Application of steel fiber concrete in small box girder under vehicle explosion load

Abstract

In recent years, the exceptional performance of steel fiber-reinforced concrete in blast and impact resistance has garnered widespread recognition, sparking considerable interest in its practical application in small box girders. To this end, nine groups of Trinitrotoluene (TNT) explosion simulation experiments were designed with the equivalent magnitudes matching those of actual automobile explosions to evaluate the anti-explosion and anti-penetration capabilities of steel fiber-reinforced concrete and ordinary concrete using the Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) method and the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics-ALE method. The aim was to explore the application prospects of steel fiber-reinforced concrete in small box girders. The research results demonstrate that with increasing TNT equivalent, the leading cause of breach to concrete slabs changes from spalling to cratering. The penetration resistance of steel fiber-reinforced concrete slabs is superior to its blast resistance. However, when the explosive force is larger than the sedan, the anti-explosion effect of steel fiber-reinforced concrete slabs becomes negligible. Moreover, under typical automobile explosion loads, the addition of 2% steel fibers can reduce spalling by up to 23% and cratering by up to 13% and can decrease the area of penetration damage by up to 47%. In designing blast-resistant structures, steel fiber-reinforced concrete is not recommended to enhance the blast resistance of bridges when the TNT equivalent exceeds 500 kg.