Comparative Study on Behavior of Structures Subjected to Seismic and Blast Loads

Abstract

As seismic engineering has gained worldwide importance, seismic design of RC buildings is an ongoing research area. Recent earthquakes have shown that improperly designed and constructed structures can cause great damage. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the seismic response of buildings in order to design earthquake-resistant structures. Much attention has been paid over the past decades to the behavior of engineering structures under explosive loading. The use of anti-social explosives around the world targeting civilian buildings and structures is becoming a growing problem in modern societies. Explosives are smaller in size and stronger than a few years ago, which contributes to the dynamics and large range of effects of the explosive. Usually, the causes of such explosions are not only immediate deaths due to direct release of energy, but mainly structural failure and extensive loss of life. This study focuses on structures subjected to both the seismic load and the blast load using software ETABS. In this study, regular, L-shaped, and C-shaped buildings are considered with various heights of RC and composite structures. Response spectrum method is considered for the seismic analysis. A comparative study was done to identify the response of the structures subjected to seismic and blast loads.