Performance of One-Way Concrete Slabs Reinforced with Conventional and Polymer Re-bars Under Air-Blast Loading

Explicit dynamic analysis has been conducted using the ABAQUS/CAE, a finite element program, on one-way normal-reinforced concrete (NRC) slabs. Time-dependent blast pressure, P(t), has been modeled following the empirical relationships from the literature. The values of the incident overpressure have been taken from the blast tests conducted on four NRC slabs of size 2000 × 1000 × 100 mm at the School of Civil, Environmental, and Mining Engineering, The University of Adelaide, SA, Australia (2009). The slabs are subjected to the incident overpressures generated by detonating the cylindrical-shaped charges (Composition B) at different scaled distances (between 0.75 and 3.0 m/kg^1/3) in free air. The slabs are reinforced on both compression and tension faces with the 12 mm diameter HYSD steel re-bar mesh spaced at 200 mm centers (c/c) in the minor bending plane (ρ = 0.74%) and 100 mm c/c in the major plane (ρ = 1.34%). In the present analytical study, tensile damage distribution and cumulative damage dissipation energy have been evaluated using the concrete damaged plasticity (CDP) model for the considered scaled distances. The results obtained from the analysis have been compared and found in good agreement with the available experimental values. To improve the blast resistance of the slabs, 50% of the conventional steel re-bars have been replaced by the FRP re-bars of equivalent strength on the blast face only, tension face only, and both faces of the slab. Substituted FRP re-bars are made of (1) aramid fiber-reinforced polymer (AFRP), (2) basalt fiber-reinforced polymer (BFRP), (3) carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP), and (4) glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP). Superior/inferior combinations of the re-bars have been arrived at using the analytical results.