Structural Response of Steel Jacket-UHPC Retrofitted Reinforced Concrete Columns under Blast Loading.

The lateral capacity of exterior concrete columns subjected to a blast load is the key factor in the building collapse probability. Due to potentially severe consequences of the collapse, efforts have been made to improve the blast resistance of existing structures. One of the successful approaches is the use of ultra-high-performance-concrete (UHPC) jacketing for retrofitting a building’s columns. The columns on the first floor of a building normally have higher slenderness due to the higher first story. Since an explosion is more likely to take place at the ground level, retrofitting the columns of the lower floors is crucial to improve a building’s blast resistance. Casting a UHPC tube around a circular reinforced concrete (RC) column can increase the moment of inertia of the column and improve the flexural strength. In this study, a retrofitting system consisting of a UHPC layer enclosed by a thin steel jacket is proposed to improve the blast resistance of buildings in service. Most of the previous research is focused on design aspects of blast-resistant columns and retrofitting systems are mostly based on fiber reinforced polymers or steel jackets. A validated finite element (FE) model is used to investigate the effectiveness of this method. The results showed significant improvement both at the component and building system levels against combined gravity and blast loading.