Near-Field Explosion Effects on Reinforced Concrete Columns: An Experimental Investigation

Explosion effects on structures have been an area of research over the last decades. This is mainly due to the fact that structures all over the world are increasingly exposed to the threat of all forms of explosion related failures. Although significant amount of work is continuing on the effects of explosions on structures, experimental work involving live explosive testing is limited. Particularly, experimental work within the close-in range with scaled distance (z) less than 1.0 m/kg1/3 is scant. An experimental program involving live explosive was designed to investigate the effects of near-field explosions on reinforced concrete columns with different transverse reinforcement detailing and at different scaled distances (z = 0.22 m/kg1/3, z = 0.54 m/kg1/3, and z = 0.86 m/kg1/3). Analysis of the experimental results showed that, Seismic columns performed better relative to Conventional columns. This is because of confinement effect that made the seismic columns more ductile.