Experimental evaluation of internal blast resistance behavior of reinforced concrete tubular structures under internal blast loading

Since the Sept. 11 of 2001 terrorist attack on world trade center, social anxiety about extreme disasters heightened. In Korea, a country with extreme military aggression located area in the world, South Korea is always exposed to explosion disasters. In order to combat these problems, it is necessary to study extreme loading scenarios based on the concept of protection and disaster prevention of social infrastructures. For the blast load, the various researches were performed in the past. However, the study results on the internal blast loaded structural behavior are not open to public. In this study, internal blast tests were carried out on reinforced concrete (RC) tubular members to evaluate the internal blast resistance capacity. The specimens were designed as RC tubular structure with dimensions of external diameter of 2,700 mm, internal diameter of 2,000 mm, a wall thickness of 350 mm and a length of 3,600 mm. The blast load test was conducted using 15.88, 20.41, and 24.95 kg (e.g., equivalent to 35, 45, and 55 lbs) of ANFO charge installed at the center of the tube (e.g., 1,000 mm standoff distance), the structure behavior according to the explosive charge weight was evaluated. The data acquisitions included incident pressure, reflected pressure, impulse, deflection, strain, and acceleration. Through the experimental evaluation, the structural behavior according to internal blast loading scenario can be analyzed accurately, which can be effectively used for protection and extreme loading research area.