Foam-Protected Reinforced Concrete Structures under Impact: Experimental and Numerical Studies

TLDR

Recent terrorist attacks have prompted a renewed focus on protecting military and high‑security facilities from explosive hazards, leading to increased attention to the design of public and private structures. This study investigates the effectiveness of aluminum foam in mitigating blast wave impacts on reinforced concrete beams and plates. Experimental tests on RC beams and plates were complemented by finite‑element simulations using commercial and in‑house codes to model blast loading. Results show that aluminum‑foam‑protected RC elements experience reduced blast damage, with numerical simulations corroborating the experimental observations for both protected and unprotected beams.

Abstract

In light of recent terrorist attacks on facilities throughout the world, designers, planners, architects, and engineers are beginning to re-visit conventional approaches in the design of military and high-security facilities. Many existing buildings, structures and facilities should be better protected against man-made explosive hazards. For this reason the designs of public/private structures and facilities are getting much more attention in recent years. This paper presents the results of experimental and numerical investigations that were conducted in order to examine the capabilities of aluminum foams in mitigating the effect of blast waves acting on reinforced concrete (RC) beams and plates. Numerical simulations of the behavior of the investigated RC beams and plates under the dynamic loads support the experimental investigation results. The numerical simulations are based on finite element commercial and in-house codes. The experimental and numerical results for both the protected and unprotected RC beams and the conclusions obtained from these experiments and simulations are presented.