EMPIRICAL FORMULAE TO PREDICT PRESSURE AND IMPULSIVE ASYMPTOTES FOR P-I DIAGRAMS OF RC COLUMNS STRENGTHENED WITH FRP

There are only limited studies that directly correlate the increase in structural capacities in resisting the blast loads with the fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) strengthenin. In this paper, numerical analyses of dynamic response and damage of reinforced concrete (RC) columns strengthened with FRP to blast loads are carried out using the commercial software LS-DYNA. A series of simulations are performed to predict the blast response and damage of columns with different FRP type. The simulations also involved parametric studies by varying the FRP thickness, configuration, different column dimension, concrete strength, and longitudinal and transverse reinforcement ratio. The numerical results are used to develop pressure-impulse (P-I) diagrams of FRP strengthened RC columns. Based on the numerical results, the empirical formulae are derived to calculate the pressure and impulse asymptotes of the P-I diagrams of RC columns strengthened with FRP.