Electronic Journal of Structural Engineering, 6 (2006)

Enhancing the performance under close-in detonations with

polymer reinforced CRC
B. Riisgaard1
NIRAS, Denmark
Centre for Protective Structures and Materials, Technical University of Denmark
E-mail: ber@byg.dtu.dk

A.Gupta, P.Mendis, T.Ngo

Advanced Protective Technology for Engineering Structures
Dept .of Civil & Environmental Engineering, The University of Melbourne

ABSTRACT: Compact Reinforced Composite, CRC, is a high-strength cement-based composite

possessing an enormous flexural and energy-absorbing capacity due to close-spaced high
strength steel reinforcement and a high-strength cement-based fiber DSP matrix. The material
has been used in various construction projects including as protection for explosion hazards. In
connection with explosive impact, the fraction of shear reinforcement needed to obtain full flex-
ural capacity is controlled by the stand-off distance. For close-in detonations, a high fraction of
shock reinforcement is needed to obtain full flexural capacity without breaching. This paper in-
troduces an efficient method for implementing high fractions of polymer shock reinforcement
into a CRC element. Experimental tests and a preliminary finite element analysis were per-
formed to assess the potency of this material.

KEYWORDS: CRC, reinforcement, shock, polymer, finite element.

1 INTRODUCTION A HPFRC like FDSP (Fibre-reinforced

Densified Small Particle systems) used in
Advanced high performance concrete com- CRC (Compact Reinforced Composite) appli-
posites and their response to blast loading is cations holds compressive strength in the
an area of continuing interest within the field range of 150 to 400 MPa. (Bindiganavile et al.
of civil engineering. Polymer reinforcement in 2002).
such concrete composites and elements for This paper introduces an efficient method
protective applications include glass, aramid for implementing high fractions of polymer
(Kevlar) or polyvinyl alcohol fibre bundles. shock reinforcement into an element.
HPFRC (High-Performance Fibre- The term shock reinforcement refers to re-
Reinforced Concrete) of any kind refers to fi- inforcement in the out-of-plane direction im-
bre-reinforced cement-based materials particu- plemented to avoid shock-initiated disintegra-
larly developed for specific applications where tion of a structural element.
strength, toughness, ductility, and energy ab- The term fiber bundles refers to a large
sorption are fundamental properties. These number of parallel fibres of the same length
properties in HPFRC are obtained by using that have been spun to a cord.
large quantities of superplasticizers, high vol- The composite presented in this paper is
umes of micro-silica, low water-cement ratio, patented by Composhield A/S Denmark. The
high fractions of small discrete fibres, and the numerical modelling of the work presented in
absence of any coarse aggregate. this paper is being carried out as a part of on-
going project with the APTES group.
1
Corresponding author: ber@byg.dtu.dk
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 Electronic Journal of Structural Engineering, 6 (2006)

2 EFFECTS OF CLOSE-IN
DETONATIONS

Detonation and explosion, which are com-

monly used synonymously, produce a shock
front travelling faster than the speed of sound.
Blast wave propagation can be treated mathe-
matically on the basis of thermodynamics by
solving the conservation equations analyti-
cally (Kinney and Graham, 1985). A contact
or a close-in detonation is characterized by no, Figure 2. Principle of a 50mm CRC deck
or only limited, stand-off distance from the
explosive charge to e.g. a structural element, The addition of small discrete fibres to the
and it generates shock waves in the element of DSP matrix makes it more homogeneous and
up to 30 times the speed of sound, pressures of transforms it from a brittle to a ductile mate-
up to 20 GPa, and strain rates of up to 108 s-1 rial. Because the fibres are randomly oriented
depending on the material and charge size. and very closely spaced throughout the matrix,
they are more effective than conventional re-
inforcement for bridging across cracks, and
the presence of the fibres also provides some
post-cracking ductility. The ultimate shear
strength increases with an increase in fibre
volume fraction, and in some cases full flex-
ural capacity can be reached in elements with-
out stirrups just by using fibres. (Khuntia et
Figure 1. Contact detonation on a concrete plate, re- al., 1999)
gions of different stress states and failure situations

A common effect of close-in detonations 4 IMPROVED COMPACT

on concrete structures is spalling, which leads REINFORCED COMPOSITE FOR
to disintegration of the structural element. CLOSE-IN DETONATION
Spalling is caused by the free surface reflec-
tion of the shock wave induced in the struc- CRC improved for close-in detonation is a
tural element by a high-pressure air blast, and Fibre-reinforced Densified Small Particle sys-
occurs whenever the dynamic tensile rupture tem (FDSP), combined with a close-spaced
strength of the structure is exceeded. Although high-strength longitudinal flexural rebar ar-
it is a complex process, reasonable analytical rangement laced together in the out-of-plane
spall estimates can be obtained for concrete by direction using polymer lacing to avoid shock
assuming elastic material behaviour and in- initiated disintegration of the structural ele-
stantaneous spall information. Specifically, ment.
spall thicknesses and velocities for both the
normal and oblique incidence of the shock
wave on the back face of the structural ele-
ment can be calculated.

3 COMPACT REINFORCED
COMPOSITE

Compact Reinforced Composite (CRC) is a

Fibre-reinforced Densified Small Particle sys-
tem (FDSP), combined with a close-spaced, Figure 3. Principle of 50 mm CRC deck improved
high-strength, longitudinal flexural rebar ar- for close-in detonation
rangement.

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 Electronic Journal of Structural Engineering, 6 (2006)

Aramid (Kevlar) was developed in the late

sixties as a new class of polymers—para-
oriented polyamides (aramids)—possessing
internally rigid molecular chains in an ex-
tended confirmation. Like glass and carbon fi-
bres, the tensile stress-strain curve of aramids
is almost linear up to the point of failure. The
details are shown in Table 1.
The combination of low density with high-
strength and elastic modulus gives aramid the
highest specific tensile strength and a rea-
sonably high specific modulus, even when
compared with carbon fibre (Nanni, 1992).

Table 1 - Characteristics for aramids

Spe- Tensile Elastic Elongation

cific strength modulus [%]
gravity [MPa] [GPa]
2640 – 75.5 –
1.39 – 1.45 2.0 – 4.2
3040 127.5 Figure 4. Experimental setup for 50x1200x1200
panel – 3.5kg of PETN HE

5 EXPERIMENTAL WORK The tests presented in this paper were

based on a matrix design that offers sufficient
Two panels of 50 mm thickness, which workability and maximum design strength and
were tested, are included in the paper. In Ta- ductility. The formula used for these mix pro-
ble 2 the dimensions of the panels, charge portions was:
size, and stand-off are shown. The panels were
reinforced by 1800 MPa orthogonal longitudi-
1 − Vagg − V f
nal flexural high-strength steel rebars on both Vb = (1)
faces Φ 5 mm, and a centre-to-centre spacing 3150
w/c⋅ +1
of 10 mm as shown in Figure 4. The cover 1000
layer was 3 mm. The panels were simply sup- Vw = 1 − Vagg − Vb − V f
ported by a steel frame with a free inner di-
mension of 500 x 500mm. The panels were
tested under identical support conditions, but
under different boundary conditions, to gain 6 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
sufficient anchor length.
a. Observations (Panel 1): 50 x 600 x 600 – 1
Table 2 – Dimensions, charge size and stand off
kg PETN / 4 cm
Panel Dimension Charge Dis- Dis-
[mm] PETN tance* tance**
Plastic deflection was measured as 18 mm.
(TNT [mm] [mm]
Very little anchor failure was observed. The
equiv.)
cover layer on the front side (warm side) suf-
[kg]
fered from scabbing. No lacing was cut over
and all longitudinal rebars were intact. The
1 50x600x600 1.0 (1.3) 40 85
cover layer on the rear side (cold side) spalled,
2 50x1200x1200 3.5 (4.5) 40 126
but the lacing was intact, as shown in Figure
* Distance surface of charge to surface deck ** Distance (eqv.
5.
TNT) centre of charge to surface panel

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 Electronic Journal of Structural Engineering, 6 (2006)

Figure 6. 50x1200x1200mm – 3.5 kg PETN / 4 cm -

a) Rear side b) Front side

7 FINITE ELEMENT MODELLING

In this paper, only simulations for the

1200x1200 mm PCRC panel are presented.
1/8 of the panel has been modeled. The verti-
cal end boundary on the modeled panel is
fully constrained to implement the effect of
sufficient anchor length, as commented upon
in the experimental work. That simplification
is acceptable, as the cantilever part of the
1200x1200 mm panel’s only function is to at-
Figure 5. 50x600x600mm – 1 kg PETN / 4 cm - a) tain sufficient anchor length for the rebars.
Rear side b) Front side Additionally, symmetrical features have
been added to the model. Concrete matrix and
b. Observations (Panel 2): 50 x 1200 x 1200 aramid lacing are modeled as solid elements
– 3.5 kg PETN / 4 cm and rebars have been modeled as beam ele-
ments. Bonds between rebars and matrix are
Plastic deflection was measured to 60 mm. modeled using a fully constrained surface con-
Very little anchor failure was seen. The cover tact. The panel is modelled as simply sup-
layer on front side (warm side) suffered from ported by a steel frame with a free inner di-
severe scabbing. Locally, some lacing was cut mension of 500 x 500mm. This steel frame
over, but all longitudinal rebars were intact. does not appear visually in the simulations.
The cover layer on the rear side (cold side) The real and FE model of rebar and lacing ar-
spalled, but the lacing was intact as shown in rangement is shown in Figure 7.
Figure 6.

Figure 7. (a) Rebar and (b) FE model

lacing arrangement

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 Electronic Journal of Structural Engineering, 6 (2006)

8 NUMERICAL SIMULATION 9 CONCLUSION

To demonstrate the effect of using aramid The main purpose of this test was to dem-
lacing as shock reinforcement, simulations on onstrate the potential of this modified CRC
a similar model with reduced amount of ara- composite subjected to close-in detonation.
mid are also presented. The aramid lacing is Demonstrations were made on two polymer
modeled using an isotropic elastic material reinforced CRC panels improved for close-in
model that includes strain rate effects. detonation with dimensions as follows: Panel
The numerical simulation of 50mm thick 1: 50x600x600mm and Panel 2:
1200x1200mm PCRC panel with 100% ara- 50x1200x1200mm. The panels were subjected
mid lacing and when aramid lacing is reduced to 1.0kg and 3.5kg of PETN, respectively, at a
by 50% is shown in Figure 8 and Figure 9 re- stand-off distance of 4 cm surface-to-surface
spectively. for both panels. The results showed no breach-
ing of or any damage to the reinforcing bars.
For Panel 1, plastic deflection was measured
as 18 mm. Very little anchor failure was seen.
The cover layer on the front side (warm side)
suffered from scabbing (cratering). No lacing
was cut over and all longitudinal rebars were
intact. The cover layer on the rear side (cold
side) spalled, but the lacing was intact. For
Panel 2, plastic deflection was measured as 60
mm. Very little anchor failure was seen. The
cover layer on the front side (warm side) suf-
fered from severe scabbing (cratering). Lo-
cally, some lacing was cut over, but all longi-
tudinal rebars were intact. The cover layer on
Figure 8. 50 mm thick PCRC panel with 100% ara- the rear side (cold side) spalled, but the lacing
mid lacing was intact. The numerical modelling of the
work presented in this paper is being carried
out as part of an ongoing project with the
APTES group.

REFERENCES

Bindiganavile, V., Banthia, N., and Aarup, B., 2002,

Impact response of ultra-high-strength fiber-
reinforced cement composite: Aci Materials Journal,
v. 99, p. 543-548.
Khuntia, M., Stojadinovic, B., and Goel, S., 1999,
Shear strength of normal and high-strength fiber re-
inforced concrete beams without stirrups. ACI
Structural Journal 96[2], 282-289.
Figure 9. 50 mm thick PCRC panel with 50% ara- Kinney, G. F. and Graham, K. J., 1985, Explosive
shocks in air. Springerverlag .
mid lacing Nanni, A., 1992, Properties of aramid-fiber reinforced
concrete and SIFCON. Journal of Materials in Civil
The results from numerical simulations Engineering 4[1], 1-15.
clearly indicate that the spalling and damage
was more significant when the aramid lacing
was reduced to 50 % as compared to 100 %
aramid lacing.

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