragmentation and blast
M L Thomson, I Barnes*, D B Thomas and R L Diaper
331
Index of Authors
ix
st
Contents of 1 Conference held in 2002
xi
xxi
3rd International Conference on

28 29 September 2006, Venice, Italy
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
Table of Contents
iii
iv
v
KEYNOTE PAPERS
Critical design risk profiling and control
Ennio Bianchi*
Tunnel design under explosion

Sunghoon Choi* and George Munfakh
15
Impact behavior of new steel check dam under debris flow

N. Ishikawa*, D.Takeuchi and T. Nonaka
31
Weight impact tests on a flexible polyethylene net rock fence

Koji Maegawa*
43
Protection of tunnels against fire hazard

C. E. Majorana* and F.Corsi
51
Robustness against blast of earthquake-resistant r/c buildings

M. Mezzi*
59
Structural design of parabolic-trough solar concentrators steel components against

wind and natural hazards
V.A.L. Salomoni*, G.M. Giannuzzi, C.E. Majorana, A. Miliozzi and D. Nicolini
73
An efficient csd fe scheme for weapon simulations

O. Soto*, J. Baum, E. Mestreau and R. Lohner
81
TECHNICAL PAPERS
Strength and toughness of undulatory-shaped steel wire reinforced concrete
H. Abbasi, S. Abbasi* and A. Shokri Majolan
91
Cyclone resistant design of industrial building roofs

A.K. Ahuja* and S. Singh
99
Interference effects on wind loads on glass cladding of high-rise buildings

R. Ahuja*, S.K. Dalui and S.K. Verma
xxii
105
TECHNICAL PAPERS
Case study of retrofitting and rehabilitating damaged lime silo of NP complex
during explosion at GNFC
C. K. Baxi*
113
Rock bumps due to creation of dislocation during deep mining

V. Dolezel* and P. Prochazka
121
The stability of structures under shakedown load

O. A. Ehigiator* and E. Ufuah
129
Effects of seismic design specification on the performance of buildings:

a comparative study among seismic design codes from 1940 to 2006 in Turkey
Asl Er Akan* and Saadet Toker
139
Introducing FRP composites for reinforcing and stabilizing structures against natural hazards
M. Ghasabi K*, M. Mehdizadeh A, H. Nasseri azar, M. Mohammadi and S. Nanpazi
147
Evaluation of dynamics performance after repair for reinforced concrete beam damaged
by chloride
Daishin Hanaoka*, Shinichi Miyazato and Takashi Habuchi
153
Assessment of corrosion of embedded water mains through electrical resistivity of soils

and prevention
J.M. Kate*
159
Reliability based performance evaluation of ordinary structures in Turkey

A. Korkmaz*
167
Achieving durable structures with controlled permeability formwork (CPF)

Philip McKenna*
175
Evaluation of loads on and analysis of medium rise rc building frames for its safety
under wind loads
J. Prasad* and A. Jeevan
181
Stability of seam face in longwall mining due to a gas blasting

P. Prochazka*
189
Effect of mixing polypropylene fibres on properties of high strength concrete

Liaqat A. Qureshi*, Shehzad Aslam and Jahangeer Munir
197
Salt and wind attack on large adriatic bridges

J. Radic, J. Bleiziffer* and D. Tkalcic
207
Post-war reconstruction of croatia

J. Radic, P. Djukan* and G. Puz
215
Experience from reconstruction of bridges

J. Radic, Z. Zderic and G. Puz*
221
Terrain evaluation and influence of soil-structure interaction on seismic response of

structures in urban environs
S.R.K. Reddy*, K.R.K. Raju, P.A.R.K. Raju and G.C.S. Reddy
229
Ground subsidence control by deep-well special survey system

F. Robotti* and M. Crema
237
xxiii
TECHNICAL PAPERS
Rockfall - falling weight tests on galleries with special cushion layers
K. Schellenberg*, A. Volkwein, A. Roth and T. Vogel
245
Theoretical formulation of an elastic plate subjected to a transverse blast

Kenji Seto* and Taijiro Nonaka
253
Review of existing offshore platform modules for blast loads in the light of current design
and safety recommendations
V Svars* and R Svars
263
Rapid visual inspection of historical churches in Isparta region, Turkey

S. Toker, A. Korkmaz* and H. Hastemoglu
271
Behaviour of conventional stone masonry structure during earthquake

Muhammad Yaqub* and Qasir Zaman Khan
281
Typhoon-induced accumulated fatigue damage evaluation using health monitoring data

Y. Yu*, T.H.T. Chan and Z.X. Li
287
Index of Authors
st
ix
nd
Contents of 1 and 2 Conferences held in 2002 and 2004 respectively
xxiv
xi

23 25 October 2009, Beijing, P.R. China
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword
Acknowledgement
Co-sponsor
Table of Contents
iii
iv
v
vi
vii

Keynote Papers
Behaviours of reinforced concrete beam to concrete filled steel tubular column

frame under fire
Lin-hai Han*, Wei-hua Wang and Tian-yi Song
Blast resistant design of reinforced concrete buildings

from member design to global structural behavior
Bing.Li* and Tso-chien Pan
Fire-resistance of restrained steel components

Guo-qiang Li* and Chao Zhang
21
Upgrading safety in tunnels against fire hazard

C E Majorana*, F Corsi and K Both
39
Ground subsidence risk scenarios in Italy

V A Salomoni
55
Additional strengthening of masonry vaulted structures by nonprestressed reinforcement

Petr tpnek* and Martin Zlmal
63
Using CFRP to strengthen/repair concrete-filled steel tubular columns

Zhong Tao* and Zhi-bin Wang
75
A treatise on the behaviour of concrete filled steel columns subjected to extreme loads
B Uy* and Z Tao
87
Technical Papers
Managing new risks for natural slopes caused by global climate change
Myint-win Bo*, Mike Fabius and K. Fabius
Managing subsidence hazards due to grade raise by applying consolidation theory
Myint-win Bo* and Mike Fabius
xxv
99
109
Technical Papers
Studies on the fire simulation for buildings in a virtual environment

Chi Chen, Zhen Xu, Feng Xu and Aizhu Ren*
117
Specifying proactive reinforcement detailing to prevent errors from design to construction

- an important advance for quality and safety
Stuart Curtis
123
Finite element modelling for concrete-filled double skin steel tubular columns subjected
to long-term loading
Lin-Hai Han*, Yong-Jin Li, Fei-Yu Liao and Zhong Tao
131
Biaxial tensile-compressive behavior of plain high-strength and high-performance concrete

before and after high temperatures
Zhen-jun He* and Yu-pu Song
137
Effect of connection details on the response of steel single plate connections in fire
G Hu* and M D Engelhardt
149
(viiiExperimental study on impact behaviour of concrete after exposure to high temperatures

Jing-si Huo*, Li-ping Xiao, Bai-sheng Cheng and Yan Xiao
157
Distribution methods for damping coefficients of seismic viscous dampers to buildings

Jenn-Shin Hwang*, Wang-Chuen Lin, Nian-Juan Wu and Wen-I Liao
165
Sloshing phenomena of oil tank

R Ishida* and T Hara
173
Damage propagation in reinforced concrete frames under external blast loading

Ruwan Jayasooriya*, David Thambiratnam, Nimal Perera and Vladis Kosse
181
Dynamic mechanical performance of concrete at elevated temperatures

B Jia*, J LTao, Z L Li and R H Wang
189
Study of design parameters for proposed Kohat Tunnel-II project

Shaukat Ali Khan*, Nawaz ud Din and Noor Mohammad
195
Study of acid attack on structural foundations and supporting soil in chemical industries 203
Shaukat Ali Khan and Naeem Aahmad
Developing operating manual of disasters management standards for
central administration offices
Mujun Kim* and Kyehyun Kim
211
Impact dynamic compressive testing and mechanical behavior of cement mortar

under high temperature
Kui Li* and Jun-lin Tao
217
Mathematical framework for seismic vulnerability assessment

Quanwang Li* and Kunbo Wang
225
xxvi
Technical Papers
Investigation of spherical vs cylindrical charge shape effects on in-tunnel airblast

Xiu-di Li* and Lun-hai Huang
233
Protection of aged cement clinker silo against high impact and high temperature discharge
Boon-kok Lim* and Lian-wai Chen
239
Design of planter-box as anti-ram barriers to resist vehicle bomb

Chunlin Liu*, Guoqiang Li, Jianyun Sun and T S Lok
245
Advanced elastomeric materials: concepts for infrastructure protection

Chunlin Liu* and David Palermo
255
Elastomeric catcher systems for architectural protection against explosive events

Chunlin Liu* and Kent M Young
265
Numerical simulation of a subway station structure subjected to terrorism bombing

Jingbo Liu* and Qiushi Yan
271
Application of evacuation modeling in fire safety design

Junfeng Liu* and Weifeng Yuan
279
The dynamic identification of the bell tower

Mikolaj Malesza*, Tadeusz Chyzy and Czeslaw Miedzialowski
287
Degradation in time and strength analysis of selected concrete structures

Czeslaw Miedzialowski* and Mikolaj Malesza
295
Estimating recovery cost of natural disaster damages using high resolution images
Gibeom Nam*, Kyehyun Kim and Taehoon Kim
303
Numerical analysis of circular concrete-filled steel tube specimen under lateral impact
Hai-yan Qu*, Guo-qiang Li, Jian-yun Sun and Su-wen Chen
309
Experimental test on hysteretic behaviour of tubular joints with chord reinforcement

under cyclic loading
Y B Shao*, T Li, Y F Jin and Y S Yue
319
Hysteretic analysis of a full-scale square tubular t-joints under axial cyclic loading
Y B Shao*, T Li, Y F Jin and Y S Yue
325
Influence of structural parameters to the seismic collapse resistance of rc frames

in 7-degree seismic fortification zone
Dai-yuan Tang*, Xin-zheng Lu, Lie-ping Ye and Wei Shi
331
A sulfate attack investigation on lining concrete of an actual railway tunnel

in Southwest China
Xu-guang Tang*, You-jun Xie and Guang-cheng Long
339
xxvii
Technical Papers
Impact response and parametric studies of reinforced concrete circular columns

H M I Thilakarathna*, D P Thambiratnam, M Dhanasekar and N J Perera
347
Investigation destructive characteristic and damage mechanism of reinforced concrete

frames to the Wenchuanm 8.0 earthquake
R H Wang*, B Jia, Y Zhang and Y Yao
355
Numerical simulation of dynamic responding of building column under cumulative

blast loading
Wei Wang*, Fang-yun Lu, Duo Zhang, Hua-lin Lin, Dong-li Kang
359
Research on the behavior of composite frame with cfst columns and steel beam after
exposure to fire
Wenda Wang* and Pengpeng Zhang
367
Development of a failure criterion for unreiforced concrete masonry unit walls

Youcai Wu*, John E Crawford and Kenneth B Morrill
375
A simplified method for calculating fire behaviour of large space steel structures
Fan Yang*, Jiaru Qian, Peng Pan and Weijing Zhang
385
Cyclic behaviour of square recycled aggregate concrete-filled steel tubular (RACFST)

beam-columns
You-Fu Yang
393
Analysis to the behaviour of the connections in WTC7

Hongxia Yu* and Zhiqian Wang
401
Thermal behavior of a steel beam exposed to a localized fire

Numerical simulation and comparison with experimental results
Chao Zhang* and Guo-qiang Li
409
Experimental investigation and computer simulation on dynamic elastic-plastic buckling

of metallic cylindrical shell under axial impact
Tao Zhang*, Weiqi Tang, Guoyun Lu and Shanyuan Zhang
417
Simplified model and design equations for the collision between over-high truck
and bridge superstructures
Yan-sheng Zhang*, Xiao Lu, Xin-zheng Lu and Shui-tao He
425
Seismic behaviors of concrete filled multibarrel tubular column-reinforced concrete beam

connections
Yufen Zhang* and Junhai Zhao
433
Index of Authors
xi
Contents of Conferences held in 2002, 2004 and 2006
xiii
xxviii

15 16 November 2012, Singapore
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword
Conference committee
Table of Contents
iii
iv
v
Keynote Papers
Structural failure by impulsive tsunami force

Taro Arikawa, Kenichiro Shimosako and Nobutaka Ishikawa
Observation and prevention of relative movement induced damage to bridges in strong

earthquakes
Nawawi Chouw
15
Theory of multihazards for civil infrastructures- abstract only

Mohammed M. Ettouney
29
Experimental and numerical study of dynamic material properties of fibre reinforced

concrete
Hong Hao, Kevin XuZhong-Xian Li and Yanchao Shi
31
Adaptive impact absorption - the concept, simulations and potential applications

Jan Holnicki-Szulc, Cezary Graczykowski, Janusz Grzdziski,
Grzegorz Mikuowski, Arkadiusz Mrz, Piotr Pawowski and Rafa Wiszowaty
47
Proposal of stipulating a rule for prevention and mitigation of great disasters

Shoji Ikeda, Atsuhiko Machida and Hiroshi Yamashita
63
Protection of seawalls against tsunami

N. Ishikawa, T. Arikawa, M. Beppu, R. Inoue and H. Tatesawa
69
Disproportionate collapse of multi-storey building

C.G. Koh, C.G. Tay and R.J.Y. Liew
85
Field survey of the tsunami impact and loading on structures engineering lessons
of the 2011 Tohoku tsunami Abstract only
Ioan Nistor
99
Seismic retrofit of structures

Murat Saatcioglu
101
A -D fluid-structural interaction analysis code for the natural hazard

Chung-Yue Wang , Helsin Wang, Tso-Ren Wu and Mei-Hui Chuang
117
xxix
Special Session on Blast Resistant Design and Retrofit of Structures
Comparison between factors affecting blast loading on reinforced concrete structural

elements
Saeed Ahmad and Huma Pervaiz
125
Structural performance of rc columns subjected to multiple versus single simulated

blast shots
Bessam Kadhom, Husham Almansour and Murat Saatcioglu
137
Weapon based attacks: protection against the ballistic and blast components for
architectural elements
Chunlin Liu, Patrick Mann and David Palermo
147
Blast retrofit of wood-framed buildings

Alan Lloyd, Eric Jacques, Murat Saatcioglu and Timo Tikka
165
Numerical simulation and testing validation of prefabricated composite steel stud blast
panels retrofitted with FRP
Thomas J. Mander, Peter J. Mendoza and Khaled El-Domiaty
175
Experimental modeling of dam breaching and subsequent failure due to blast

Ioan Nistor, Bryan Orendorff and Murat Saatcioglu
181
Special Session on Structural Response to Extreme Loads
Design and test of a portable anti-ram bollard system [lead paper]

John E. Crawford, Shengrui Lan and Yifan Zhang Fu
191
A new approach to derive normalised pressure impulse curves for elastic members
against partially confined blasts
Jonathan Dragos and Chengqing Wu
205
Dynamic mechanical behavior of fiber reinforced concrete Under impact loading

B. Du, H.W. Ma and L. Lin
213
Blast damage mechanism of rc column

Shengrui Lan and J E Crawford
223
Probabilistic gas explosion hazard assessment of fixed platform structures

Jingde Li, Guowei Ma and Hong Hao
233
Influence of brittle shear damage on two-step method prediction of structural response to

blast loads
Jun Li and Hong Hao
243
Numerical simulation of blast induced structural response using static condensation

method
Jun Li and Hong Hao
253
xxx
Special Session on Structural Response to Extreme Loads
Dynamic responses analysis of steel-backed reinforced concrete structure subjected to

blast loading
Jingchun lIU, Qin Fang, Hengbo Xiang and Ziming Gong
263
Numerical investigation into responses of rc columns subjected to fire and blast

Zheng Ruan, Qin Fang and Li Chen
271
Blast loads on slabs under close-in explosions

Yanchao Shi, Zhong-Xian Li and Hong Hao
281
Critical scaled distances of spherical vs cylindrical charge shape effects for external, fully
vented confined and fully confined blasts
Nimasha H. Weerasingha Mohottige, Chengqing Wu, Hong Hao and Michael Griffith
289
Numerical modelling of FRP-bonded steel tubes subject to transverse impact

Yang Zhao, Zhenyu Wang and Yongqiang Zhang
299
Technical Papers
Nonlinear impact response of rc faade panels on elasto-plastic supports

Mohamed N. Abdel-Mooty and Sherif M. Shaaban
309
Experimental study on the impulsive fluid load of flow water

Masuhiro Beppu, Teppei Kaneko and Satoshi Katsuki
319
Estimation method on shear resistance of filled boulders using assembled element

DEM
329
Effect of FRP strengthening on structural behavior of rc columns subjected to impact

load
Paul Imbeau, Husham Almansour and Dan Palermo
339
Efficient vibration analysis of voided slab

Gee-Cheol Kim and Joo-Won Kang
349
Ogive nose hard projectile penetrating normal strength concrete slab with effect of
CRH ratio
Q.B.A.I. Latif, I.A. Rahman, A.M.A. Zaidi, K. Latif, A. Hameed and S. Nagapan
357
Prediction of ground vibration due to collapse of a cooling tower under strong

earthquakes
Feng Lin, Hongkui Ji, Xianglin Gu and Yi Li
367
Impact load on the surface of protective shell

Mirziyod M. Mirsaidov, Tahirjon Z. Sultanov and Dadakhan A. Khodzhaev
373
A hysteretic model for seismic performance assessment of reinforced concrete walls

Piyali Sengupta and Bing Li
383
xxxi
Technical Papers
Impact response analysis of wire ring net system using the concept of particle method
Yoshimi Sonoda, Hideyuki Obana and Kazuki Fukunaga
391
A fundamental study on the repeated impact analysis of rc slab with consideration of local
damage
Hiroki Tamai, Satoshi Gouya and Yoshimi Sonoda
397
Large scale seismic risk mitigation project in Istanbul (ISMEP)

Bar Trak and Emin Atak
403
School preparedness assessment toward natural disasters: Case of Merapi Volcano

Area, Indonesia
Tuswadi and Takehiro Hayashi
411
P-I diagram for one-way supported structures considering membrane effect

Yonghui Wang, Richard J Y Liew and Siew Chin Lee
419
Index of Authors
ix
Contents of conferences held in 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2009
xi
xxxii
Hosted by:
ISBN: 978-981-09-0082-3
2014


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6th International Conference on

6th International Conference on

PROTECTION OF STRUCTURES AGAINST HAZARDS

16-17 October 2014, Tianjin, China

Organised & Managed by:

6th International Conference on

16-17 October 2014, Tianjin, China

Tianjin University and Curtin University Joint Research Center

Tianjin University, Tianjin, China

Tianjin Chengjian University, China

Curtin University, Perth, Australia

Cover designed by L P Teo

Publisher & Conference Secretariat

CI-PREMIER PTE LTD

Tianjin University and Curtin University Joint Research Center of

Tianjin University and Curtin University Joint Research Center of

A/Prof T.S. Lok

Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

University of Adelaide, Australia.

6th International Conference on

PROTECTION OF STRUCTURES AGAINST HAZARDS

Prof. Alex Remennikov, University of Wollongong, Australia

Prof Zhong-Xian Li and Prof Hong Hao

6th International Conference on

PROTECTION OF STRUCTURES AGAINST HAZARDS

The perils of adding resilience to the infrastructure

Protective glazing a challenge to numerical simulation

On-line impact load identification for adaptive impact absorption

Protective steel structures against wooden debris hazards

Efficient progressive collapse analysis of buildings: concept and numerical study

Climate change hazards, risk, and climate adaptation engineering

Quasi-static compressive mechanical behavior of EPS-cement composite for impact resistance

Influence of rotational restraints on fire behaviour of rc elements

3D seismic response analysis of large-span subway station in soft soil area

Scale fire design for a reduced scale structural fire-resistance experiment

Flexural behavior of immersion joint under quasi-static loading

Large-scale shaking table test study on seismic characteristics of gradient-changing slope

Fire scenario research of performance-based fire design for underground structure

Dynamic behaviour of auxetic metamaterials

Compressive characterization of magnesium matrix composites reinforced with sic particles

Experimental study on dynamic bond behavior of CFRP-to-steel

Experimental investigation of the interacting force at the primary-secondary structure

Security analysis of nuclear containment subjected to large-scale commercial aircraft crash

Progressive collapse mechanisms of steel frames under various fire scenarios

Numerical evaluation of the performance of one-way axially loaded masonry walls

Full 3D numerical analysis of a mountain tunnel under seismic loadings

A study on blast resistance of architectural glass curtain wall

Effect of charge shape on damage from potential explosive attacks

Experimental evaluation of the performance of rc frames in resisting progressive collapse

Multihazards assessment and mitigation: Reliability vs. Risk

Laboratory tests of dynamic material properties of EPS13 AND EPS28

Numerical investigation of inertia effect on concrete material properties in dynamic

Permeability effect of steel frame dam on debris flow impact load

Numerical analysis on dynamic performance of tubular k-joint under impact loads

Quasi-static compressive mechanical behavior of EPS-cement composite for impact resistance

Validation of flacs regarding the calculation of vapour cloud explosion overpressures on

Numerical analysis of uniaxial compression and four-point bending tests of ultra-high

The study of impact loads on derailed train impacting adjacent structures

An experimental study to assess the use of cylindrical bars as blast barriers

3D seismic response analysis of large-span subway station in soft soil area

Damage analysis of reinforced concrete slabs under close-in explosions

Experimental study of local damage resistant performance of fiber reinforced cementitious

A study of suspension bridge subjected to blast loads

Performance of water tank under static and dynamic pressure loads