On the Mechanical Characterization of Materials for Protection of Infrastructure Elements from the Effects of IEDs and Blast Charges

Abstract

The need to protect infrastructure elements from the effects of Improvised Explosive Devices requires a deep knowledge of the mechanical behaviour of the protective structure component materials under high strain rates and under different loading modes (tension, compression and shear). Several sandwich slab systems, based on a combination of reinforced concrete and Ultra High Performance Fibre Reinforced Concrete (UHPFRC) layers, were tested under blast, by a series of contact and near-contact charge tests, in order to analyse the improvement of the performance of existing structure by retrofitting. This paper presents the experimental techniques, used to study UHPC and UHPFRCs behaviour at high strain rate, and results in direct tension, compression and shear