A modelling scheme for predicting the response of elastic–plastic structures to pulse pressure loading

This paper is concerned with the analysis of structural members subjected to dynamic loading arising from an accidental explosion or bomb blast. The thrust of the paper is on approximate techniques for predicting the response of structural members to pulse pressure loading in which elastic deformations have a significant effect. The type of loading is of the kind to cause plastic deformation and large deflections in the members leading, in the extreme case, to uniaxial tensile failure or loss of integrity at the supports. The structural geometry, material behaviour and load intensity and distribution are such that the structure responds as a whole. The approach has been developed primarily for the class of problems in which elastic effects are significant, pulse shape is irregular, boundary conditions are neither fixed nor simply supported and the loading is in the quasi-static to dynamic regime.