Towards a better understanding of the response of rc barriers to combined loading of blast and fragments

Analysis and design of protective reinforced concrete (RC) structures commonly decouple the effects of the blast and fragments loading, to which they have to resist. However, experimental results show that there is a synergistic effect of the combined loading of overpressure and impact, where the structural response and damage of a structure is more severe when it is exposed to both blast and fragments than to their separate actions. Moreover, most available studies of extreme loading simplify the fragments loading by assuming their uniform velocity and masses. The current research deals with aspects of the structural response to combined loading. The main aim of the research is to study the response of an RC protective wall and evaluate its capacity under the combined load of blast and fragments. It consists of two main stages, where the first stage focuses on characterization and delineation of the combined loading and the second one aims to analyze the response of the structure to this load. The study employs numerical as well as analytical methods, verified against available experimental results. The current paper presents the main findings of the first stage and initial results of the second stage, which shows a methodology to evaluate the mechanical properties and response of a slab damaged by fragments impact.