Behaviour of cantilever slabs in blast environment and strengthening techniques

Abstract

Cantilever slabs are among the most vulnerable structural elements at blast loading. As they are indispensable to most structures, it is important to investigate the behaviour of cantilever slabs in a blast environment and possibilities of improving their blast resistant abilities. In this paper we are proposing simplified design envelopes drawn for steel to concrete ratio and effective depth of slabs against blast parameters for a common range of cantilever slabs. These design envelopes have been prepared using results of previous research. Using these envelopes, conclusions are made about the effect of slab thickness which is one of the major parameters for improving blast resistant ability. This paper also discusses the blast resistant ability of reinforced concrete cantilevers designed by using the code BS8110 and ways to improve such conventional designs to make them better resistant in a blast loading environment in an economical way.