066 Global response of a three-story building exposed to blast loading

Experimental data from full-scale experiments with reinforced concrete buildings exposed to blast loading are limited. As full-scale experiments are expensive, numerical simulations of the global response of structures exposed to blast loading may be an attractive substitute. A full-scale experiment on a three-story reinforced concrete building exposed to air-blast is employed to evaluate the performance of FE simulations to represent global response of reinforced concrete structures. The building experienced close to elastic response in the load bearing walls and columns, while cracks were observed in the front wall facing the charge. FE simulations of the global response of the building are performed with a solid element model and a structural element model (shell elements) to compare accuracy to computational cost. The results show that the FE simulations with solid and structural elements give an adequate representation of the global response of the building to a relatively low cost.