Applied Element Method Analysis of Porous GFRP Barrier Subjected to Blast

Abstract

Numerical analysis of highly dynamic phenomena represents a critical field of study and application for structural engineering as it addresses extreme loading conditions on buildings and the civil infrastructure. In fact, large deformations and material characteristics of elements and structures different from those exhibited under static loading conditions are important phenomena to be accounted for in numerical analysis. The present paper describes the results of detailed numerical analyses simulating blast tests conducted on a porous (i.e. discontinuous) glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) barrier aimed at the conception, validation and deployment of a protection system for airport infrastructures against malicious disruptions. The numerical analyses herein presented were conducted employing the applied element method (AEM). This method adopts a discrete crack approach that allows auto cracking, separation and collision of different elements in a dynamic scheme, where fully nonlinear path-dependant constitutive material models are adopted. A comparison with experimental results is presented and the prediction capabilities of the software are demonstrated

Parametric Study on Seismic Rehabilitation of Masonry Buildings Using FRP Based upon 3D Non-Linear Dynamic Analysis

“…Consequently, in the current study, the numerical analysis was carried out using the AEM, where it is widely validated and has shown considerable agreement with real cases. It also covers many cases such as static, dynamic, and collapse cases [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34]. The software used in the analysis is Extreme Loading for Structures (ELS ® , Charlotte, NC, USA) [35], which is based on the AEM.…”

Progressive Collapse Analysis of 2-D Rc Frames Using Aem

“…Since then, the method was applied and verified for; elastic analysis, reinforced concrete structures subjected to cyclic loads and buckling and postbuckling behaviour (Meguro and Tagel-Din, [10][11][12]). Also, AEM was applied for crack initiation and propagation, estimation of failure loads of reinforced concrete structures, non-linear dynamic analysis of structures subjected to collisions and severe earthquakes (Tagel-Din and Meguro [13, 29 & 50]), fault-rupture propagation (Ramancharle et al [17]), non-linear behaviour of brick structures (Mayorca and Meguro [18]) and blast analysis (Asprone et al [19] and Coffield & Adeli [20]). …”

Behavior of Full-Scale Porous GFRP Barrier under Blast Loads

“…A simplified model is also proposed to predict the reduction of the peak pressure due to the porous barrier; an example of the computational procedure is described in Appendix. Numerical tests, using the applied elements method, were also conducted, providing further details about the structural behavior of the barrier, and are presented in [5]. These analyses were used to validate the forces acting on the barrier and the structural response of the pipes.…”

“…The GFRP's mechanical behavior was investigated for a quality control process and to collect data that will be used in performance modeling (together with high strain-rate properties) not discussed herein. To this aim, coupon tests were conducted on flat GFRP specimens taken from the pipe to evaluate their direct tension properties [5]. Two typologies of specimens were tested:…”

“…A global Young's modulus was obtained that combines both tensile and compression contributions. To separate them and determine International Journal of Polymer Science 3 [5], chord modulus is evaluated as the ratio of stress increment over strain increment, corresponding to the strain interval from 0.001 to 0.003. * Evaluated as the ratio of the failure stress over the chord modulus of elasticity.…”