Analysis and Design of One-Way Steel-Plate Composite Walls for Far-Field Blast Effects

Abstract

This paper presents the development of normalized total force-total impulse (P-I) diagrams for analyzing and designing steel-plate composite (SC) walls to resist far-field blast loads. The P-I diagrams depict contours of constant damage states created using a single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) model for one-way SC wall panels subjected to uniform pressure loading resulting from far-field blasts. The resistance function for uniform pressure loading was developed using a novel (hybrid experimental-numerical) approach that eliminated the need for specialized testing and loading equipment. The hybrid approach consisted of (1) conducting four-point bending tests, (2) developing and benchmarking three-dimensional (3D) finite-element (FE) models for the tests, (3) using the benchmarked FE models to conduct numerical simulations for uniform pressure loading, and (4) idealizing the resistance function for uniform pressure using a bilinear relationship. The SDOF model and idealized resistance functions were further benchmarked using results from shock-tube tests conducted on SC wall panels. The benchmarked SDOF model was used to conduct parametric analyses leading to the development of ductility-dependent total pressure-total impulse (P-I) diagrams. These P-I diagrams were validated using the experimental results from blast tests and additional results generated using the benchmarked FE models. The P-I diagrams, along with the ductility-dependent damage states, are recommended for the design of SC wall panels subjected to far-field blast loading.