Abstract:
Recent deterioration and damage to buildings and infrastructures caused by the extreme loading
events have emphasized the necessity of adequate dynamic resistivity of those structures against such
impulsive loadings. This innovation is on the use of palm oil-based polyurethane (PU) as a retrofitting
material to enhance the structural capacity and resistance of reinforced concrete (RC) structural elements
against impulsive effects. A numerical study was conducted using non-linear Finite Element (FE) code, LSDYNA
to study the dynamic resistance of bio-based PU coated RC slab elements subjected to blast load
impact. FE models were developed based on an experimental investigation conducted by
Tanapornraweekit et al. (2010). The material models were verified with the experimental outcomes of the
varying strain-rate properties of materials which were investigated by the authors in the subsequent
studies. Developed FE models were verified and validated using the experimental outcomes of the
Tanapornraweekit’s study. The contribution of coating thickness on the overall efficiency of the retrofitting
scheme was assessed by four different coating thickness. The coating thicknesses were selected as the
proportion to the total panel thickness, which are 2.5%, 5%, 10% and 20%. In addition, three concurrent
studies on the coating thickness were undertaken, which are the influence of the coating thickness on
impact face, rear face (with respect to blast) and, on both faces (with equal coating thickness). Findings
indicated that the overall effectiveness of the proposed technique has shown great potential in terms of
reduction in the panel deformations, support rotation and fragmentation effect in enhancing the blast
resistance of RC elements.
