An enhanced steel sandwich foamed aluminum for strengthening RC frame structure: Experiment and numerical simulation

Abstract

To improve the impact resistance performance of reinforced concrete (RC) frame structure against debris flow, an enhanced steel sandwich foamed aluminum strengthening method is proposed. A series of debris flow impact tests of the traditional reinforced concrete frame structure (TRCFS) and the strengthened reinforced concrete frame structure (SRCFS) are designed and carried out. Based on the impact test, the effectiveness of the proposed strengthening method is validated, and its energy consumption mechanism is further revealed through a comparative study. Meanwhile, the corresponding numerical simulations are carried out to validate the reasonableness and accuracy of the experimental results. The experimental results illustrate that the enhanced steel sandwich foamed aluminum strengthening method has three protection mechanisms, and this strengthening device can effectively improve the RC frame structure’s impact resistance. The SRCFS model has a more favorable force transfer mechanism, which can reasonably mobilize other members and significantly improve the normal service ultimate bearing capacity of the whole frame structure. Moreover, the numerical results match well with the experimental results, which demonstrates that the debris flow impact test can adequately reveal the impact resistance performance of the SRCFS model.