Dynamic Response of Sacrificial Curved Steel Wall Under Blast Loading

Due to increased frequency of terrorist attacks and blast threats all over the world, safety of personnel and structural integrity under blast loading is most important. This necessitates immediate research intervention to understand the behavior of various structures and structural components under such extreme loadings. In the present investigation, non-linear dynamic finite element (FE) analysis of sacrificial curved steel wall is carried out with varying angle of curvature (i.e. 0 degrees-180 degrees). Herein, non-linear dynamic analysis is carried out using ABAQUS (R) finite element package. ConWep formulation is used for defining blast loading and performance of the wall, in terms of peak deflection, is compared to understand the effect on curvature on peak deflection. For this purpose, three-dimensional deformable 4-node, reduced integration, hourglass control with finite membrane strains elements are employed for non-linear FE analysis of curved wall. Non-linear dynamic analysis is carried out with varying angle of curvature along top one-fourth length of the wall. Further, performance of curved walls is compared with that of straight vertical wall in terms of peak deflection. Deflection at various points along the height of wall is computed and analyzed. Based on this analysis, it is observed that a simple change in curvature of wall results in considerable improvement in blast resistance with all other conditions being same.