Nonlinear numerical modeling of reinforced concrete panels subjected to impact loads

Abstract

In recent years, the public concern about safety has increased dramatically because of the tremendous increase in the number of terrorist attacks all over the world. Although the research on impact and blast loads initially focused on military applications, now the risk of impact and blast events on civil structures has become of increasing concerns. Constructing civil and commercial buildings capable of sustaining impact and blast loads with acceptable damage has gained a lot of attention. Finally, the nonlinear model was refined through various model refinements and a comprehensive parametric study was presented. Results were analyzed and manipulated to figure out how we can increase the capacity of the panel to sustain higher impact loads with minimum damage. Moreover, new supporting systems were introduced to reduce the force transferred to the structure supporting the façade panel. A specifically designed support connection that allows for absorbing the impact shock is presented in this thesis. The introduced shock-absorber supporting system at the back side of the RC panel reduced the reaction force transferred to the structure by 52.5 % compared to the control model with classical support system.