Numerical Modeling of Air Blast Effects on Hybrid Structures

Blast resistant structures are gaining increased need in today's society. This research addresses adding composite reinforcement to existing concrete structures to decrease blast damage. An upgraded material model for concrete is presented. This model, used in LS-DYNA3D, incorporates tensile damage, which allows the concrete to degrade as it is loaded. The concrete model is tested using existing unreinforced and reinforced concrete beam tests. Some beams were plain, others were externally reinforced with composites, bonded to the exterior of the beams. There is a very good correlation between the predicted and existing data. The concrete model was then used to predict the mean residual displacement of a plain and composite reinforced concrete wall subjected to a blast load.