Verification of Protection Performance of Concrete Blast-Proof Panels Against Internal Explosions

Abstract

Recently, studies on blast-proof panels, which were attached to structures to protect facilities from local damage caused by explosions, have been actively performed. However, blast-proof panels are impractical yet due to the high installation cost and difficulty in construction, and protection performance for explosions inside a structure is not evaluated. In this study, a blast-proof panel consisting of concrete material was devised to ensure economic feasibility and constructability. Then, the protection performance of the concrete blast-proof panel for internal explosions was analyzed by numerical simulations and field experiments. First, field experiments on concrete explosion-proof panels were conducted for two cases, where panels without and with energy-absorbing foam were installed. As a result, the concrete blast-proof panel reduced the displacement of structures by up to 22% and the acceleration of structures by up to 86%. However, the reliability of the field experiment data was insufficient due to the shear failure of the test structure during experiments. Therefore, additional analysis was conducted by developing a numerical model. A series of numerical simulations was conducted according to the various densities of the energy-absorbing foam that was inserted between the panel and structure. Consequently, the optimum density of the impact-absorbing material differed depending on the type of structure damage to reduce (i.e., the displacement or acceleration of the structure).