Investigating the Effect of the Geometry of RC Barrier Walls on the Blast Wave Propagation

Abstract

Evaluating the performance of several types of reinforced concrete barrier walls subjected to blast loads is the target of this research paper. A parametric study is carried out for nine RC barrier wall systems with different geometries modelled in the three dimensions with different configurations and variable parameters. ANSYS Autodyn software version 18.2 is used to model and analyse these systems using three-dimensional explicit dynamics analysis. The nine systems are studied under the effect of several parameters, such as explosive charge weight (W) and the stand-off distance from the explosion source to the wall (R). Their effect on the wall damage and its deformations and the pressure-induced at different locations are analysed. Eighteen reinforced concrete barrier wall models are studied to achieve this research goal. Comparisons between the results showed the deformation performance of the 60° concave face with planar back walls and the walls with the constant base of 1.0-meter-thick up to 0.5-meter-high with a face hunch up to 2.0-meter-high are better than all other studied walls. However, the concave face-convex back wall that has 70° curvature mitigate the pressure behind the wall by 10% regardless of its deformation.

Numerical analysis of physical barriers to mitigate the gas tank explosion effects using computational fluid dynamics

“…However, for the scenario simulated in this paper, geometries with curvatures similar to those studied by Taha et al [15] and Attia et al [17] did not prove advantageous when compared with simpler geometries, for example, G1, G2a, and G7a. Regarding the top edge of the G1 wall, the results (Figure 15) showed a small variation between the values of overpressure peaks.…”

“…Geometries with curved surfaces (concave and convex) were investigated with angles of 20º, 40º, 60º, and 80º, where the thickness was kept the same as the trapezoidal section. Analyzes similar to this one were also conducted by Taha et al [15] and Attia et al [17]; these researchers concluded that, in the scenario studied by them, a concave surface with a 60º curvature had a better performance in reducing overpressures in the region behind the wall.…”

“…The experiments carried out by Beyer [9] and Wu et al [10] with concrete walls and those carried out by Xiao et al [11] and Chen et al [12] with gabion walls showed that these devices are capable of significantly reducing the overpressures in the back part, as they are a physical barrier to the passage of the shock wave. In the numerical field, relevant studies were conducted by Zhou and Hao [13], Soukup et al [14], Taha et al [15], Skob et al [16], Attia et al [17] showing the efficiency of these physical barriers with different geometries and scenarios. The use of trees as obstacles has been investigated experimentally in some relevant studies.…”

Bio-Inspired of Pyramidical Concrete Barrier Walls against the Effects of Explosion Waves

“…Abundant researchers have discussed the response of blast waves on many geometric configurations theoretically [6] [7], numerically and experimentally [8] [9] [10] [11] [12], such as Walid Attia, Sherif Elwan and Ismail Kotb [12] Discuss the performance of different types of reinforced concrete barrier walls that were subjected to blast loads and also applied a parametric study for nine RC barrier wall systems with many geometries modeled in the three dimensions with different parameters using ANSYS Autodyn software version 18.2. It has been found that the walls with the steady base of 1.0-meter-thick up to 0.5-meter-high with a confront hunch up to 2.0-meter-high are better than all other considered walls.…”