Dynamic Responses of Blast-Loaded Shallow Buried Concrete Arches Strengthened with BFRP Bars

This paper proposes a prefabricated basalt fiber reinforced polymer (BFRP) bars reinforcement of a concrete arch structure with superior performance in the field of protection engineering. To study the anti-blast performance of the shallow-buried BFRP bars concrete arch (BBCA), a multi-parameter comparative analysis was conducted employing the LS-DYNA numerical method, which was verified by the results of the field explosion experiments. By analyzing the pressure, displacement, acceleration of the arch, and the strain of the BFRP bars, the dynamic response of the arch was obtained. This study showed that BFRP bars could significantly optimize the dynamic responses of blast-loaded concrete arches. The damage of exploded BBCA was divided into five levels: no damage, slight damage, obvious damage, severe damage, and collapse. BFRP bars could effectively mitigate the degree of damage of shallow-buried underground protective arch structures under the explosive loads. According to the research results, it was feasible for BFRP bars to be used in the construction of shallow buried concrete protective arch structures, especially in the coastal environments.

Behaviour of buried concrete chambers under thermo-mechanical loads

Behaviour of buried concrete chambers under thermo-mechanical loads

Behaviour of buried concrete chambers under thermo-mechanical loads

Behaviour of buried concrete chambers under thermo-mechanical loads

Performance Evaluation of Buried Concrete Pipe Considering Soil Pressure and Crack Propagation Using 3D Finite Element Analysis

Numerous factors affect the soil pressure distributions around buried pipes, including the shape, size, and stiffness of the pipe, burial depth, and the stiffness of the surrounding soil. Additionally, to some extent, a pipe can benefit from the soil arching effect, where the overburden and surcharge pressure at the crown can be supported by the adjacent soil. As a result, a buried pipe only needs to support the portion of the load that is not transferred to the adjacent soil. This paper presents numerical investigations of the soil pressure distributions around buried concrete pipes and crack propagation under different environmental conditions, such as loading, saturation level, and the presence of voids. To this end, a nonlinear elastoplastic model for backfill materials was implemented using finite element software and a user-defined subroutine. Three different backfill materials and two different native soils were selected to examine the material-specific behaviors of concrete pipes, including soil pressure distributions and crack propagation. For each backfill material, the effects of the loading type, groundwater, and voids were investigated. These simulation results provide helpful information regarding pressure redistribution and buried concrete pipe behavior under various environmental conditions.