Yield Line Analysis of Slabs with Covered Openings

The yield line analysis method is used extensively throughout the blast design and analysis community to determine the strength of reinforced concrete structural elements to resist blast overpressures. Technical literature has long been available that describes the yield line method of analysis and explains how to derive the necessary analysis equations for a structural element such as a wall or a roof. Most presentations of the yield line analysis method deal with common slab configurations, such as one-way spans of varying support conditions or two-way spans that usually consist of a rectangular slab supported along two or more edges. Very little discussion is available on how to analyze slabs with openings, and even less information is available on how to analyze slabs with covered openings. Yet slabs with covered openings, such as blast-resistant doors or windows, are very common structural elements in the explosive safety design community. This paper presents a method by which the yield line analysis method can be used to analyze and design slabs and plates with openings.
See also ADM000767. Presented at the Department of Defense Explosives Safety Seminar (26th) held in Miami, Florida on 16-18 August 1994. Published in the Proceedings of the Department of Defense Explosives Safety Seminar (26th), 1994.