Impact of composite materials on performance of reinforced concrete panels

The use of composite materials to strengthen reinforced concrete (RC) structures against blast terror has great interests from engineering experts in structural retrofitting. The composite materials used in this study are rigid polyurethane foam (RPF) and aluminum foam (ALF). The aim of this study is to use the RPF and the ALF to strengthen the RC panels under blast load. The RC panel is considered to study the RPF and the ALF as structural retrofitting. Field blast test is conducted. The finite element analysis (FEA) is also used to model the RC panel under shock wave. The RC panel performance is studied based on detonating different TNT explosive charges. There is a good agreement between the results obtained by both the field blast test and the proposed numerical model. The composite materials improve the RC panel performance under the blast wave propagation.