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This paper presents the nonlinear vibration analysis of a sandwich shallow shell with a honeycomb core and functionally graded graphene-reinforced skins (HCFG-GRCF) under blast load, where the core layer is composed of negative Poisson’s ratio material and the three kinds of graphene distribution patterns are considered for structural face layer. First, the material properties of functionally graded graphene platelet reinforced composite (FG-GRC) are calculated using the extended Halpin–Tsai model. Based on the First-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) along with von-Karman nonlinearity, the energy function of the shallow shells is derived. Then the direct iterative method and Newton–Raphson method are, respectively, adopted to solve the nonlinear free vibration and dynamic response in the temporal domain. The applicability and accuracy of the proposed dynamic model are verified by comparing the present results with literature solutions and Finite Element Method (FEM) results. In addition, the effects of temperature, graphene fraction, thickness ratio of core to face thickness, honeycomb cell inclined angle and boundary conditions on the dynamic response of the shallow shells are systematically analyzed.

The blast-resistant performance of protective structures is very important for the protection of human life. In this study, blast experiments were performed on the composite arches strengthened with polyurea with different thicknesses. The failure modes of the polyurea-strengthened arches, such as the spalling of concrete and the debonding of polyurea, were identified through the experiments. The test results indicate that polyurea-strengthening can change the internal stress distribution of the arch structure, prevent cracks from developing, and maintain structural integrity efficiently, even when exposed to repeated blast loads. A simplified theoretical model is developed for analyzing the strengthening mechanism of polyurea and the loading state of the arch. The damage situation of the composite arch predicted by the theoretical model is in high agreement with the test results. According to the study, it is possible to construct a composite protective arch structure with strong integrity and outstanding anti-blast performance by employing polyurea as reinforcement.

Sandwich panels have been developed to either produce lighter structures capable of carrying prescribed loads or increase the load-carrying capacity subject to limitations on weight. In these panels, facings carry bending and in-plane loads while the core functions similarly to the web of a beam, mostly resisting transverse shear. Improvements in the load-carrying capacity of sandwich panels can be achieved through modifications in their geometry, boundary conditions, and material distribution. One of the methods recently considered by the authors is based on using facings with a step-wise variable thickness that increases at the critical region of the structure.¹ It was illustrated that the strength of a sandwich panel can be considerably enhanced using such stepped facings, without a detrimental increase of the weight. The present paper expands the study of the feasibility of the stepped-facing sandwich panel concept concentrating on three structural problems, i.e. a possible improvement in stability, changes in the natural frequencies, and forced dynamic response to the explosive blast. It is illustrated that the stepped-facing design can improve stability of the panel and its response to blast loading. However, fundamental frequencies of stepped-facing panels decrease compared to those in their conventional equal-weight counterparts. Such decrease is detrimental in the majority of engineering applications representing a limitation of stepped-facing panels. Nevertheless, the usefulness of the stepped-facing design is proven in the problems of bending, stability, and blast loading. Numerous examples presented in the paper validate our suggestion that the combination of a relatively simple manufacturing process and an improved structural response of sandwich panels with stepped facings may present the designer with an attractive alternative to conventional sandwich structures.

Extensive research has been conducted to investigate the characteristics of blast load due to single charge explosion, including numerical simulations and experimental blast tests in both unconfined and confined environments. Further, available guidelines for blast resistant design such as UFC-3-340-02 (2008) and ASCE 59-11 (2011) provide details to predict blast loads on a structure subjected to single charge explosion. However, blast load characteristics due to multiple charge explosions are poorly discussed in available literature. In this paper, commercially available Hydrocode, AUTODYN is calibrated for single charge explosions. Based on a comparison between numerical simulation and UFC prediction, correction factors for peak reflected pressure and positive reflected impulse as a function of charge weight, scaled distance and mesh size of the numerical model are proposed to minimize the errors in simulations. The calibrated AUTODYN model is then used to conduct parametric studies to investigate the effects of charge weight, scaled distance, number of charges and distance between the charges on the characteristics of free air blast load due to simultaneous detonated multiple charges. Numerical simulation results are used to derive analytical formulas for predictions of peak reflected pressure ratio and positive reflected impulse ratio between single and multiple explosions. The discussion is made on characteristics of free air blast load due to simultaneous detonated multiple charges.

Significant research efforts have been invested on studying the response and damage of structures subjected to blast loads for better life and property protections. The single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) approach has been widely adopted to simplify the structural response analysis for engineering design purpose. However, such an approach under certain circumstances oversimplifies the structural behavior and might not give reliable predictions of structural responses to blast loads. On the other hand, although detailed high fidelity finite element (FE) approach is able to give relatively accurate predictions of structural response, it is unfortunately not straightforward for application and very time-consuming, which impedes its application among engineers. Therefore, a method that can assure not only reliability but also efficiency is highly needed for design practice. In the present study, mode approximation method with Pressure–Impulse (P-I) diagrams is applied to analyze response and damage of RC slab due to blast load. Slab under analysis is assumed rigid-plastic and simply supported. Shear failure, bending failure and combined failure modes are considered based on different failure modes. Critical equations for structural shear and bending failures are derived respectively with appropriate failure criteria. P–I diagrams are then developed for quick damage assessments. The analytical results are verified by comparing with high fidelity numerical simulations. The reliability and efficiency of using this approach for design and analyzing RC slab response under blast loads are demonstrated.

Support-induced membrane action can enhance the resistance, while altering the failure pattern, of reinforced concrete (RC) members under static/dynamic loadings. Nevertheless, the membrane effect on the load-response is regarded as a safety factor in current design guides, hence, a thorough understanding of the resistance capability of RC members in the presence of membrane actions is considered essential. To quantitatively depict the membrane behavior and its influence on the blast-resistance and failure pattern of Hybrid Fiber Reinforced-Lightweight Aggregate Concrete (HFR-LWC) beams, a specially built end-constraint clamp is developed to provide membrane actions on the structural component subjected to the blast load simultaneously. A series of field tests are conducted to investigate the dynamic behaviors of the HFR-LWC beams under close-range detonations. Overpressure-time histories of shock waves induced by the close-range explosive charge are captured. Then the deflection-responses and failure modes of the HFR-LWC beams are further investigated. The responses of the clamped HFR-LWC beam under blast loadings can be well simulated, and the blast-resistances of the beam-type members with membrane action are evaluated reasonably. The results show that membrane action is beneficial for the bridging effects of hybrid fibers and the interlocking effects of coarse aggregate, thereby giving rise to the ductile failures of HFR-LWC beam. The maximum deflections of the clamped HFR-LWC beam decrease by about 60% compared with simply-supported HFR-LWC beam in this paper, illustrating that the blast-resistance may be seriously underestimated if the membrane effects are ignored in structural design.

The response of monolithic steel plates subjected to blast was extensively studied, and dozens of dimensionless numbers were proposed to predict the response. While the existing dimensionless numbers are not convenient to use in some scenarios with relatively complicated conditions, the dimensionless number proposed for blast loaded steel plates based on dimensional analysis extends the range of application. Different from other dimensionless numbers, the properties of medium with which the blast load transmits are incorporated to extend the application range to more general scenarios. The responses of the plate subjected to both near-field blast with non-uniform load and far-field blast with uniform load, i.e. both the external and internal blasts (for steel boxes), are reasonably predicted. The physical implication of the proposed dimensionless number is clear in that the media properties, geometrical features, characteristics of material, and loading are incorporated, which are readily available in test. A variety of test data are used to validate the applicability and versatility of the proposed dimensionless number.

A number of recent studies have demonstrated numerically and experimentally that metaconcrete made of engineered aggregates can mitigate the propagation of stress waves induced by impulsive load. The energy imparted into the metaconcrete structure from impulsive load can be absorbed by engineered aggregates because of the local vibration of heavy cores. The previous studies considered simple 1D metaconcrete bar structure to investigate its effectiveness on mitigating stress wave propagations. The performance of structural components made of metaconcrete under impulsive load has not been investigated yet. In this study, 3D meso-scale models of three typical beams, namely, normal concrete (NC) beam, normal metaconcrete (NMC) beam composed of normal engineered aggregates (NEA) and enhanced metaconcrete (EMC) beam composed of enhanced engineered aggregates (EEA) are generated to investigate the responses of beam structure subjected to impulsive loading. The engineered aggregates NEA and EEA are designed via the software COMSOL to have the bandgaps coincident with the primary frequencies of stress wave generated in NC beam by the considered impulsive loads. Dynamic responses of three beams subjected to near-field blast loads with different scaled distances are studied via the software LS-DYNA. It is found that the EMC beam experiences less compressive and spalling damage than NC and NMC beams subjected to near-field explosion with the scaled distance of 0.15m/kg${}^{1/3}$. Under blast loading from larger scaled distance explosions, the EMC beam experiences less severe flexural and flexural-shear damage than NC and NMC beams. It can be concluded that the EMC beam demonstrates better blast-resistance performance than NC and NMC beams.

The non-uniform distributed pressure of impact wave is usually simplified into concentrated or uniform load equivalently in the optimization design of constrained layer damping structure. However, for the thin-walled structure, it becomes necessary to regard the load as a non-uniform distribution. In this paper, a topology optimization approach is proposed considering the blast load with non-uniform distribution, aiming to unveil its impact on optimization layouts and dynamic responses. Initially, the smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) algorithm is used to obtain the blast pressure what are extracted and integrated into the optimization model. Subsequently, the relative density is regarded as design variable. The construction of material penalty model and the topology optimization model are based on polynomial interpolation scheme (PIS). The sensitivity of objective function is deduced employing an improved adjoint variable method (AVM) to fit the load forms, and the Newmark-$\beta$ method is used to calculate the dynamic response. The optimization criterion (OC) is adopted to update the design variables. Finally, two numerical examples are used to exhibit the validity and accuracy of the presented methodology. The findings indicate that the distributed form, spread velocity, excited position and excited amplitude of the blast load all exert a notable influence on optimization results and dynamic response. These results underscore the valuable engineering application of this research and introduce a fresh perspective to the challenge of topology optimization under the blast case.

A pressure impulse (PI) diagram is a useful preliminary design tool for structural members against blasts. An extensive amount of investigation has been undertaken to generalize PI curves, using single degree of freedom (SDOF) theory, for elastic structural members. In this study, a new original approach also using SDOF theory, relying on the concept of effective pulse shape, is presented for determining a PI curve for any elastic member. The advantage of this approach is that it can be applied to any given type of blast load. The techniques and equations involved in this approach are outlined. Then, to assess the accuracy of this approach, elastic normalized PI curves generated using the new approach are compared against those obtained using the traditional methods. Finally, this approach is compared against other simplified techniques for determining elastic normalized PI curves.