The pressure–impulse diagram is commonly used to assess the damage level of structural components under explosion. Non-dimensional pressure–impulse diagrams referred to different failure modes was obtained using a new methodology in this article. Nine non-dimensional key parameters were first proposed on basis of the Euler beam theory. Considering the shear failure, an elastic–plastic method to calculate the dynamic response of reinforced concrete beam columns was then proposed for different failure modes. Three failure categories, for example, bending failure, shear failure, and combined shear and bending failure, were considered. The threshold between the three failure modes was determined using non-dimensional pressure–impulse curves. A systematic parametric study was conducted to investigate the effects of different non-dimensional parameters on the dynamic response and the failure modes of reinforced concrete beam column. Parametric study shows that the nine non-dimensional key parameters are sufficient to calculate the dynamic response of reinforced concrete beam columns. Moreover, present study shows that the tangent modulus of direct shear stress–slip relation has a great influence on the failure modes. Beam columns with a smaller tangent modulus are more likely to generate combined shear and bending failure mode.
Fragility curve is an efficient tool that is usually used to predict the failure probability of engineering structures in the damage assessment. To generate fragility curves for reinforced concrete columns under blast loads, a deterministic nonlinear analytical approach was first modified to consider the parameter uncertainties in materials, dimensions, and bearded loads. Monte Carlo simulation was applied to generate the corresponding fragility curves on the basis of the proposed approach. Damage of a typical reinforced concrete column under blast loads was assessed with the generated fragility curves. It was concluded that besides the standoff distance and equivalent trinitrotoluene charge, the axial force also significantly affected the damage of reinforced concrete columns under blast loads, especially in the moderate and large scaled distance.
Reinforced concrete (RC) structures not only consume a lot of resources but also cause continuing pollution. However, sustainable design could make RC structures more environmental-friendly. One important index for environmental impact assessment is embodied energy. The aim of the present study is to optimize the embodied energy and the cost of RC beam subjected to the blast loads. First, a general optimization procedure was described. Then, the optimization procedure was used to optimize the embodied energy and the cost of RC beams. Optimization results of the cost and the embodied energy were compared. It was found that the optimization results were influenced by the cost ratio nC (ratio of price of steel to price of concrete per unit volume) and the embodied energy ratio nE (ratio of embodied energy of steel to embodied energy of concrete per unit volume). An optimal design that minimized both embodied energy and cost simultaneously was obtained if values of nC and nE were very close.
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