Blast And Impact Resistance Of High-Strength Concrete Columns: Energy Absorption Mechanisms, Damage Evolution, And Failure Modes Under Extreme Loading
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29284/ijasis.12.1s.2026.290-308Keywords:
High-Strength Concrete Blast Loading Energy Absorption Damage Evolution Failure Modes Reinforced Concrete Columns Energy Absorption Damage Evolution Failure Modes Reinforced Concrete Columns.Abstract
The growing menace of the blast and impact events on the critical infrastructure requires extensive knowledge on the behaviour of the high-strength concrete (HSC) under extreme loading. The study explores the blast and impact resistance of HSC columns both experimentally and numerically in terms of the nature of energy absorption, the patterns of damage development, and the transitions of failure modes. The four groups of HSC columns with concrete compressive strengths of 60 to 120 MPa and reinforcement ratios of 1.5% up to 4.0% were given controlled blast loads at scaled distances of 0.5 to 2.0 m/kg (1/3). The findings have shown that a doubling of concrete strength, to 120 MPa, raises blast resistance by about 45 per cent and higher reinforcement ratios (more than 3.0 per cent) raise ductility and energy-absorbing ability by 38 per cent. The experiment identifies three failure modes, flexural-dominated failure in scaled distance greater than 1.5 m/kg (1/3), shear-dominated failure between 0.8 to 1.5 m / kg (1/3) and direct shear failure below 0.8 m/ kg (1/3). Microstructure analysis indicates that HSC has better performance as it has denser matrix structure and low porosity, and incorporation of nano-silica results in further 15-20 percent improvement of blast resistance. The results are essential in the optimization of the design of the blast-resistant structures and the performance-based design criterion of the HSC column of high-risk facilities. The study enhances the comprehension of concrete behaviour during dynamic extreme loadings, and leads to the better safety practices in protective structural engineering.
References
1. Cao, Y., Deng, G., Yu, Q. L., Song, D. Enhancing the blast resistance of two-stage high-performance concrete with a functionally-graded concept. Engineering Structures. 2025;335:120384. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2025.120384
2. Li, J., Fu, G., Zhao, Y. Strength prediction and stochastic analysis of ultra-high performance concrete columns under the explosive blast load. Advances in Structural Engineering. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1177/13694332231213463
3. Xu, Z., Li, J., Wu, C. A numerical study of blast resistance of fire damaged ultra-high performance concrete columns. Engineering Structures. 2023;279:115613. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2023.115613
4. Li, Y., Algassem, O., Aoude, H. Blast behavior of columns built with high-strength concrete and Grade 690 MPa high-strength reinforcement. Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering. 2020;47(8):951–965. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjce-2019-0554
5. Wang, P., Ning, X., Du, J., Li, C. Electromagnetic pulse welding on a magnesium–aluminum joint: Role of angle of welding. Materials and Manufacturing Processes. 2022;38(1):1–8. https://doi.org/10.1080/10426914.2022.2072889
6. Ayaz, M., Khandaei, M., Vahidshad, Y. Investigating the effect of electromagnetic impact welding parameters on the microstructure evolution and mechanical properties of SS-Cu joint. Materials Today Communications. 2023;35:105404. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtcomm.2023.105404
7. Li, Z., Beslin, E., Den Bakker, A., Scamans, G., Danaie, M., Williams, C., et al. Bonding and microstructure evolution in electromagnetic pulse welding of hardenable Al alloys. Journal of Materials Processing Technology. 2021;290:116965. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2020.116965
8. Pereira, D., Oliveira, J. P., Santos, T. G., Miranda, R. M., Lourenço, F., Gumpinger, J., Bellarosa, R. Aluminium to carbon fibre reinforced polymer tubes joints produced by magnetic pulse welding. Composite Structures. 2019;230:111512. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2019.111512
9. You, J., Zhao, Y., Dong, C., Su, Y. Improving the microstructure and mechanical properties of Al-Cu dissimilar joints by ultrasonic dynamic-stationary shoulder friction stir welding. Journal of Materials Processing Technology. 2023;311:117812. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2022.117812
10. Xu, R., Wang, G. Modeling and prediction of short/long term mechanical behavior of FRP-strengthened slabs using innovative composite finite elements. Engineering Structures. 2023;281:115727. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2023.115727
11. Li, J., Yin, J., Li, X., Zhang, X., Yi, J., Wang, G. Quantifying blast damage and failure mode transition in reinforced concrete columns with a dimensionless model. Scientific Reports. 2025;15(1):34320. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-16606-0
12. Mohamed, A. A., Ali, O., Metwally, I. Blast performance of RC columns with different levels of concrete grades and reinforcing ratios. Structural Concrete. 2024;25(3):3282–3304. https://doi.org/10.1002/suco.202400083
13. Čítek, D., Hajek, R., Kolísko, J., Čítek, A., Pachman, J., Foglar, M., Sulc, V. Experimental study on response of axially loaded steel and steel-concrete composite columns to blast loading. Engineering Structures. 2025;340:120585. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2025.120585
14. Babu, G. A., Vigneshwaran, K., Aitcin, P. C. High-performance cementitious grouts for post-tensioned concrete systems – Performance specifications and prototype testing. Construction and Building Materials. 2023;367:130345. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2023.130345
15. Moustafa, A., Hassan, B. M. F. Energy absorption and damage of inelastic SDOF structures under blast loads. Journal of Engineering Sciences. 2017;45(3):301–323. https://doi.org/10.21608/jesaun.2017.116271
16. Kelliher, D., Sutton-Swaby, K. Stochastic representation of blast load damage in a reinforced concrete building. Structural Safety. 2012;34(1):37–50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.strusafe.2011.08.001
17. Kodur, V. R., Wang, T. C., Cheng, F. P. Predicting the fire resistance behaviour of high strength concrete columns. Cement and Concrete Composites. 2004;26(2):141–153. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0958-9465(03)00089-1
18. Shi, B., Xu, X., Li, J., Li, G., Li, W., Xu, T., Guo, W., Xing, H., Wang, M. Experimental and numerical study on explosion cratering and coupled ground shock in clay. International Journal of Impact Engineering. 2024;187:104923. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijimpeng.2024.104923
19. Peng, Q., Wang, Q., Ma, L. Blast-resistant performance evaluation of steel box girder of suspension bridge. Buildings. 2025;15(17):3210. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15173210
20. Gong, F., Jiang, X., Gamil, Y., Iftikhar, B., Thomas, B. S. An overview on spalling behavior, mechanism, residual strength and microstructure of fiber reinforced concrete under high temperatures. Frontiers in Materials. 2023;10:1258195. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmats.2023.1258195
21. Zhang, H., Gao, K., Huang, H., Hou, S., Li, J., Wu, G. Fully decouple convolutional network for damage detection of rebars in RC beams. Engineering Structures. 2023;285:116023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2023.116023
22. Rahman, I., Dev, N. High strength nano silica based concrete. International Journal of Innovative Technology and Exploring Engineering. 2020;9(7):1150–1155. https://doi.org/10.35940/ijitee.F4166.059720
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
