Abstract

This study deals with the behavior of reinforced concrete structures subjected to external explosions by using a three dimensional nonlinear analysis program. The section design property is employed to model the reinforced concrete structural elements. The behavior of concrete is simulated by an elasto-plastic work. Numerical study is carried out to evaluate the current international blast design guidelines like the US General Service Administration (GSA 2003), and the United Facility Criteria (UFC 2005) of the US Department of Defense (DoD). It is found that the building designed according to the (GSA 2003) guidelines would not satisfy the (UFC 2005) requirements to mitigate progressive collapse, while a building designed according to the (UFC 2005) requirements could withstand a blast loads resulted from detonation of (250 Ibs) at (30 ft). A parametric study is carried out using SAP 2000 software to investigate the effects of column dimensions, beam depth, and reinforcing steel ratio on the safety of the structure. It is found that increasing column dimensions by (25%) to the (UFC 2005) design is enough to reduce the standoff distance, but increasing beam depth by (20%) is not enough