Author(s)

GENEVIEVE PEZZOLA, LAUREN STEWART

Abstract

The ongoing presence and persistence of terrorist groups is a perpetual threat that emphasizes the urgency to strengthen and retrofit any structural vulnerabilities, especially vulnerabilities that when exploited could lead to catastrophic damage of expensive infrastructure or loss of life. To avoid these losses, the application of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) laminates as a retrofit on reinforced concrete (RC) structural elements has been proven to increase the blast resistance. There have been few studies, however, on the anchorage behavior in large-scale RC systems retrofitted with FRP subjected to blast. To bridge this gap, two different mechanical anchorage techniques for concrete structures using carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) layers were subjected to explosive loading to investigate system behavior with the different mechanical anchorage retrofits: a steel strap retrofit system and smaller steel plate retrofit system. The experimental program utilized a hemisphere C4 charge and tested the retrofit with scaled distances of 1.42 m/kg^1/3 and 1.09 m/kg^1/3. The performance of the two blast retrofits were evaluated and compared in terms of the displacements of the slab systems and associated failure modes.

Keywords

blast, CFRP, reinforced concrete, debonding