Experimental Behavior of High-Strength Concrete One-Way Slabs Subjected to Shock Loading

The design to resist blast loading is required in many private and governmental buildings. The research presented in this paper characterizes the response of high-strength concrete panels reinforced with high-strength vanadium steel and subjected to blast loading under controlled conditions. This work is intended to provide valuable data to study numerical models such as the commonly used single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) models. The experimental procedure used and data collected from high-strength reinforced concrete (RC) slabs having two different high-strength reinforcement ratios subjected to shockwave loadings using a blast load simulator are presented in this paper. The pressure, impulse, and deflection time histories generated from the experiments, along with the predicted panel deflections, are presented. The pressure impulse (PI) curves developed using an SDOF model are compared with the experimental data. Damage assessment generated from the blast load simulator experiments and a comparison of experimental behavior of high-strength RC slabs with regular-strength RC slabs are also presented. These results showed that the SDOF designs were conservative for the slabs having the lower reinforcement ratio. Experimental quantification of the dynamic resistance curves showed that the slabs with smaller longitudinal reinforcement spacing had greater ductility and post-yield behavior. Finally, the concrete damage patterns of the panels are shown and described. Keywords: blast loading; experimental behavior; reinforced concrete; resistance curves; single degree of freedom; slabs.