Engineering Structures 294 (2023) 116741

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Engineering Structures
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/engstruct

Experimental and numerical study on local damage effect of

ultra-early-strength reinforced concrete slabs (URCS) under
contact explosion
Wei Wang a, b, *, Xiaodong Song a, Qing Huo a, Yiping Wang a
a
Key Laboratory of Impact and Safety Engineering, (Ningbo University), Ministry of Education, Ningbo 315211, Zhejiang, China
b
Institute of Advanced Energy Storage Technology and Equipment, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: UR50 ultra-early-strength cement-based self-compacting high-strength material has the advantage of short
Ultra-early-strength concrete slabs curing time and rapid development of early strength, which is an ideal material for rapid repair and construction
Contact explosion of key facilities in wartime. In order to investigate the local damage characteristics of ultra-early-strength
Numerical simulation
reinforced concrete slabs (URCS) under contact explosion thoroughly, 12 contact explosion tests were carried
Explosion resistant performance
out on URCS cured for 28 days and 24 h with three reinforcement rates (0.23%, 0.41% and 0.79%) under 200 g,
400 g, 600 g and 800 g TNT mass by using TNT binding cube charge. The test results showed that the explosion
resistance performance of URCS cured for 28 days under contact explosion was not much different from that
cured for 24 h, and the variation of reinforcement rate within the conventional range had limited influence on
the explosion resistance performance of URCS. Further, explicit dynamic finite element software LS-DYNA was
used to simulate the local damage of URCS cured for 24 h under contact explosion, and the influence of slab
thickness and TNT mass on local damage of 24-hour curing URCS was studied with validated numerical model,
and the range of seismic collapse coefficients Kz for different failure modes of URCS under contact explosion was
given.

1. Introduction methods [5–11]. However, although these methods are effective in

Since entering the 21st century, terrorist attacks and accidental ex­
plosions have occurred continuously around the world, causing serious
casualties and economic losses as well as bad political and social im­
pacts. Reinforced concrete (RC) slabs are widely used in bridges, houses
and other buildings and various defense projects, using their good
structural properties as important load-bearing elements [1]. In war or
terrorist attacks, RC slabs are extremely vulnerable to attack, but con­
ventional concrete is weak in tensile strength, poor toughness, and high
brittleness, the structure usually forms a collapse and crumbling phe­
nomenon at the back under explosive loads [2–4], and the resulting
concrete fragments carry large kinetic energy and are prone to second­
ary injuries to personnel and equipment around the structure. Therefore,
there is a growing demand for the development of blast-resistant
structures with excellent performance.
In recent years, authors have tried to enhance the blast resistance
performance of concrete slabs with some traditional reinforcement
increasing the strength and stiffness of structure, they also increase the
technical difficulty and raise the construction cost. In addition, this
method does not substantially increase the resistance of the structure to
blast loads, and the spalling and crushing of concrete slab after explosion
cannot be completely eliminated.
Spalling of concrete under blast loading is a dynamic failure behavior
combining brittleness and ductility. The shock wave generated by the
blast produces a reflected tensile wave when it reaches the back blasting
surface of the structure, and when the strength of reflected tensile wave
is continuously superimposed to exceed the dynamic tensile strength of
concrete, spalling damage occurs on the back blasting surface of the
structure. Therefore, from the material point of view, the key to
enhancing the protective performance of structure is to enhance the
toughness and ductility of concrete materials, and improve the tensile
strength. At present, experts and scholars at home and abroad mainly
focus on how to improve the anti-explosion performance of concrete
from two aspects. On the one hand, people add fibers into concrete to

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: wangwei7@nbu.edu.cn (W. Wang).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2023.116741

Available online 11 August 2023

0141-0296/© 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
W. Wang et al.
improve its blast resistance. The addition of fibers enhances the impact
toughness of concrete, which can effectively prevent the development of
cracks, thereby improving the anti-explosion ability of concrete.
Masayasu et al [12] investigated the dynamic damage behavior of fiber-
reinforced concrete (FRC) slabs through contact explosion experiments
and found that the addition of polymer fibers increased the flexural
toughness of concrete and reduced the area and volume of spalling
damage for FRC slabs. Coughlin et al [13] experimentally investigated
the steel fiber concrete for blast load resistance and found that FRC has
higher toughness and better blast resistance than conventional concrete.
Yi et al [14] carried out ammonium blast tests on reinforced ultra-high
performance concrete (UHPC) and reactive powder concrete (RPC)
slabs, and recorded the blast damage and damage patterns of specimens,
the results showed that UHPC and RPC have better blast resistance.
Foglar et al [15] conducted field blast tests and numerical simulations on
slabs with different fiber contents and concrete grades, and the results
showed that the fibers not only enhanced the blast resistance of con­
crete, but also concentrated the concrete spalling debris and shortened
the splash distance. Due to the complex manufacturing process and high
cost of fiber, the author [16] then used the mixture of scrap steel fiber
and polypropylene fiber with low ductility and low strength to replace
steel fiber for making concrete slab, and carried out close-in blast ex­
periments. The results showed that the addition of mixed fiber had little
effect on the anti-blast performance of FRC and could effectively reduce
the use of ordinary steel fiber. Yao et al [17] conducted an experimental
study of the blast resistance of mixed fiber concrete panels by contin­
uous contact blast tests and quantitatively evaluated its performance
using damage and blast resistance factors. Wang et al [18] investigated
the dynamic compressive properties of UR50 ultra-early-strength
cement-based self-compacting high-strength materials using large-size
SHPB tests and penetration tests, and found that their dynamic
compressive strength exhibited a significant strain-rate effect and the
relationship curve between dynamic increase factor (DIF) and strain rate
was fitted. On the other hand, coating is applied to the exterior of the
concrete structure to reduce the spalling and splashing of concrete
fragments on the back surface of the structure, so as to improve the
protection ability of personnel inside the building structure. Pantelides
et al. [19] carried out close-range air explosion experiments on RC slabs
coated with glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) on both sides, and
found that RC slabs coated with GFRP laminates were prone to
debonding on the back surface, which reduced their protection level.
Iqbal et al. [20] investigated the improvement of polyurea coating on
the anti-blast performance of concrete structures, and found that poly­
urea coating could effectively reduce the damage caused by explosion
load through energy dissipation, so as to improve the explosion resis­
tance of concrete slabs. Shi et al. [21] studied the strengthening effect of
composite coating composed of polyurea coating and glass fiber mesh on
RC slabs, and found that compared with RC slabs reinforced with pure
polyurea, the composite coating had stronger resistance to explosion
load, and the failure mode after explosion changed from punching
failure with higher security risks to tensile failure. Luki ́ et al. [22]
modified the bonding behavior of the coating and the RC slab by
applying epoxy resin binder, and found through the explosion experi­
ment that the overall strength and ductility of the modified RC slab were
better, and the ability to reduce the explosion load was stronger.
As a general dynamic analysis software, LS-DYNA is suitable for
solving nonlinear dynamic impact problems such as explosion and high-
speed collision, and has been widely used in research fields such as
protection engineering. At present, many scholars have used various
algorithms in LS-DYNA software to carry out numerical simulation
research on the dynamic response and damage characteristics of con­
crete under explosion load. Tu et al. [23] used ALE algorithm to
numerically simulate the damage effect of concrete slab under contact
explosion, and combined with existing experimental data, established an
analysis model based on shock wave pressure. Liu et al. [24] carried out
contact explosion experiments on 1.5% steel fiber reinforced G-UHPC
2
Engineering Structures 294 (2023) 116741
slabs with 0.2 kg and 1 kg TNT binding charge, and numerical simula­
tion was conducted by using multi-material arbitrary Lagrangian-
Eulerian (ALE) and Lagrangian algorithm. After verifying the accuracy
of numerical model, the effects of slab thickness and TNT charge on the
contact explosion damage mode of 1.5 % steel fiber reinforced G-UHPC
slab were analyzed by parametric analysis. However, ALE algorithm
often consumes a lot of computation time because it needs to build a
large air grid. Considering this, Giovino et al. [25] and Gomathi et al.
[26] employed LBE algorithm to conduct numerical simulation of RC
structures under explosion load. As LBE algorithm can directly apply the
corresponding load to the structure without simulating the air domain,
the calculation cost is reduced and the calculation efficiency is
improved. In order to avoid mesh distortion in FEM method, Li et al.
[27] used Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) to conduct numer­
ical simulation of free-air explosion and contact explosion experiments
of UHPC slab, and verified the accuracy of numerical simulation of SPH
algorithm. However, the smooth length of SPH particles is usually small,
so the calculation efficiency is not high. To overcome the mesh distor­
tion caused by FEM method and reduce the number of SPH particles,
Karmakar et al. [28] employed SPH-FEM coupling algorithm to
numerically simulate the dynamic response of RC slab under explosion
load, and analyzed the influence of the number of SPH particles on the
simulation results. Castedo et al. [29] studied the influence of explosive
shape on the damage effect of full-size RC slab under close-in explosion
by simulation, and found that explosive shape would significantly affect
the accuracy of calculation results for different algorithms.
Ultra-early-strength concrete has shown good development potential
in improving the blast resistance of protective structures, but there are
relatively few studies on the blast resistance of ultra-early-strength
concrete. In our previous study [30], it was found through the contact
explosion tests that the anti-explosion performance of ultra-early-
strength concrete was somewhat different from that of conventional
concrete, but the internal mechanism of local damage mode for ultra-
early-strength concrete under contact explosion was not analyzed. In
this paper, based on the previous tests, the difference of local damage
effect between URCS cured for 24 h and normal concrete slab (NRCS)
under contact explosion is analysed, and the mechanism is analysed and
explained. Finally, we establish the prediction equations of local failure
depth for URCS, and introduce the collapse coefficient Kz to obtain the
collapse coefficient for different damage modes of URCS cured for 24 h,
in order to quickly analyse the failure degree of URCS in engineering.
2. UR50 ultra-early-strength concrete
2.1. Material properties
UR50 ultra-early-strength concrete is a drying mixed powder con­
sisting of aggregates, cement, functional mineral powder, nano-fillers,
special modified additives and special steel fibers with a maximum
particle size of less than 5 mm. The use of modified additives endows
UR50 ultra-early-strength concrete with excellent self-flowing and
dense construction properties, which can accelerate the hydration pro­
cess sharply after the cement setting, thus obtaining a high strength in a
short period of time. The strength test was carried out in the laboratory
using the method specified in the standard “Cement mortar strength
(ISO) determination method: GB/T 17671-1999”, and its 2-hour
compressive strength was measured to be more than 50 MPa. Since
the material was used for rapid repair, it was given the code UR50 to
indicate its compressive strength after 2 h.
The mix proportions of UR50 ultra-early-strength concrete used in
this study are listed in Table 1. UR50 ultra-early-strength concrete
adopted sulphoaluminate cement with strength grade above 42.5 as the
cementing material, architectural quartz sand as the fine aggregate, and
fine powder active fillers and ultra-fine powder active fillers as active
materials. In addition, mineral micro-nano fiber was added to restrain
the development of concrete crack to enhance the toughness and crack
W. Wang et al.
Table 1
The mix proportions for UR50 ultra-early-strength concrete (Unit: kg/m3).
Cement Water Aggregate Fine powder active Ultrafine powder
filler active filler
294 167.3 566.4 793 181.3
Coagulant Retarder Stabilizer Mineral micro- Water reducing
nano fibers agent
65 10.4 2.6 340 13
resistance of concrete. The mineral micro-nanofiber is a mineral
extracted by a series of processing, which has a unique layered structure,
and its radial length is 40~60 nm and the longitudinal length is 1~2 μm.
Finally, admixtures such as water reducer and accelerator were added to
accelerate the hydration process of cement. The detailed information on
material properties can be found in reference [30].
2.2. Slab preparation
A total of 12 ultra-early-strength reinforced concrete slabs were
made in the test. The slabs were 1000 mm in length and width and 150
mm in thickness, and were cured at room temperature and humidity >
95% for 24 h and 28 days, respectively. The URCS were cured for 28
days with 200 mm × 200 mm, 100 mm × 100 mm and 50 mm × 50 mm
grids, while the URCS cured for 24 h had a grid at intervals of 50 mm ×
50 mm, and the rebar is double-layered and bi-directional, using
HRB400 (Hot-rolled Ribbed Bar with yield strength of 400 MPa) steel
bars with a diameter of 6 mm, and the concrete protective layer thick­
ness of the reinforcement was 20 mm. Fig. 1, Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 shows the
slab model diagram with different reinforcement method. The param­
eters of the test targets are shown in Table 2, and the slab code in Table 2
corresponds to the abbreviation of the word “Test” (T)-the curing age of
the specimen (day)-rebar mesh size (mm)-slab thickness (mm).
2.3. Explosive charges
The explosive used in the test is TNT binding charge, each weighing
200 g and having a size of 100 mm × 50 mm × 25 mm, and the test dose
is set to 200 g~800 g. According to existing research [31–33], the aspect
ratio of explosive will significantly affect the contact explosion damage
results. For cuboidal explosive, it is reflected in the contact area between
explosive and concrete slab and height of explosive. In our experiment,
we chose to control the ratio of contact area between explosive and
ultra-early-strength concrete slab to the height of explosive to ensure
that explosive shape has the minimum effect on the damage mode of
ultra-early-strength concrete slab. However, this also limits the use of
the results in this paper, so that the obtained results are only applicable
to the same condition as in this paper. The TNT combination in the test is
shown in Fig. 4, and the size and aspect ratio of explosives with different
charges are given in Table 3. After TNT blocks are bound together ac­
cording to the binding method shown in Fig. 4, they are placed in the
Fig. 1. The slab model diagram (Φ6@200 × 200).
3
Engineering Structures 294 (2023) 116741
center of upper surface of UR50 ultra-early-strength reinforced concrete
slab. The explosion is initiated by using electric detonators. During the
test, the electric detonators are placed as far as possible in the center of
explosives.
2.4. Experimental setup
The test device is a steel mold welded by 8 mm thick steel angles. The
mold is welded by steel frame and supporting legs, where the steel frame
is made according to the size of the specimen, and ear bolts are welded
on the four sides of the frame to fix the specimen. When the experiment
is carried out, the steel frame is fixed to the ground by footpads, the
specimen is placed on the steel frame so that the bottom of the specimen
is raised to simulate the floor slab in the air, and the group charge is
placed in the center of the surface of the test slab, the experimental
formation as shown in Fig. 5. After the test, the diameter and depth of
the crater were measured with tape measure and caliper, and the
measured dimensions are shown in Fig. 6.
2.5. Test results and discussion
The test parameters include the explosive charge, cured age and
reinforcement, as shown in Table 4. The test code in Table 4 correspond
to the abbreviation of the word “Test” (T)-the curing age (day)-rebar
mesh size (mm)-slab thickness (mm)-TNT mass (g) of the specimen,
respectively. According to the classification of damage modes in Section
4, it is observed that the thickness of the slab and the explosive charge
significantly affect the failure mode of the slab, therefore, the thickness
of the slab and the explosive charge are used as the main parameters in
this paper, and the scaled thickness defined by McVay et al [34] is used
for the analysis. The scaled thickness in Table 4 is defined as follows:
T
Ts = (1)
W 1/3
where Ts is the scaled thickness (cm/g1/3); T is the thickness of slab (cm);
W is the mass of explosive (g).
In the process of making ultra-early-strength reinforced concrete
targets, a certain number of ultra-early-strength concrete cube speci­
mens were prepared at the same time. These specimens were all 100 mm
× 100 mm × 100 mm in size, and also placed at room temperature and
humidity > 95% for curing. After the specimens reached the required
age, the strength test was carried out in the laboratory using the method
specified in the standard “Cement Mortar Strength (ISO) Determination
Method” (GB/T 17671-1999) [35], and the average compressive
strengths of the concrete specimens at different ages were measured as
50.6 MPa (24 h) and 131.5 MPa (28d), respectively. However, the size of
slabs in the actual engineering is often much larger than that in our test,
which will reflect the damage degree and failure mode of the slab to a
certain extent. Due to the uniform size of specimens, this point is ignored
in the study of this paper. According to the experimental tests, the
W. Wang et al. Engineering Structures 294 (2023) 116741

Fig. 2. The slab model diagram (Φ6@100 × 100).

Fig. 3. The slab model diagram (Φ6@50 × 50).

for 24 h for URCS of the same size.

Table 2
The parameters of UR50 Slabs.
3. Numerical simulation
No. Slab Size Reinforcement Reinforcement Number Age
Code (mm) ratio(%) of slabs
made
In order to reproduce the local damage of URCS under contact ex­
plosion, the URCS cured for 24 h and 28 days were modeled using the
1 T28d- 1000 0.23 2 28
finite element software ANSYS and numerically calculated by the multi-
Φ6@200 ×
200- × 200 day
150 1000 matter ALE and Lagrangian coupling algorithm in the explicit dynamic
× 150 analysis software LS-DYNA, the accuracy of this algorithm has been
2 T28d- 1000 Φ6@100 × 0.41 2 verified in our previous study [10]. After verifying the established nu­
100- 100
×
merical models, parametric analyses were performed to investigate the
150 1000
× 150
effects of slab thickness and explosive charge on the local damage of
3 T28d- 1000 Φ6@50 × 50 0.79 4 URCS under contact explosion.
50- ×
150 1000
× 150 3.1. Material model
4 T1d- 1000 Φ6@50 × 50 0.79 4 24
50- × h 3.1.1. UR50 ultra-early-strength concrete
150 1000 The dynamic response of concrete materials under blast loading is a
× 150
complex process, so the strain rate effect of concrete materials must be
considered when selecting the material model of concrete. The K&C
average material parameters of concrete at two curing ages are shown in model is a plastic damage model of concrete proposed by Malvar et al
Table 5. [36], because the model introduces three failure surfaces, namely initial
Based on the test results in Fig. 7 and combining the test data in yield surface; ultimate strength surface; and residual strength surface,
Table 4, it can be revealed that the changes in the curing age and con­ and considers volume deformation and shape deformation separately. It
ventional reinforcement rate had a very limited effect on the destruction can reflect the mechanical properties of concrete materials more real­
effect caused by the exposure to the explosion for ultra-early-strength istically, and is widely used in the numerical simulation of concrete-like
concrete, which was the same as the performance of conventional con­ materials under impact and blast loads [27,37–41]. Therefore, the K&C
crete and was not sufficient to cause significant changes in their model is chosen as the constitutive model of concrete in this paper.
respective destruction patterns. In particular, the protective perfor­ The Concrete_Damage_Rel3 (Mat72R3) model in LS-DYNA is coupled
mance of URCS cured for 28 days is not stronger than that of those cured with EOS Tabulated Compaction. However, the original K&C model is
only applicable to conventional concrete and cannot be directly applied

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W. Wang et al. Engineering Structures 294 (2023) 116741

Fig. 4. Schematic diagram of the shape and size of TNT block (unit: mm).

3.1.2. TNT
Table 3
Explosives are simulated using the keywords *MAT_HIGH_EXPLO­
Different shapes of explosive in the test.
SIVE_BURN (MAT_008) and equation of state (*EOS JWL) in LS-DYNA.
No. TNT Corresponding figure Contact area S Explosive height The general form of the JWL equation of state is:
mass (g) in Fig. 4 (mm2) H (mm)
( ) ( )
1 200 (a) 5000 25
ω ω ωE
p=A 1− e− R1 V + B 1 − e− R2 V + (2)
2 400 (b) 5000 50 R1 V R2 V V
3 600 (c) 10,000 50
4 800 (d) 10,000 50 where p is the pressure of the detonation product, A, B, R1, R2, ω are the
equation of state parameters, V is the relative volume, E is the initial
to UR50 ultra-early-strength concrete, so the damage parameters b1 and internal energy for per unit volume of explosives, the relevant param­
b2 need to be calibrated to characterize the full stress–strain process of eters are shown in Table 7.
UR50 ultra-early-strength concrete. Based on the work of Liu et al [40]
on UHPC, some parameters of UR50 ultra-early-strength concrete were 3.1.3. Rebar
calibrated. All key inputs to Concrete_Damage_Rel3 (Mat72R3) are Under blast loading, the rebar will generate high strain rates.
shown in Table 6, and the parameters not given in Table 6 are auto­ *MAT_PLASTIC_KINEMATIC (MAT_003) is suitable for modeling
matically generated, and the applicability and accuracy of parameters in isotropic and kinematic hardening. The rebar is modeled using the
the table have been verified in our another work [42]. Plastic Kinematic model, and the Cowper and Symonds model is used to
consider the strain rate of the rebar, which is expressed as

Fig. 5. The experimental formation.

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W. Wang et al. Engineering Structures 294 (2023) 116741

Fig. 6. Definitions of local failure.

Table 4
Test case.
No. Test code TNT mass(g) Scaled thickness Dimension of local failure (mm) fc (N/mm2)
(cm/g1/3)
Diameter Depth

Crater Spall Breach Crater Spall Total

1 T28d-200-150-200 200 2.56 62 352 / 44 67 111 131.5

2 T28d-200-150-400 400 2.04 235 450 / 46 99 145
3 T28d-100-150-200 200 2.56 42 370 / 43 60 103
4 T28d-100-150-600 600 1.78 315 520 83 / / /
5 T28d-50-150-200 200 2.56 56 345 / 40 59 99
6 T28d-50-150-400 400 2.04 210 436 / 43 101 144
7 T28d-50-150-600 600 1.78 290 500 / / / /
8 T28d-50-150-800 800 1.62 435 555 134 / / /
9 T1d-50-150-200 200 2.56 60 350 / 42 55 97 50.6
10 T1d-50-150-400 400 2.04 230 452 / 45 103 148
11 T1d-50-150-600 600 1.78 300 510 102 / / /
12 T1d-50-150-800 800 1.62 446 550 140 / / /

3.1.4. Air
Table 5 Air is modeled by *MAT_NULL (MAT_009) material model, and
Concrete material parameters for two curing ages.
parallel linear polynomial equation of state (*EOS_LINEAR_POLYNO­
Age Uniaxial compressive strength Density (kg/ Poisson’s MIAL), the general form is:
(MPa) m3) ratio
( )
24 h 50.6 2300 0.23
p = C0 + C1 μ + C2 μ2 + C3 μ3 + C4 + C5 μ + C6 μ2 E0 (4)
28 day 131.5 2600 0.19
where p is the air pressure, µ=ρ/ρ0-1, ρ/ρ0 is the ratio of the current
density of air to the initial density, C1, C2, C3, C4, C5 and C6 are poly­
( ε )P1
σY = 1 + (3) nomial equation coefficients, and E0 is the initial internal energy for per
C unit volume of air. Specific parameters are given in Table 9, and V0 is
the initial relative volume in the table.
where C and P are strain rate parameters and ε are strain rates. The
parameters are taken as shown in Table 8, where ρs is the density of
reinforcement, Es is the modulus of elasticity of reinforcement, υ is 3.2. Finite element model
Poisson’s ratio of reinforcement, σ Y is the yield strength, εf,s is the ulti­
mate strain, and Et is the tangential modulus. The geometric model of the UR50 target, steel bar, TNT explosive
and air is shown in Fig. 8. In the modeling, concrete slabs, steel bars,
explosives and air were all modeled with solid element SOLID164. TNT

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W. Wang et al. Engineering Structures 294 (2023) 116741

(a) Test results of T28d-200-150-200

(b) Test results of T28d-200-150-400

(c) Test results of T28d-100-150-200

Fig. 7. The experimental damage diagram of specimen.

and air were defined with the keyword *ALE_MULTI_MATER­
IAL_GROUP as an ALE material group, which represented a unique fluid
that interacts with the UR50 ultra-early-strength reinforced concrete
slab structure in the model. Air and explosives used ALE algorithm,
target and steel bar used Lagrange algorithm. The keyword *CON­
STRAINED_LAGRANGE_IN_SOLID was used to establish the fluid–solid
coupling relationship between air, explosive and target to calculate the
interaction between UR50 target and air and explosive. Using the
keyword *BOUNDARY_NON_REFLECTING to set a non-reflection
boundary condition on the mesh boundary of the air to simulate an
infinite domain of air. Referring to the experimental constraints, four-
side clamping constraints were imposed on the elements around the
target. In addition, in order to avoid the calculation termination due to
the severe distortion of the element during the calculation process, the
element failure criterion was introduced, and the maximum principal
strain and maximum shear strain combined failure criterion were
selected to use. The threshold value is 0.01, and the model unit system is
cm-g-µs.
In order to ensure that the numerical simulation results were not
affected by the mesh size, the mesh size of URCS was analysed for
convergence. For the numerical model in the convergence analysis, the
TNT mass was taken as 200 g, the explosive modelling size was the same
as the experiment, and the grid spacing of reinforcement was 100 mm.
The element meshes were taken as 2.5, 5.0, 10 and 15 mm respectively
to calculate the nodal displacement of mid-span in the reinforced con­
crete slab, and the displacement curves were obtained as shown in Fig. 9.
The peak displacements of the mid-span nodes were 46.8, 46.5, 46.1 and
44.7 mm for mesh sizes 2.5, 5.0, 10 and 15 mm, it can be observed that

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W. Wang et al. Engineering Structures 294 (2023) 116741

(d) Test results of T28d-100-150-600

(e) Test results of T28d-50-150-200

(f) Test results of T28d-50-150-400

Fig. 7. (continued).

when the mesh size is reduced to less than 10 mm, the mesh density has
no significant effect on the numerical results. For the purpose of
ensuring mesh convergence and saving computational resources, the
mesh size of the locally encrypted area and surrounding area were
finally taken as 5 mm and 10 mm.
In order to ensure the quality of the mesh, the model was meshed
with a hexahedral mesh. Because the stress change between the explo­
sive and the target was relatively complex, the target elements within
200 mm of the contact area between the explosive and the target were
subjected to local mesh refinement when meshing. The element mesh
size within the range of 200 mm × 200 mm in the central part of the
target was 5 mm × 5 mm × 5 mm, and the element mesh size in the
surrounding part was 10 mm × 10 mm × 10 mm. The meshing results
are shown in Fig. 10.
3.3. Comparison of test and numerical simulation results
According to the discussion in Section 2.4, there is almost no dif­
ference in the anti-explosion performance of ultra-early-strength con­
crete cured for 28 days and cured for 24 h. Meanwhile, in order to make
the research results more universal, the anti-explosion performance of
ultra-early-strength concrete curing for 24 h was analyzed here. Fig. 11
shows the comparison of the test results and numerical simulation re­
sults of the front and back faces of the four specimen T1d-50-150-200,
T1d-5–1500-400, T1d-50-150-600 and T1d-50-150-800. It can be seen
from Fig. 11 (a) and (b) that under 200 g TNT, the test results and nu­
merical simulation results of UR50 target show the destruction effect of
frontal crater and backside collapse, and the explosion crater was a more
regular circular funnel crater with shallow cratering depth and no

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W. Wang et al. Engineering Structures 294 (2023) 116741

(g) Test results of T28d-50-150-600

(h) Test results of T28d-50-150-800

(i) Test results of T1d-50-150-200

Fig. 7. (continued).

obvious cracking phenomenon. The crater diameter on the front face
and the spall diameter on the back face of the specimen were measured
to be 56 mm and 345 mm, while the numerical simulation results were
60 mm and 364 mm, and the relative errors are 0% and 3.8%, respec­
tively. It can be seen from Fig. 11 (c) and (d) that when the TNT mass
becomes 400 g, with the increase of the explosive charge, the crater on
the front face gradually increases, the concrete cracking on the back face
is more serious. In the test, the crater diameter on the front face and the
spall diameter on the back face were increased to 210 mm and 436 mm,
while the numerical simulation results were 220 mm and 416 mm, and
the relative errors are − 4.5% and − 17.1%, respectively. Fig. 11 (e) and
(f) are the test results and numerical simulation calculation results of the
working condition T1d-50-150-600. It can be seen from the figure that
when the TNT mass becomes 600 g, the middle of the UR50 target has
completely breathed. At this time, the crater diameter on the front face
of the specimen, the spall diameter on the back face and the breach
diameter were 290 mm, 500 mm and 86 mm, while the numerical
simulation results were 60 mm, 364 mm and 95 mm, and the relative
errors are − 10.7%, − 12.8% and − 7.4%, respectively. As shown in
Fig. 11 (g) and (h), when TNT mass increases to 800 g, the steel bar in
the UR50 target was severely deformed, and the back face suffered se­
vere collapse damage due to the reflected tensile wave and formed a
collapse pit, resulting in a large number of fragments splashing, and the
concrete target no longer has enough resistance to resist the explosion
load of this grade. According to the test, the crater diameter on the front
face of the specimen, the spall diameter on the back face and the breach
diameter were 435 mm, 555 mm and 316 mm, while the numerical
simulation results were 452 mm, 570 mm and 330 mm, and the relative
errors are 1.3%, − 3.5% and − 7.7%, respectively. The experimental and
simulation results for the specimen T1d-50-150-200, T1d-5-1500-400,
T1d-50-150-600 and T1d-50–150-800 are given in Table 10. The
maximum error between the numerical and experimental results is
− 17.1% with respect to the specimen T1d-5-1500-400. This indicates
that the numerical model in this paper can well simulate the mechanical

9
W. Wang et al. Engineering Structures 294 (2023) 116741

(j) Test results of T1d-50-150-400

(k) Test results of T1d-50-150-600

(l) Test results of T1d-50-150-800

Fig. 7. (continued).

Table 6
Main model parameter for Mat72R3.
Table 8
Model parameter Value The material parameters of steel reinforcement [44].
Tensile strength 13.9 MPa (131.5 MPa UR50) 5.3 MPa (50.6 MPa UR50) ρs (kg⋅m− 3) Es (GPa) υ σY (MPa)
LocWidth 1.9 mm
b1 0.82 (default = 1.6) 7.83 200 0.30 400
b2 2.72 (131.5 MPa UR50) 3.02 (50.6 MPa UR50) C (s− 1) P εf,s Et (GPa)
6844 3.91 0.1 1.0

Table 7
Material parameters of explosive [43].
ρ (kg/m3) Detonation velocity C-J pressure PCJ (GPa) E (kg⋅s2/m) EOS_JWL
D (m/s)
A (GPa) B (GPa) R1 R2 ω
− 15
1600 6900 21 4.3 × 10 371 3.23 4.15 0.95 0.3

10
W. Wang et al. Engineering Structures 294 (2023) 116741

Table 9 obvious damage on the back surface of the component, which is the
Material parameters of air [45]. phenomenon of explosion cratering. As the amount of explosive in­
ρ (kg⋅m− 3) C4 C5 E0 (MPa) V0 creases or the thickness of the slab decreases, the compression wave
generated by the explosion reaches the back surface of the structure and
1.29 0.4 0.4 0.25 1
immediately generates a reflected tensile wave, when the reflected
tensile wave is greater than the tensile strength of concrete, the back
surface of the structure will collapse, which is the phenomenon of ex­
plosion collapsing. As the slab is thinner or the explosive charge is
larger, the crater on the blast face and the spall on the back blasting face
will breach, the slab is completely destroyed, this failure mode is called
explosion breaching, the specific failure mode division diagram shown
in Fig. 12.
Therefore, in this study, the target thickness and explosive charge
were used as the main parameters to simulate the contact explosion of
URCS cured for 1 day under the condition of 200 g~1000 g TNT. Three
slab thicknesses of 100 mm, 200 mm and 250 mm were designed, and
the damage and failure of the UR50 target under different scaled
thicknesses are studied with the scaled thickness T/W1/3 as the refer­
ence, the calculation results are shown in Table 11. As can be seen from
the table, with the increase of the slab thickness, the frontal damage
change is not obvious, while the failure mode of the back blasting sur­
face is shown from breach to spall, and the degree of collapse gradually
becomes lighter. With the increase in slab thickness, the explosion
resistance of the structure increases slowly. The explanation is that as
the thickness of the structure increases, the explosion stress wave
propagation path increases, the time to reach the air surface grows, the
stress wave strength decreases, and the weakening effect of the cyclic
reflection superposition in the structure increases, thereby the damage
Fig. 8. Geometric model diagram. degree of the free surface is smaller. As the total amount of explosive
shock wave generated is the same, the total energy remains unchanged,
the overpressure duration and impulse are unchanged. With slab
thickness increases, the energy caused by structural back damage be­
comes the first peak value of explosion stress wave crest, so the volume
of the spall slowly decreases.

4.1. Prediction of crater depth Cd

In this section, the value of crater depth Cd is used to quantitatively

Fig. 9. Convergence analysis.
properties of ultra-early-strength concrete in the explosion test.
4. Discussion and analysis of numerical simulation results
In order to reduce the damage of contact explosion to reinforced
concrete floors and walls, so as to reduce the harm to the personnel in
the building, it is necessary to investigate the effect of the thickness of
URCS and explosive charge on the failure mode. The failure modes of
URCS under contact explosion of different TNT mass are not the same,
which has been proved in the author’s previous research. For thick
enough reinforced concrete slab, when the charge is small, the
compression wave generated by the explosion of explosive creates a
crater only near the center of the blast face of the structure, there is no
study the frontal damage of URCS. Referring to the function expressions
of Cd/T and scaled thickness T/W1/3 in conventional concrete proposed
by Morishita et al [47], the values of Cd in Table 4 and Table 11 are
normalized by dividing the slab thickness T, the results are shown in
Fig. 13. The formula between Cd/T and scaled thickness T/W1/3 in URCS
is as follows:
Cd T ( / )
= − 0.055 1/3 + 0.42, 2.04£T W 1/3 £3.42 (5)
T W
It can be seen from the figure that there is little difference between
the crater depth of the URCS and that of the conventional RC slab. This is
because when the explosive detonates on the top surface of URCS, the
generated high-pressure detonation wave squeezes the medium, which
makes the center of the blast-facing surface for URCS in a triaxial
compression state. At this time, the crushing of concrete materials
(compression damage) is the main damage mode. However, since the
compressive yield strength of ultra-early-strength concrete is not
significantly different from that of conventional concrete, under the
same conditions, the crater depth on the blast-facing surface of URCS is
not significantly different from that of conventional RC slab.
4.2. Prediction of total damage depth (Cd + Sd)
In order to evaluate the protective ability of URCS, it is necessary to
explore the ultimate bearing capacity of URCS. Referring to the
approach in reference [47], the values of (Cd + Sd) in Table 4 and
Table 11 are normalized by dividing the scaled thickness T, and the
relationship between (Cd + Sd)/T and the scaled thickness T/W1/3 in

11
W. Wang et al. Engineering Structures 294 (2023) 116741

Fig. 10. Finite model meshing diagram.

(a) Front face (b) Back face

(c) Front face (d) Back face

Fig. 11. Comparison results from simulations and tests.

ultra-early-strength concrete is obtained, as shown in Fig. 14. The for­ According to the definition, the value of (Cd + Sd)/T can only change
mula between (Cd + Sd)/T and proportional thickness T/W1/3 in ultra- from 0 to 1, and as the value of (Cd + Sd)/T changes to 1, the failure
early-strength concrete obtained by fitting the data as follows: mode of slab will change from explosion collapsing to explosion
breaching, and the corresponding state is the critical breaching state. As
(Cd + Sd ) T ( / )
= − 0.53 1/3 + 2.0 2.04⩽T W 1/3 ⩽3.42 (6) can be seen from the figure, when the proportional thickness T/W1/3
T W
gradually decreases to about 2, the (Cd + Sd)/T of URCS tends to 1.

12
W. Wang et al. Engineering Structures 294 (2023) 116741

(e) Front face (f) Back face

(g) Front face (h) Back face

Fig. 11. (continued).

Table 10
Comparison of results from simulations and tests.
Test case Crater diameter (C)/mm Spall diameter (S)/mm Breach diameter (H)/mm

Test Simulation Error(%) Test Simulation Error(%) Test Simulation Error(%)

T1d-50-150-200 60 60 0 350 364 3.8 / / /

T1d-50-150-400 230 220 − 4.5 452 386 − 17.1 / / /
T1d-50-150-600 300 271 − 10.7 510 452 − 12.9 102 95 − 7.4
T1d-50-150-800 446 452 1.3 550 570 3.5 140 130 − 7.7

Combining with Equation (6), it can be obtained that the critical scaled
thickness of URCS is 1.88, while that of conventional RC slabs is 2.04. It
shows that the protection ability of URCS against contact explosion is
stronger than that of conventional RC slab.
It can be seen from Fig. 14 that (Cd + Sd)/T of the URCS decreases
significantly faster than that of the conventional RC slab as the scaled
thickness T/W1/3 increases. Combined with Fig. 13, it can be inferred
that the damage of back blasting surface for URCS decreases signifi­
cantly under the same conditions, and the spall depth Sd reduces greatly.
As shown in Fig. 15, when the explosive shock wave generated after
explosion reaches the back blasting surface of structure, the reflected
tensile wave is generated. When the peak value of the reflected tensile
wave is greater than the tensile strength of concrete, the back blasting
surface of structure will produce collapse failure. As the tensile strength
and toughness of UR50 ultra-early-strength concrete are higher than
that of conventional concrete, and the brittleness is obviously lower than
that of concrete with the same strength, the anti-collapse capacity of
UR50 is significantly improved.
4.3. Prediction of breach diameter H
Combining the test results and numerical simulation results, it is
found that as long as T/W1/3 ≤ 2.0 cm/g1/3, the failure mode of URCS
will change into explosion breaching. In order to study the failure law of
URCS after breaching, the breach diameter H of URCS was divided by
the thickness T for normalization, and combined with the data in Table 4
and Table 11. The relationship obtained between H/T and scaled
thickness T/W1/3 in ultra-early-strength concrete is shown in Fig. 16.
The formula fitted between H/T and scaled thickness T/W1/3 as follows:
( )
H T ( / )
= − 5.5*log + 2.0 1.0£T W 1/3 £2.0 (7)
T W 1/3
It can be observed from Fig. 16 that the breach diameter of ultra-
early-strength concrete is slightly smaller than that of conventional
concrete under the same conditions, but the overall difference is not
large. This may be because there is an anchoring effect between the
special steel fibers in the ultra-early-strength concrete and the concrete,
and the explosion stress wave propagates to the ultra-early-strength
concrete and the steel fiber, which generates reflection and trans­
mission due to the different wave impedances. The reflection wave and

13
W. Wang et al.
Fig. 12. Schematic diagram of failure mode [46].
the projection wave can be partly consumed by the sliding friction be­
tween the steel fiber and the ultra-early-strength concrete, and resulting
in the decrease of the brittle cracking position of the structure, thereby
reducing the breaching failure of URCS after contact explosion.
4.4. The analysis of seismic collapse coefficient Kz
The collapse failure is caused by the stress wave reflected and
stretched at the back of the structure. No matter what method is adopted
in the theoretical research, the complex propagation process of stress
wave inside the structure and the process of causing the failure cannot
be avoided, so the collapse problem becomes a very complicated theo­
retical problem. Therefore, in order to simplify the problem in engi­
14
Engineering Structures 294 (2023) 116741
neering application, a failure mode determined by the seismic collapse
coefficient Kz was established in the protection engineering field ac­
cording to the test results [6]. The larger the seismic collapse coefficient
Kz is, the worse the seismic collapse resistance is. The expression is:
H+e
KZ = √
3
̅̅̅̅ (8)
C
In the formula, H is the thickness of the target (m); e is the height of
the charge (m); C is the calculated TNT charge (kg). Based on the
available experimental data, the relationship between the damage
pattern of conventional RC slab and the thickness of the slab and the
charge was given in the literature [48] as
W. Wang et al. Engineering Structures 294 (2023) 116741

Table 11
Calculation conditions.
No. Data type Simulation case Thickness(mm) TNT mass(g) Scaled thickness Failure mode Cd(mm) Sd(mm) B(mm)
(cm/g1/3)

1 Simulation S1d-50-100-200 100 200 1.71 Breach / / 63

2 S1d-50-100-400 400 1.36 Breach / / 114
3 S1d-50-100-600 600 1.19 Breach / / 168
4 S1d-50-100-800 800 1.08 Breach / / 201
5 Test T1d-50-150-200 150 200 2.56 Crater and spall 42 55 /
6 T1d-50-150-400 400 2.04 Crater and spall 45 103 /
7 T1d-50-150-600 600 1.78 Breach / / 102
8 T1d-50-150-800 800 1.62 Breach / / 140
9 Simulation S1d-50-200-200 200 200 3.42 Crater and spall 46 11 /
10 S1d-50-200-400 400 2.71 Crater and spall 53 62 /
11 S1d-50-200-600 600 2.37 Crater and spall 58 96 /
12 S1d-50-200-800 800 2.15 Crater and spall 57 123 /
13 S1d-50-250-200 250 200 4.27 Crater 36 / /
14 S1d-50-250-400 400 3.39 Crater and spall 52 15 /
15 S1d-50-250-600 600 2.96 Crater and spall 61 48 /
16 S1d-50-250-800 800 2.69 Crater and spall 64 86 /

⎧ ⩾0.80 Cratering
⎪
⎪
H+e ⎨ 0.25 ∼ 0.80 Spalling
KZ = √ ̅̅̅̅ = (9)
3
C ⎪
⎩ 0.15 ∼ 0.25 Breaching
⎪
⩽0.15 Punching
Based on the expression of the seismic collapse coefficient Kz, and
according to the test and numerical simulation results in this paper, the
seismic collapse coefficients of different failure modes for URCS with a
curing time of 24 h are obtained as follows:

⎧ ⩾0.342 Cratering
⎪
⎪
H+e ⎨ 0.221 ∼ 0.342 Spalling
KZ = √ ̅̅̅̅ = (10)
3
C ⎪
⎩ 0.121 ∼ 0.221
⎪ Breaching
⩽0.121 Punching
By comparing Eqs. (9) and (10), it can be found that the spalling
failure of conventional RC slabs begins to occur when the seismic
collapse coefficient is 0.80, and the failure mode changes into breaching
failure when the seismic collapse coefficient drops to 0.25. When the
seismic collapse coefficient is 0.342 for URCS, the back blasting surface
Fig. 13. Relationship between Cd/T and scaled thickness T/W1/3.
does not spall and damage, and when the seismic collapse coefficient is
0.221, the breaching failure of URCS begins to occur. From the above
analysis, the protective performance of URCS is generally better than
that of conventional RC slab.

5. Conclusions

In this paper, the destruction and damage phenomenon of URCS

cured for 24 h and 28 days through contact explosion tests were inves­
tigated, and on the basis of the experimental analysis, the local damage
effects of URCS under contact explosion were investigated in combina­
tion with numerical simulations, and the main conclusions were
following:

(1) For URCS cured for 28 days, although the reinforcement ratio
gradually increases from 0.23% to 0.79%, the diameter and depth
of crater have little change. At the same time, compared with
URCS cured for 24 h, it is found that the shortening of curing age
has no significant effect on its anti-blast performance under
contact explosion, which is not enough to change its failure
mode.
(2) Based on the numerical model verified by experiments and
Fig. 14. Relationship between (Cd + Sd)/T and scaled thickness T/W1/3. experimental results, the prediction formula of the ratio between
crater depth and slab thickness (Cd/T), the ratio between the total
of crater and spall depth and slab thickness (Cd + Sd)/T and the
ratio between breach diameter and slab thickness (H/T) are given

15
W. Wang et al.
Fig. 15. The schematic diagram of spalling damage.
1/3
Fig. 16. Relationship between H/T and scaled thickness T/W .
within the specified range of scaled thickness. According to the
formula obtained, from the point of view of preventing crater
failure, the explosion resistance of ultra-early-strength concrete is
basically equivalent to that of conventional concrete, but because
of the existence of special steel fibers in ultra-early-strength
concrete, ultra-early-strength concrete has better spalling and
cracking resistance than conventional concrete. However, it
should be noted that the formulas obtained are based on the
specific cases of cube explosive and contact explosion, without
considering the influence of factors such as explosive shape.
(3) According to the different failure modes of URCS under different
charge and explosive height, the seismic collapse coefficient Kz
under different failure modes was established, and compared
with the collapse coefficient of the conventional RC slab, it was
found that the protective performance of the URCS was generally
better than that of the conventional RC slab.
16
Engineering Structures 294 (2023) 116741
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Wei Wang: Investigation, Methodology, Formal analysis, Writing –
original draft, Writing – review & editing. Xiaodong Song: Methodol­
ogy, Formal analysis, Writing – original draft. Qing Huo: Conceptuali­
zation, Supervision, Project administration, Writing – review & editing.
Yiping Wang: Formal analysis.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Data availability
The data that has been used is confidential.
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the financial support from National Nat­
ural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11302261 and 11972201)
and Ningbo Natural Science Foundation (202003N4147). This paper is
also supported by the project of Key Laboratory of Impact and Safety
Engineering (Ningbo University), Ministry of Education. The project
number is CJ202011.
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