Title: Blast resistant design of precast reinforced concrete walls for strategic infrastructures under uncertainty

Authors: Pierluigi Olmati; Patrick Trasborg; Clay Naito; Franco Bontempi

Addresses: Sapienza University of Rome, Via Eudossiana 18 – 00184 Rome, Italy ' Lehigh University, 117 IMBT Labs, ATLSS Dr, Bethlehem PA 18015, USA ' Lehigh University, 117 IMBT Labs, ATLSS Dr, Bethlehem PA 18015, USA ' Sapienza University of Rome, Via Eudossiana 18 – 00184 Rome, Italy

Abstract: Extreme loads can have devastating effects on civilian structures since these buildings are not designed to withstand extreme events. Typical buildings and other critical infrastructures are particularly prone to external man-made attacks. This study focuses on probabilistic analyses, and investigates the probability of exceeding a given limit state of a precast concrete wall subjected to blast loads. The wall under investigation is a non-load bearing precast concrete panel used as exterior cladding for buildings. From the blast design point of view, these walls must protect people and equipment from external detonations. The aim of the paper is to compute both the fragility curves and the probability of exceedance of a typical precast concrete cladding system, considering a prescribed detonation of a vehicle borne improvised explosive device. To this aim non-linear dynamic analyses are carried out by the widely adopted equivalent single degree of freedom method. The fragility curves and the probability of exceedance of the precast concrete cladding wall are computed using Monte Carlo simulations.

Keywords: probabilistic blast engineering; fragility curves; Monte Carlo simulation; precast wall panels; conditional approach; blast resistant design; precast reinforced concrete; strategic infrastructures; critical infrastructures; uncertainty; extreme loads; man-made attacks; exterior cladding; vehicle borne IEDs; improvised explosive devices; terrorism.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCIS.2015.072151

International Journal of Critical Infrastructures, 2015 Vol.11 No.3, pp.197 - 212

Received: 09 Jul 2013
Accepted: 25 Nov 2013
Published online: 02 Oct 2015 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article