Dynamic Blast Load Analysis using RFEM : Software evaluation

The purpose of this Master thesis is to evaluate the RFEM software and determine if it could be used for dynamic analyses using blast loads from explosions. Determining the blast resistance for a structure is a growing market and would therefore be beneficial for Sweco Eskilstuna if RFEM could be used for this type of work. The verification involved comparing the RFEM software to a real experiment which consisted of a set of blast tested reinforced concrete beams. By using the structural properties from the experiment project with the experiment setup the same structure could be replicated in RFEM. RFEM would then simulate a dynamic analysis loaded with the same dynamic load measured from the experiment project in two different dynamic load cases caused by two differently loaded explosions. The structural response from the experiment could then be compared to the response simulated by the RFEM software, which consisted of displacement- and acceleration time diagrams. By analysing the displacement and acceleration of both the experiment and the RFEM software the accuracy was determined, and how well RFEM preformed the analysis for this specific situation. The comparison of the displacement and acceleration between the experiment and RFEM was considered acceptable if the maximum displacement was consistent with the experiments result and within the same time frame. The acceleration was considered acceptable if the initial acceleration was consistent with the experiment result. These criteria needed to be met for the verification that RFEM could simulate a dynamic analysis. If the software managed to complete a dynamic analysis for two dynamic load cases, then the software could be evaluated which consisted of determining if the post blast effects could be determined and if the modelling method was reliable. The acceleration from RFEM were in good agreement with the experiment test at the initial part of the blast, reaching a close comparison for both load cases after