Damage assessment for buried structures against internal blast load

Damage assessment for buried structures against an internal blast is conducted by considering the soil-structure interaction. The structural element under analysis is assumed to be rigid-plastic and simply-supported at both ends. Shear failure, bending failure and combined failure modes are included based on five possible transverse velocity profiles. The maximum deflections with respect to shear and bending failure are derived respectively by employing proper failure criteria of the structural element. Pressure-Impulse diagrams to assess damage of the buried structures are subsequently developed. Comparisons have been done to evaluate the influences of the soil-structure interaction and the shear-tobending strength ratio of the structural element. A case study for a buried reinforced concrete structure has been conducted to show the applicability of the proposed damage assessment method.