EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF BLAST RESISTANCE: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF REINFORCED CONCRETE AND STEEL-PLATE COMPOSITE WALLS
Conventional structures are not designed to resist blast loads; hence, serious damage occur when they fall victim of blast event. As a result of increase in terrorist attacks on global scale, blast resistant design is becoming a necessity to safeguard the structural integrity of our structures, most especially those structures that bear national or cultural symbolism. This study estimated the effects of blast load on building wall from charge weight of 455 kg at varying stand-off distances. The studied wall was designed as reinforced concrete (RC) and steel-plate composite (SC) elements to resist the generated blast load using SDOF system approach outlined in UFC. It was observed from results that increasing stand-off distance from 2.25m to 7m at a constant charge-weight resulted in a significant decrease in blast loads. The results also indicated that SC wall resist higher blast load than RC wall by 46%. It was concluded that SC wall performs better than RC wall under blast load of the same magnitude, and that stand � off distance plays a critical role in blast load effect. It was recommended that protective structure should be positioned at clear distance from explosion. SC section be considered for blast proof structural design and construction of structures.
Authors : Mohammad, B.Y., Yazid, A., and Murtala, M. H.
Category : Open Access Volume (Issue) : 10(2) Date Uploaded : 8th August 2025