Protective Effects of Ventilation Shaft in Tunnel Structures Subjected to Internal Blast Loading

Abstract

Terrorist attacks on tunnels result in massive economic and societal losses. A new approach to simulate blast loading using LS-DYNA was introduced to investigate the influence of ventilation shaft on circular cast-iron tunnels in saturated soil subjected to internal blast loading. The combined effect of reduced blast pressure and modified lining vibration characteristics was observed to depend on the magnitude of blast loading. Ventilation helped to mitigate lining damage when the blast loading was low. Thus, ventilation shaft could be used as an effective mitigation method for tunnels.