Blast load effects and retrofit options for reinforced concrete columns

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The terrorist attacks of September 11 and the foiled terrorist action ("Toronto 18") in Canada have drastically increased awareness of the possibility of terrorists attack in Canada. Now more than ever, Federal Government departments and owners of "iconic" structures are seeking to understand the vulnerabilities of their infrastructures to terrorist action and what can be done to increase the survivability of these structures and their occupants.Whereas a number of efforts have been made to limit access to explosive materials for illegitimate use and to incorporate physical security into building construction and upgrades, little has been done in Canada toinvestigate the response of infrastructure to blast loading. Most of the research information available to date is from the cold-war era and was targeted at military-type infrastructures. Today, however, accidental explosions and terrorist attacks in urban areas primarily affect civilian infrastructure that was built for aesthetics, lightweight, and economy and thus lack resistance against blast loading.The proposed research program combines the benefits of live explosive testing and computational fluid dynamics and finite element modelling techniques to investigate the effects of blast loading on the reinforced concrete (RC) columns. Both stand-off and contact explosive charge effects on RC columns will be studied and cost effective retrofit design methods investigated to mitigate the hazards associated explosions. The numerical modeling will assist in detailed parametric analyses to establish the effects of parameters influencing the response RC columns to blast loading.The proposed research program will train 5 graduate students in the areas of blast load effects, structuralresponse under extreme loading, material response under high-strain rates, and design and analysis ofinfrastructures under blast loading. The research program will also offer designers and researchers new and novel tools to design cost effective critical infrastructures to resist blast loading without failure.