Experimental and numerical investigation of steel-concrete (SC) slabs under contact blast loading

Single-side- steel-concrete (SSSC) panel and center steel-concrete (CSC) panel, which consists of concrete infill, steel plate, and shear studs, are usually applied as protective structures in the industrial structures, commercial buildings, and nuclear power plant. In the past, limited research about these types of slabs under blast loads has been studied. In this study, three small-scale RC, SSSC and CSC slabs under contact detonation were tested to obtain the failure modes, mid-span deflection, and dynamic response. Nonlinear 3D finite element models of RC, SSSC, and CSC panels consisting steel plate, concrete infill, and shear connectors were established to assess the blast behaviors using Arbitrary-Lagrange-Eulerian (ALE) coupled with Fluid-structure interaction (FSI) algorithm. The accurateness of the numerical models was verified with the experiments by comparison of damage modes and deflection. The results indicated that the failure modes of these slabs were summarized as three types such as type I, type II and type III from both experimental and numerical results. The damaged areas of concrete in SSSC and CSC slabs were larger than that of RC slab. However, the RC slab suffered severe penetration damage with the loss in loading bearing capacity. The experimental and the numerical results demonstrated that the steel plate plays an important role in the blast resistance of SSSC, and CSC slabs under contact explosion, which had better blast resistances compared with the RC slab.