INVESTIGATIONS OF RC STRUCTURES SUBJECTED TO BLAST LOADS

Abstract

Recently, progressive collapse of civilian and military facilities became more common as a result of increased number of terrorist attacks and explosions. In order to mitigate this type of collapse, more studies have to be performed on evaluating the nonlinear response of buildings under such extreme loads. Since columns are the key load-bearing elements in structures and exterior columns are probably the most vulnerable structural components to terrorist attacks, column's failure is normally the primary cause of progressive collapse in structures.