An increasing concern is the possibility that a terrorist could be immolated when state security forces discover where they are preparing their explosive material or simply carry the charges with them and detonate them inside a building. Nine tests have been carried out with various Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) configurations with bomb vests inside a reinforced concrete structure built ad hoc for these tests. The size of the building is 5x6.80 m with an interior room of 2.95x3.95 m where the charges were located. The focus of this paper has been to study the IEDs effect on the structures. The IEDs have been designed as bomb vests with steel tubes on body armored vest and placed on dummies to reproduce the height of a person, and have been manufactured with various explosives i.e., black powder, ANFO, AN/AL (homemade), and PG2 (military plastic explosive). The first detonation was performed to calibrate the equipment and consisted of PG2 (plastic explosive like C-4) with an equivalent mass of 0.14 kg of TNT, unconfined. The second and third detonations with black powder were carried out with an equivalent mass of 0.79 and 0.77 kg, respectively. Both charges were confined in steel tubes. The fourth and fifth charges were with ANFO and an equivalent mass in kg of 1.48 and 1.42, both again stored inside steel tubes. The sixth and seventh with AN/AL with values of 1.88 and 1.95 kg and the same confinement. The eighth is again PG2 with 9.87 kg equivalent mass of TNT, placed on a vest at the height of a dummy. Finally, the last PG2 test was placed on the ground with a vest and an equivalent mass of 14.21 kg. The tests have been instrumented with accelerometers, pressure sensors, high frequency recording equipment and a high-speed camera trying to minimize risks to ensure the survival of equipment. These records, once processed, have been used to fundamentally understand the behavior of the structure and have served to validate the modeling carried out. The structure behaved extremely well, as it withstood the first eight detonations without apparent structural damage, and without any reinforcement or support work between tests. In the last detonation, the structural integrity of the roof and some walls was compromised. The building simulation was performed with LS-DYNA software with a Lagrangian formulation for the walls, using the CONWEP implemented module for load application. Despite the difficulty of this simulation, the results obtained, in terms of applied pressures and measured accelerations, are acceptable with differences of about 20%, allow one to infer the behavior of the structure.

TESTING AND MODELING OF RC STRUCTURE RESPONSE TO IEDs / Castedo, Ricardo; Santos, Anastasio P.; López, Lina M.; Chiquito, Maria; Oggeri, Claudio; Yenes, José I.; Martínez-Almajano, Santiago. - ELETTRONICO. - (2023), pp. 1-13. (Intervento presentato al convegno ICPS 6 - 6th International Conference on Protective Structures tenutosi a Auburn nel May 2023).

TESTING AND MODELING OF RC STRUCTURE RESPONSE TO IEDs

Castedo, Ricardo;Oggeri, Claudio;
2023

Abstract

An increasing concern is the possibility that a terrorist could be immolated when state security forces discover where they are preparing their explosive material or simply carry the charges with them and detonate them inside a building. Nine tests have been carried out with various Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) configurations with bomb vests inside a reinforced concrete structure built ad hoc for these tests. The size of the building is 5x6.80 m with an interior room of 2.95x3.95 m where the charges were located. The focus of this paper has been to study the IEDs effect on the structures. The IEDs have been designed as bomb vests with steel tubes on body armored vest and placed on dummies to reproduce the height of a person, and have been manufactured with various explosives i.e., black powder, ANFO, AN/AL (homemade), and PG2 (military plastic explosive). The first detonation was performed to calibrate the equipment and consisted of PG2 (plastic explosive like C-4) with an equivalent mass of 0.14 kg of TNT, unconfined. The second and third detonations with black powder were carried out with an equivalent mass of 0.79 and 0.77 kg, respectively. Both charges were confined in steel tubes. The fourth and fifth charges were with ANFO and an equivalent mass in kg of 1.48 and 1.42, both again stored inside steel tubes. The sixth and seventh with AN/AL with values of 1.88 and 1.95 kg and the same confinement. The eighth is again PG2 with 9.87 kg equivalent mass of TNT, placed on a vest at the height of a dummy. Finally, the last PG2 test was placed on the ground with a vest and an equivalent mass of 14.21 kg. The tests have been instrumented with accelerometers, pressure sensors, high frequency recording equipment and a high-speed camera trying to minimize risks to ensure the survival of equipment. These records, once processed, have been used to fundamentally understand the behavior of the structure and have served to validate the modeling carried out. The structure behaved extremely well, as it withstood the first eight detonations without apparent structural damage, and without any reinforcement or support work between tests. In the last detonation, the structural integrity of the roof and some walls was compromised. The building simulation was performed with LS-DYNA software with a Lagrangian formulation for the walls, using the CONWEP implemented module for load application. Despite the difficulty of this simulation, the results obtained, in terms of applied pressures and measured accelerations, are acceptable with differences of about 20%, allow one to infer the behavior of the structure.
2023
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11583/2983489