Residual Capacity of Blast-Damaged Reinforced Concrete Columns

This research project forms part of a larger program designed to assess the blast resistance and residual capacity of reinforced concrete columns. Earlier phases of the program included the testing of reinforced concrete column under live explosion loading and numerical modelling of the columns. The primary objective of this current phase of the project reported in this thesis is the investigation of the residual capacity of the blast-damaged reinforced concrete columns.Thirteen (13) columns were tested in this residual capacity test program. Four (4) were undamaged control samples while the remaining nine (9) survived the field tests carried out by Siba (2014). The residual capacity tests were carried out by the applying axial force in a load control mode then lateral force in a displacement control mode. The results showed that reinforced concrete columns designed following seismic detailing guidelines have an inherent resistance against blast load.