Numerical Assessment of a Sustainable Blast Protection Wall

Abstract

Terrorist attacks have increased in the past few years in different countries. Explosions are problem that has significant impact on human life, as well as the social and economic situations. Engineers have designed targeted structures to mitigate blast effects. However, design blast-resistant systems is pricey and not suitable choice in most cases. Therefore, install blast barriers to protect occupants and instructed can reduce casualties and losses. Most current studies have investigated the performance of multi-layer composite blast barriers composed of advanced materials, which is not only costly, but require skilled labour to construct. The present study conducts numerical analysis of eco-friendly composite blast protection wall to mitigate blast. The wall structure consists of two face-sheet of adobe brick and core layer of crushed recycled aggregate. The analysis framework includes three different blast wall models using ABAQUS®. The explosive charge of 1-kilogram TNT is placed at different standoff distances from 0.25 to 4.0 meter in front of the wall. The authors conclude sustainable materials to design blast barriers could be effective in reducing the intensity of explosions in certain blast scenarios. The thickness of the core layer and standoff distance have the main contribution to identify the blast response of the blast wall. For instance, the calculated out-of-plane displacement results showed when 1- kg TNT place at 0.5-m from the wall, and thickness of the core increases from 30-cm to 60-cm, the displacement decreases by 38.74%. While the acceleration decreases by 75% for the same range of increase of thickness of the core layer. The present study calls researchers to investigate the performance of low-cost, and environment-friendly materials to attenuate abnormal loads wether are man-made or natural hazards.