Effect of explosive loading on mechanical properties of concrete and reinforcing steel: towards developing a predictive model

Abstract

Prediction of dynamic mechanical properties of concrete and reinforcing steel is considered. The attention is focussed on dynamic loading imposed on reinforced concrete structures by large distant explosions. The predic-tion is made by a combined application of mathematical models describing explosive loading, straining of concrete and steel under this loading and dynamic enhancement of static mechanical properties of these materials. Problems arising at coupling these models in a combined set are dis-cussed. The main finding is that prediction of dynamic properties is to a large extent a problem of structural analy-sis for explosive loading. The prediction on material level consists mainly in an application of enhancement factors relating static and dynamic properties. The intricacy of these factors lies in the input information required for their calculation. This information is obtained by a structural analysis for explosive loading. Such an analysis can be a complicated task for complex, real world structural sys-tems.