ISSN XXXX XXXX © 2017 IJESC

Research Article Volume 7 Issue No.4

Study of Response of RC Tall Buildings Subjected to Blast Loads

Mohanad Hatem Shadhar1, Dr. T.V.S Vara Lakshmi2
M.Tech Student1, Assistant Professor2
Department of Civil Engineering
A.N.U. College of engineering and technology, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India

Abstract:
An Explosion is defined as a rapid chemical reaction that occurs for few milliseconds resulting in the very fast release of energy
and hot gases into the surrounding atmosphere. It results in the generation of high pressure and temperature. During explosion the
hot gases that are generated occupy the space surrounding, resulting in wave propagation through space which is transmitted
spherically or hem -spherically through a surrounding medium. Unlike earthquake force, blast pressure acts for a significantly
shorter period of time on a structure. Thus, effects of material strain rate become vital and should be accounted to assess the
Performance of connections for shorter duration loads i.e. blast loads. This high impulsive load generally act non-uniformly on
the structure i.e. the aberration of load extent transversely to the face of the structure and greatly reduces the amplitudes of the
blast pressure on the sides and back end of the structure far from the explosion point. The effects of blast load on the RC
structures are studied by varying distance of the point of explosion. Structures having different characteristics are subjected to
blast overpressure at distances of 30 m, 50 m, 70 m, 90 m, 110m and 150 m. A finite element package ETABS is used for the
analysis.

Keywords: Blast load, Impact load, RC structures

I. INTRODUCTION resist blast loads and because the magnitude of design loads is
lower than the load produced by blast load explosion. No
In the recent few years, effect of blast load on structure gained public buildings can be designed to withstand the kind of
importance due to accidental events or natural events. The extreme attack that happened to the World Trade Centre in
explosion due to bombs in and around structures can results in USA.
to catastrophic impacts on the structural integrity of the
building, such as damage to the external and internal structural
frame members and sometimes collapse of the structure.
Thousands of lives lost in the past bomb blast due to collapse
of the structure. The consequences bomb attack by some
terrorist organizations of those attacks proved the vulnerability
of structures to explosion. One more common blast load is by
Vehicle bombing attacks against structures have been a
weapon of choice used by many terrorist organizations. The
use of vehicle bombs to attack a structure has been a common
type of terrorist attack. Many countries have become victims
of bomb explosion attacks in the last few decades. Damage to
the assets, loss of life and social panic are factors that have to
be minimized if the threat of terrorist action cannot be
stopped. Past blast incidents though-out world made architects
and engineers to find solutions or alternatives to protect the
occupants and structures from these blasts loading. Generally
conventional structures are not designed for blast load because
the cost of design and construction is very high when blast
load is considered in design. Figure.1. Explosions possible cases

II. SIGNIFICANCE OF BLAST LOADS The main difference between blast loads from other types of
dynamic loadings is it’s impulsive in nature, where the loads
In the design of any structures to resist blast loads, generally usually act for a very short duration but transmit very high
two important considerations impulsive pressures. The losses from these events cannot be
 Prevention of catastrophic failure or progressive measured from the economic aspects alone since most of the
collapse of structure and target buildings are iconic and carry substantial heritage,
 Reduction of projectiles due to fragmentation. architectural, and sentimental values. Designing the structures
Criteria’s for blast resistance or protection have become an to be fully blast resistant is not a realistic and economical
important consideration for professional design structural option, however current engineering and architectural
engineers as terrorist attacks continue at an alarming rate in knowledge can enhance the new and existing buildings to
the world. A conventional structure generally not designed to mitigate the effects of an explosion.

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 explosion is much greater than that of the original
substance.
The change must be exothermic in order to heat the
products of the reaction and thus to increase their
pressure.

Many types of explosive materials can be used in explosions

and they vary from home-made to military or commercially
available types. Explosives are differ from one to another by
their explosion characteristics such as detonation rate,
effectiveness, and amount of energy released. Therefore, it is
necessary to have a datum to assess the detonation
characteristics of each types of explosive material. TNT
(Trinitrotoluene) had been used as the reference explosive and
is regarded as the standard “Explosion Bench Mark” in the
area of explosion.

Figure.2. Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building Oklahoma

City

Figure.4. Explosive types

Figure.3. Central Bank, Sri Lanka, 1996

III. EXPLOSION & EXPLOSIVES

An explosion is a rapid release of stored energy usually with

the generation of high temperatures, the release of gases and
an audible blast. Part of the energy is released as thermal
radiation and part is coupled in to the air as air-blast and into Figure.5. Blast pressure circulation
the ground as ground shock, both as radially expanding shock Blast-resistant design requires use of different material and
waves. Supersonic explosions formed by very high explosives geometric non-linearity in structure configuration to exploit
are known as detonations and travel via supersonic shock energy absorption mechanisms. When the explosion occurs,
waves. The rapid discharge of energy causes wave-form of a the blast shock waves travel with a rapidly increasing
pressure in the surrounding space described as Shock front. overpressure front. The pressure behind the front face of
Due to the explosion, accumulation of hot gases occurs. As a structure may even drop below the normal atmospheric
result of this, wave of a pressure is generated in the medium. pressure within a few milliseconds of time.
The waves propagate with the speed of sound. The
temperature in the surrounding region is around 3000 o - 4000o IV. STANDOFF DISTANCE IMPORTANCE IN
and pressure is about 3x107 kPa. EXPLOSION
To be an explosive, the material will have the following
characteristics. Stand-off distance states to the direct, unobstructed distance
It should contain a substance or mixture of substances between a weapon and its target. As the stand-off distance
that remains unaltered under ordinary conditions, but increases, the effect of overpressure in a shock front decreases
undergoes a fast chemical change upon stimulation. uniformly and its speed reduces to the speed of the sound of
an un-disturbed surrounding medium. All blast parameters
Reaction must yield gases whose volume under normal depend on the quantity of energy released by the explosion
pressure, but at the high temperature resulting from an and distance available to a particular target from the origin of
the explosion.

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 V. PROBLEM DEFINTION

The work involved in this study is to assess the behaviour of

structures under blast load. The investigation on the behavior
and response of structure are carried out by using the finite
element models in FEM package ETABS. A 30 storey
Structure with following specification considered for this
study are

RC Frame structural system.

RC Frame structure with the shear wall at outer
periphery (Shear wall structure).
RC Frame structure with the masonry wall at outer
periphery (Masonry wall structure).

Investigate the Blast load phenomenon completely for the

analysis of structures. To study the dynamic performance of
Figure.6. Stand-off distance a high-rise structure of different conditions subjected to a
Therefore, the distance between asset and threat is important particular blast pressure at distances of 30 m, 50 m, 70 m, 90
and is referred to as stand-off distance. It is explained in the m, 110m and 150 m.
above Figure.6 (FEMA-426 2003). The threat of an explosion
will rapidly decrease over the stand-off distance and its VI. MODEL SPECIFICATION
contribution to the intensity of the blast loads. When structures
subjected to blast loading, so many parameters associated are Blast loading is defined as a load-time triangular function in
blast pressure, ground shock, and fragment impact, mostly in the model using finite element package ETABS. The dynamic
the near-range region. Whereas in the far-field region, behaviour of high rise RC structures are considered which are
structures are exposed to only blast pressure. In case of subjected to an impact loads of 10 kN weapon charge.
nuclear blast, the resulting shock wave produces very high Plan of the model is 25m × 25m.
blast pressure and large impulse loading, which results in
destruction of structures situated at even at large distance from Table.1. Member sizes of building model
the source of blast. Member Size(mm)

Unconfined explosions
Unconfined explosions have three kinds of bursts, namely
Free air burst, Column 800x800 (BASE TO Story 5)
Air burst and (M40 Grade) 600X600 (Story 5 TO Story 10)
Surface burst. 500x500 (Story 10 TO Story 15)
If the explosion happens in free air high above ground level, it 400x400 (Story 15 TO Story 30)
is classified as a free-air burst explosion as shown in Figure.7.
Although the air burst occurs in free air high above ground
level, the amplification of blast waves takes place due to
ground reflections and is explained in Figure.8. A surface
burst occurs when the explosion take places close to or on the Beam
ground surface level as shown in Figure.9. (M30 Grade) 300mm x 600mm

Slab 125 mm
(M30 Grade)

Shear wall thickness 300 mm

(M40 Grade)
Figure.7. Free air burst Figure.8. Air burst

General data:
 Grade of concrete = M30 , M40
 Grade of steel = Fe500
 Live load = 3.0 kN/m2 for floor
 Live load = 1.5 kN/m2 for roof
 Floor finish = 1.0 kN/m2 for floor
 Floor finish = 0.7 kN/m2 for roof
 Wall load = 12 kN/m

Figure.9. Surface burst

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 RC Frame system-3D view

Closed RC Structure with shear wall-plan view

Masonry RC Structure – plan view

Closed RC Structure with shear wall-3D view

RC Frame system-plan view Masonry RC Structure – 3D view

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VII. RESULT DISCUSSIONS & CONCLUSIONS

Von Mises Stresses :

Figure.14. Von Mises Stress, MPa at Standoff distance

0.150 km

Figure.10. Von Mises Stress, MPa at Standoff distance

0.050 km

Figure.15. Maximum Von Mises Stress, MPa at different

Standoff distance

Top Storey Acceleration :

Figure.11. Von Mises Stress, MPa at Standoff distance
0.070 km

Figure.16. Top Storey Acceleration for all models,

Figure.12. Von Mises Stress, MPa at Standoff distance mm/sec2
0.090 km
Top Storey Velocity:

Figure.13. Von Mises Stress, MPa at Standoff distance

0.110 km Figure.17. Top Storey Velocity of all models, mm/sec

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From above results following observations are made during Concrete Blast Wall Subjected To Air Blast Loading” ,
study Journal of Asian Scientific Research, 2014, 4(9): 522-533

As the standoff distance or the critical distance [4].Payoshni Mali , Savita Lokare , Chitra V (2014) “Effect of
increases, the stress values on the wall element blast loading on Reinforced Concrete structures” ,
reduces. International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research,
At a distance of 0.050 km the stress generated in Volume 5, Issue 12, December-2014, Page 14-16
the shear wall frame structure is 106. 13 MPa and at a
distance of 0.150 km the stress generated is 2.68 [5]. Haokai Jia et al. (2014), “Damage Assessment of Two-
MPa. Way Bending RC Slabs Subjected to Blast Loadings”,
Hindawi Publishing Corporation, Scientific World Journal,
Similarly, the stress in RC frame structure at a Volume 2014, Article ID 718702.
distance of 0.050 km is 84.44 MPa and that at a
distance of 0.150 km is 8.90 MPa. [6].Dr M. B. Varma and Quazi kashif (2014), “Effect of Blast
on G+4 RCC Frame Structure”, ISSN 2250-2459, ISO
In the case of masonry wall frame structure, the 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 4, Issue 11, November
stress at a distance of 0.050 km is 90.05 MPa and that 2014.
at a distance of 0.150 km is 2.36 MPa.
[7].Ahmed Samir Eisa (2014), “Finite element analysis of
The variation of the acceleration with respect to reinforced concrete columns under different range of blast
standoff distance is inversely proportional. As the loads”, International Journal of Civil and Structural
distance increases, the acceleration of particular joint Engineering, Volume 5 No 2 2014.
decreases in all the three cases of the study.
[8]. Haken Yalciner (2014), “Structural Response to Blast
The variation of the velocity with respect to standoff Loading: The Effects of Corrosion on Reinforced Concrete
distance is inversely proportional. As the distance Structures”, Hindawi Publishing Corporation Shock and
increases, the velocity of a particular joint decreases Vibration Volume 2014, Article ID 529892,
in all the three cases of the study.
[9].Prof. M. R. Wakchaure and Seema T. Borole (2013),
Following are the conclusions: “Comparison of Maximum Stress distribution of Long &
Short Side Column due to Blast Loading”, International
 Von Mises stress is one which helps in determining Journal of Modern Engineering Research (IJMER) Vol.3,
the stability of a structure. The design is said to be Issue.4, Jul - Aug. 2013 pp-1988-1993.
failed when the maximum value of Von Mises stress
obtained by the analysis after the application of blast [10]. M. Arif Gurel et al. (2013), “LPG explosion damage of a
load is greater than the strength of the material. reinforced concrete building: A case study in Sanliurfa,
Turkey”, Engineering Failure Analysis 32 (2013) 220–235.
 It is observed in this work, For an RC frame
structure, the stresses developed on the walls are [11]. Hrvoje Draganic & Vladimir Sigmund (2012), “Blast
approximately 1.5 to 2 times the stresses developed Loading on Structures”, ISSN 1330-3651.
on the walls of the closed structure
[12]. Ruwan Jayasooriya et al. (2009), “Response and damage
 Therefore, the critical distance or the minimum safe evaluation of reinforced concrete frames subjected to blast
distance below which the structure is damaged loading”, 34th Conference on Our World In Concrete &
severely is 0.070 km for Shear Wall Structure and Structures, 16-18 August 2009.
0.090 km for RC frame Structure and Masonry Wall
structure. [13]. Joseph Y. R. Rashid et al. (2009), “Failure Analysis and
Risk Evaluation of Lifeline Structures Subjected to Blast
 The possible near and far distances that could be Loadings and Aircraft/Missile Impact”, International
measured are taken into consideration. Workshop on Structural Response to Impact and Blast, Haifa,
Israel, November 15-19, 2009.
VIII. REFRENCES
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[17]. T. Ngo et al. (2007), “Blast loading and Blast effects on
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IX. IS CODES

 IS 4991.1968 - Criteria for blast resistant design of

structures for explosions above ground

 IS 875:1987 PART 1 & 2

X. BIOGRAPHY

MOHANAD HATEM SHADHAR, M. Tech Student,

Department of Civil Engineering, A.N.U. College of
engineering and technology, GUNTUR 522510, ANDHRA
PRADESH, INDIA, [email protected]

Dr. T.V.S VARA LAKSHMI, Assistant Professor,

Department of Civil Engineering, A.N.U. College of
engineering and technology, GUNTUR 522510, ANDHRA
PRADESH, INDIA

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