Numerical Analysis of a Friedlander Localized Blast Load on a Rigid Roadway Pavement Using Levy’s Problem

Abstract

The increasing number of terrorist attacks in recent years have shown that in designing structures such as floor slabs and rigid roadway pavement, the effect of blast loads should be taken into consideration. In this study, we analyze the blasting effect on the rigid roadway pavements and provide a numerical example of a toll road shoulder section exposed to this blast load. We assumed that the rigid roadway slab is connected by dowels and tie-bars along its edges. Furthermore, we modeled the blast as a Friedlander blast load, where it is initially a positive pressure before decreasing to a negative pressure due to drag. We obtained the vertical shear force that is carried by the dowels and tie-bars along its edges, the time history of the rigid roadway slab deflection, and identified the parameters of the sub-grade that has significant effects on the dynamic response of the rigid roadway pavement. We carried out the numerical analysis using the first and the second type of Levy’s problem to find the Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors and to predict the maximum deformed shape, the maximum vertical shear forces along the joint of the rigid roadway pavement subjected to the blast load. Our results show that the duration ratio of the blast loading, the thickness of the slab, and the stiffness coefficient of the soil has a significant influence on the dynamic response of the slab. This paper provides essential techniques in increasing the capacity of a rigid roadway slab against explosive effects.