Finite Element Analysis Approach Research Articles

Hybrid Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Deep Brain Stimulation in the Presence of an Implantable Pulse Generator

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) has been shown to improve speech impairment in Parkinson’s Disease (PD) patients. Most PD patients undergo Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) implantation to improve their motor function prior to the development of speech impairment. Therefore the potential for TMS treatment must take into account the DBS probes’ high conductivity, potentially causing excess stimulation. Prior research regarding this phenomenon is highly conflicting and needs investigation. This study reports electromagnetic interference using a highly accurate finite element analysis approach to determine the electric field distribution in patients with DBS probes undergoing TMS therapy. Additionally, we tested various coil orientations and coil models to fully examine the extent that TMS affects DBS. We considered accurate DBS geometry by creating high-resolution models of Medtronic 3389 DBS, including an Implantable Pulse Generator (IPG) and multiple loops at the exit point of the cranium, which previous studies lack. By studying the induced current in the DBS leads, we determined that the combination of TMS and DBS varies in safety relative to its coil orientation and coil type. Specifically, the quadruple butterfly coil (QBC) targeted at the lateral motor cortex did not induce unsafe levels of currents in the DBS leads even at 100% of the maximum stimulator output.

Analysis of a crash on a vehicle system by adjusting appropriate input parameters to manage energy absorption capacity for enhancing passenger safety

The aim of the research is to develop a front bumper system that absorbs maximum impact energy as compared to the current bumper available in the market, Bumper design is based on increasing the area of the crumping zone to slow down the collision and observe the impacts taking place at the time of jerks and reduces the percentage of damage. To develop the system, the number of load cases tested numerically in passive safety simulation has increased significantly in recent years. The variety of applications may be divided into three main topics: structural crashworthiness of the whole car, passenger protection, and crashworthiness of components. Present theories and practices. To absorb impact, the front bumper of the car uses a spring-loaded system that is installed between the bumper and the support for the chassis structure. This system is made of metal and serves as the bumper's structural foundation. A honeycomb structure is being added to the bumper as a composite material together with a layer of galvanized iron as it is being created in this manner, which increases strength while weighing less. This arrangement design is suitable for psychoacoustics, varying velocity explicit analysis is performed with the approach of finite element analysis, experimental testing is carried out for the validation of the value and advanced manufacturing methods are implemented with statistical results, and one of the cheapest systems is developed as compared to the current bumper systems.

Design of fixture for ultrasonic assisted gas tungsten arc welding using an integrated approach

Abstract The welding fixture greatly impacts the weld quality matrixes. In this work, the welding fixture for ultrasonic-assisted gas tungsten arc welding to reduce the hot cracking behaviour in weldments was designed using the finite element analysis approach. A three-level, five-factor central composite design-based response surface methodology analysis was followed to vary the dimensions of the fixture for the modal and harmonic analysis of the fixture using Ansys software. The optimum fixture dimensions to achieve maximum displacement amplitude and minimum von-Mises stress have been optimized using a genetic algorithm approach. The model predictions for maximum displacement amplitude and minimum von-Mises stress were compared to the experimental findings at optimal conditions. A strong consensus between the model prediction by genetic algorithm and experimental findings indicates the correctness of the developed model.

Transient Thermomechanical Stress Analysis of Hot Surface Ignition Device Using Sequentially Coupled Computational Fluid Dynamics–Finite Element Analysis Approach

Abstract Energy addition using a hot surface ignition device is required for reliable ignition of aircraft compression ignition engines running on fuel variations and at altitude conditions. Thus, durability of the hot surface ignition device is crucial for application in these engines. Thermomechanical stress is one of the key parameters that determine durability, which requires an accurate prediction of the transient temperature field based on well-defined boundary conditions representing the dynamic and complex fluid flow inside engines. To meet this requirement, the present study focuses on transient thermomechanical stress analysis using a sequentially coupled computational fluid dynamics (CFD)–finite element analysis (FEA) approach to understand transient thermomechanical responses of the hot surface ignition device. A three-dimensional transient reacting flow simulation was conducted first using converge software, the results of which were exported to map thermal and pressure boundary conditions onto a structural finite element mesh. Transient thermomechanical stress analysis was performed sequentially using abaqus software utilizing the mapped boundary conditions. The results such as transient temperature history, resultant thermomechanical stress, displacement, potential failure modes, etc., were critically reviewed, which can provide helpful information for further design improvement.

Use of customized 3-dimensional printed mandibular prostheses with a dental implant pressure-reducing device in mandibular body defect: A finite element study performing multiresponse surface methodology

Background/purposeSegmental body defects of the mandible result in the complete loss of the affected region. In our previous study, we investigated the clinical applicability of a customized mandible prosthesis (CMP) with a pressure-reducing device (PRD) in an animal study. In this study, we further incorporated dental implants into the CMP and explored the use of dental implant PRD (iPRD) designs. Materials and methodsBy employing a finite element analysis approach, we created 4 types of CMP: CMP, CMP with iPRD, CMP-PRD, and CMP-PRD with iPRD. We developed 2 parameters for the iPRD: cone length (CL) in the upper part and spring pitch (SP) in the lower part. Using the response surface methodology (RSM), we determined the most suitable structural assignment for the iPRD. ResultsOur results indicate that CMP-PRD had the highest von Mises stress value for the entire assembly (1076.26 MPa). For retentive screws and abutments, CMP with iPRD had the highest von Mises stress value (319.97 and 452.78 MPa, respectively). CMP-PRD had the highest principal stress (131.66 MPa) in the anterior mandible. The iPRD reduced principal stress in both the anterior and posterior mandible. Using the RSM, we generated 25 groups for comparison to achieve the most favorable results for the iPRD and we might suggest the CL to 12 mm and the SP to 0.4 mm in the further clinical trials. ConclusionUse of the PRD and iPRD in CMP may resolve the challenges associated with CMP, thereby promoting its usage in clinical practice.

Assessing heat transfer characteristics of building envelope deployed BIPV and resultant building energy consumption in a tropical climate

Building-Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) is a viable technology towards increasing renewable energy production and achieving low carbon footprints for buildings. Mauritius, with a daily average of 5.6 kWh/m2 of solar radiation over 2350 h annually, has been targeting at achieving its low carbon goals by focusing on photovoltaic technology including the uptake of BIPV. However, BIPV has not been well researched in terms of its overall thermal impact especially overheating on the building envelope and the resultant energy performance for buildings for the tropical climatic condition in Mauritius. This research, by means of validated simulation modelling, adopted a novel approach of coupling thermal finite element analysis (FEA) with whole building dynamic simulations to assess the heat transfer characteristics of BIPV either on facades or roof and the resultant energy consumptions of a typical office building in Mauritius. The façade scenario had two options, namely BIPV curtain wall and BIPV double-skin façade (BIPV-DSF), while the roof scenario also had two options, namely uninsulated and insulated roof BIPV membranes. Results show that roof BIPV membrane options had a better thermal performance in reducing overheating for the building compared to the BIPV façade options, with a reduction in cooling load of 8% and 15% for the uninsulated and insulated BIPV membranes, respectively. In terms of energy performance, both BIPV façade options were not capable of reducing the energy consumption of the building, as the BIPV curtain wall resulted in 1.66% more net energy consumption on a yearly basis. This shows an ineffectiveness of using vertical BIPV glazing for typical office buildings in Mauritius. Although the BIPV-DSF achieved an annual net energy saving of 5.16% benefited from the BIPV energy production, it was not as good as the net savings of 160% and 172% from the respective uninsulated and insulated roof BIPV membrane options.

Effect of Wall Angle on Thickness Distribution in Single Point Incremental Forming: Finite Element Analysis and Theoretical Approach

The incremental sheet forming process (ISF) is the emerging forming process in the small size product manufacturing industries where as embossing, stamping, coining operations can be used to produce a product in large quantity. Therefore, ISF is one of the best solution to decrease the cost of production when a small quantity of product is demanded. In present study Efforts are devoted to study the effect of wall angle on sheet thinning, reaction forces, reaction moments, etc. for truncated cone of aluminium alloy (AA1050) using Finite Element simulation. Initially, A MATLAB code was written for spiral tool path. Modeling and simulation was done in ABAQUS software. Thereafter, a theoretical sheet thickness was computed using sine law and it was found out to be in close agreement with simulated sheet thickness.

Lightweight load-bearing heat dissipation multifunctional pomelo peel-inspired structures fabricated by laser powder bed fusion

   The heat dissipation structure used in modern airborne radar chassis not only requires lightweight, but also pursues better mechanical properties and heat dissipation performance. In this study, a stochastically porous pomelo peel-inspired gradient structure was fabricated by laser powder bed fusion using Al-Mg-Sc-Zr powder. This study focused on the formability, microstructure, mechanical properties, and heat dissipation performance of the biomimetic structure through experimental and finite element analysis approaches. The influence of volume fraction (VF) on structural mechanical properties, deformation modes, stress distribution, and heat dissipation performance was investigated. The results showed that the mechanical properties of the structure declined as the VFs decreased. The optimal mechanical performance was obtained at the VF of 45%, where the compressive strength, specific energy absorption (Ws), and specific compressive strength values were measured to be 63.47 MPa, 34.84 J/g, and 142.16 MPa/(g·cm-3), respectively. Moreover, the Ws of the structures was higher than that of the reported aluminum alloy structures at the same VF. The biomimetic structure exhibited improved heat dissipation performance as the VFs decreased, with Reynolds number ranging from 2700 to 13,400. The structure of 30% VF with a remarkable heat transfer efficiency index of 1.86 displayed the best heat dissipation performance. In addition, compared with the traditional fin structures, the bionic structure possessed better thermal resistance, heat transfer efficiency index, and temperature uniformity at the same VF. This study demonstrated notable potential of pomelo peel-inspired design for lightweight load-bearing applications capable of heat-dissipating performance, providing a novel perspective for design and fabrication of versatile structures in the aviation field.

Electrothermal actuation of NEMS resonators: Modeling and experimental validation

We study the electrothermal actuation of nanomechanical motion using a combination of numerical simulations and analytical solutions. The nanoelectrothermal actuator structure is a u-shaped gold nanoresistor that is patterned on the anchor of a doubly clamped nanomechanical beam or a microcantilever resonator. This design has been used in recent experiments successfully. In our finite-element analysis (FEA) based model, our input is an ac current; we first calculate the temperature oscillations due to Joule heating using Ohm’s law and the heat equation; we then determine the thermally induced bending moment and the displacement profile of the beam by coupling the temperature field to Euler–Bernoulli beam theory with tension. Our model efficiently combines transient and frequency-domain analyses: we compute the temperature field using a transient approach and then impose this temperature field as a harmonic perturbation for determining the mechanical response in the frequency domain. This unique modeling method offers lower computational complexity and improved accuracy and is faster than a fully transient FEA approach. Our dynamical model computes the temperature and displacement fields in the time domain over a broad range of actuation frequencies and amplitudes. We validate the numerical results by directly comparing them with experimentally measured displacement amplitudes of nano-electro-mechanical system beams around their eigenmodes in vacuum. Our model predicts a thermal time constant of 1.9 ns in vacuum for our particular structures, indicating that electrothermal actuation is efficient up to ∼80 MHz. We also investigate the thermal response of the actuator when immersed in a variety of fluids.

Detailed 3D FE modeling approach for 2D and 3D beam-column joints retrofitted with fully fastened haunch retrofit solution including anchor behavior

Fully fastened haunch retrofit solution (FFHRS) is a low-invasive method for seismic retrofitting of substandard beam-column joints. The method is quite effective provided a good performance of the anchors used for connecting the haunch elements and structural members is ensured. Therefore, to assess the performance of the joints retrofitted with FFHRS, realistic modeling of anchors connecting haunch elements to the joint members is essential. The paper presents a new numerical modeling approach for detailed 3D finite element analysis of substandard beam-column joints retrofitted with FFHRS, where bonded anchors are used to connect the haunch elements to structural members. The model includes detailed and realistic modeling of concrete, reinforcement, bond, haunch elements and anchors. A special focus is laid on the detailed modeling of anchor behavior. The model is validated against two experiments reported in the literature, by comparing the complete performance obtained in the tests and analysis in terms of load–displacement response, failure modes and forces in the haunch elements. The validated model is used to carry out parametric studies to investigate the performance of the single haunch retrofit solution and the performance of FFHRS as well as the efficacy of FFHRS in a 3D beam-column joint with transverse beams and slab.

Distribution of temperature and residual stresses in GMA-DED based wire-arc additive manufacturing

PurposeGas metal arc-based directed energy deposition (GMA-DED) process experiences residual stress (RS) developed due to heat accumulation during successive layer deposition as a significant challenge. To address that, monitoring of transient temperature distribution concerning time is a critical input. Finite element analysis (FEA) is considered a decisive engineering tool in quantifying temperature and RS in all manufacturing processes. However, computational time and prediction accuracy has always been a matter of concern for FEA-based prediction of responses in the GMA-DED process. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effect of finite element mesh variations on the developed RS in the GMA-DED process.Design/methodology/approachThe variation in the element shape functions, i.e. linear- and quadratic-interpolation elements, has been used to model a single-track 10-layered thin-walled component in Ansys parametric design language. Two cases have been proposed in this study: Case 1 has been meshed with the linear-interpolation elements and Case 2 has been meshed with the combination of linear- and quadratic-interpolation elements. Furthermore, the modelled responses are authenticated with the experimental results measured through the data acquisition system for temperature and RS.FindingsA good agreement of temperature and RS profile has been observed between predicted and experimental values. Considering similar parameters, Case 1 produced an average error of 4.13%, whereas Case 2 produced an average error of 23.45% in temperature prediction. Besides, comparing the longitudinal stress in the transverse direction for Cases 1 and 2 produced an error of 8.282% and 12.796%, respectively.Originality/valueTo avoid the costly and time-taking experimental approach, the experts have suggested the utilization of numerical methods in the design optimization of engineering problems. The FEA approach, however, is a subtle tool, still, it faces high computational cost and low accuracy based on the choice of selected element technology. This research can serve as a basis for the choice of element technology which can predict better responses in the thermo-mechanical modelling of the GMA-DED process.

Effect of Ovality on the Buckling Behavior of Thin-Walled Liquid-Filled Conical Tanks

This study investigates the influence of ovality on the buckling behavior of thin-walled liquid-filled conical tanks through comprehensive numerical simulations. The structural stability of conical tanks is of paramount importance in various engineering applications, such as storage vessels and aerospace structures. However, the presence of ovality, characterized by deviations from perfect circularity, can significantly affect the structural response and integrity of these tanks. To explore the effects of ovality, a finite element analysis (FEA) approach is employed, considering various ovality levels in the tank geometry. A comprehensive parametric study is conducted, varying key parameters such as tank dimensions, material properties, and liquid filling levels. The buckling behavior of the tanks is assessed by examining critical buckling loads and corresponding deformation modes. Results from the numerical simulations reveal that even small levels of ovality can substantially reduce the buckling load capacity of conical tanks. As ovality increases, the onset of buckling occurs at lower applied loads, leading to premature structural failure. The presence of liquid filling further exacerbates the buckling phenomenon, with the liquid sloshing effect amplifying the structural response. The study also investigates the influence of different materials on the buckling behavior of conical tanks subjected to ovality. It is found that the material stiffness and yield strength play a crucial role in determining the critical buckling load and mode shape. Furthermore, the effect of liquid fill level is explored, demonstrating that higher fill levels increase the vulnerability to buckling.

Determination of the Equivalent Thickness of a Taiko Wafer Using ANSYS Finite Element Analysis

The successful handling of large semiconductor wafers is crucial for scaling up their production. Early-stage warpage control allows the prevention of undesirable asymmetric warpage, known as wafer bifurcation or buckling. Indeed, even in a gravity-free environment, thinning an 8″ or 12″ semiconductor wafer can result in warpage and bifurcation. To mitigate this issue, the taiko method, which involves creating a thicker ring region around the rim of the wafer, has been widely used. Previous research has focused on the theoretical factors affecting the warpage of a backside metalized taiko wafer. This work extends the case to a front-side metalized taiko wafer and introduces the concept of the equivalent thickness of a taiko wafer. The equivalent thickness of a taiko wafer, influenced by the ring region, lies in between the thickness of the central region and that of the annular region. Because of the limited number of taiko wafers that can be produced on a production line, modelling can be beneficial. In this work we compared the results of a developed analytical model with those obtained from a finite element analysis (FEA) approach with ANSYSY® Mechanical Enterprise 2022/R2 software to model the equivalent thickness of a taiko wafer. We investigated the curvature as a function of the stress of the metal layer, considering key design factors such as the substrate region thickness, the thickness of the thin metal film, the step height, and the width of the ring region. By systematically varying the thickness of the central region of the taiko wafer, we explored the curvature as a function of stress induced by thermal load in the linear regime and determined the slopes in the linear region of the curvature vs. stress curves. The aim of this study is to identify regularities and similarities with the Stoney equation and investigate the validity of the analytical approach for the case of a taiko substrate. The results show that there is a good agreement between the analytical model of a taiko wafer and the numerical analysis gained by the FEA methods.

Experimental and numerical investigation on the dynamic response of reactor coolant pump rotor under different inflow conditions

In pressurized water reactors, a reactor coolant pump (RCP) is crucial for circulating coolant through the primary loop. However, in advanced passive (AP) reactors, the steam generator and RCP are not connected by a long pipeline, creating a transition section that leads to a non-uniform inflow at the pump inlet. The non-uniform inflow can affect the operational status of a pump, which in turn affects the motion state of the rotor. In this study, the variation of the axis orbit under non-uniform inflow was analyzed through experiments, and it was found that the shape of the axis orbit had undergone significant changes, and the amplitude of the orbit had also increased significantly, particularly in the y direction, where it increased by 88.6%. Subsequently, a combined approach of pump computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis and rotor finite element analysis was used to analyze the cause of the axis orbit change. The study revealed the existence of a vortex with a pulsating frequency of approximately 16.4 Hz at the inlet of the non-uniform inflow. This vortex caused the impeller's attack angle to deviate from the design value, resulting in flow separation inside the impeller, an increase in the impeller's radial force, and radial force pulsation at the same frequency as the vortex. The change in the axis orbit was caused by the superposition of the rotor's unbalance mass and radial force pulsation under non-uniform inflow.

Design and Control of a Tricycle with a Hybrid Electric Motor Cooling System Powered By Solar Photovoltaics

The power for a standard electric tricycle used for transportation comes from a battery, which can lose power after a certain amount of time. In this regard, the standard tricycle in the proposed concept will have a battery that will be charged by solar panels mounted on a stand on the rear of the tricycle. A solar-based renewable energy source is also used along with the traditional charging mechanism to make a hybrid system. The proposed tricycle is more stable in braking turns because it has a lower center of gravity compared to a bicycle. The proposed tricycle has movement in both directions, i.e., forward and reverse, for disabled persons. The proposed model was validated using the finite element analysis approach in solid work for different points of the frame and different types of loads. Also Electric motors have a great efficiency of operation, but they create a lot of heat depending on the torque and speed they need to run. As a result, an effective motor cooling system is required to keep the temperature within restrictions. Although the coolant pump and radiator fan in a conventional motor liquid cooling system do an efficient job, they are also energy hogs. The FEA approach was used to identify the maximum stress, displacement, and safety factors

Use of finite element analysis for the thermal gradient determination of a neutron transparent high-pressure sample environment for neutron tomography

ABSTRACT A 3D Finite Element Analysis model was developed to describe the temperature distribution inside a novel neutron transparent high-pressure sample assembly. The validity of the model was established by conducting experimental validation. The Finite Element Analysis model was utilised to evaluate the sample assembly’s temperature gradients and optimise its geometry and components. The results indicate that the discrepancy between the temperature recorded in the laboratory using thermocouples and the temperature calculated by the Finite Element Analysis model was only 4% under the assumption that the thermocouple was positioned in the middle of the sample assembly. The models further demonstrate that the Finite Element Analysis approach is a valuable tool for optimising the sample assembly by considering the impact of different materials and variations in the shape of its components.

A Problem-Independent Machine Learning (PIML) enhanced substructure-based approach for large-scale structural analysis and topology optimization of linear elastic structures

Structural analysis for structures composed of highly heterogeneous materials which often involves the solution of large-scale linear algebraic equations is very time-consuming even within the linear elastic regime. Furthermore, the tremendous computational cost of iterative large-scale finite element analysis also prevents the widespread use of topology optimization as a powerful design tool especially when the desired design resolution is very high. In order to break the bottleneck hindering the efficient solutions of large-scale structural analysis and design optimization problems, in the present article, a general machine learning (ML) enhanced substructure-based framework is proposed. The essential idea is resorting to the classical substructure-based finite element analysis approach and establishing an implicit mapping between the parameters characterizing the material distribution within a substructure and the corresponding condensed stiffness matrix/numerical shape functions through offline trained deep neural networks. In contrast to most of the existing ML enhanced approaches, the proposed framework is truly independent of the forms of structural geometry, boundary condition and external load, and can be applied to solve various boundary value problems governing by the same type of partial differential equation once the offline training is completed. Armed with modern artificial intelligence techniques, the proposed approach in some sense revives the classical substructure approach in finite element analysis. Compared with the traditional paradigm, it can achieve 104–105 times solution efficiency for tested large-scale examples with satisfactory accuracy. The effectiveness of the approach was also validated for the non-adjoint topology optimization problems, i.e., 3D compliant mechanism design. Finally, to demonstrate the proposed approach’s capability in dealing with extremely large-scale three-dimensional problems, a three-dimensional topology optimization problem with about 109 design variables and 3×109 degrees of freedom (Dofs) is solved on a laptop without resorting to any parallel computing techniques.

Performance-based blast-resistant design of RC bridge piers under vehicular bombs

Bridge piers are the critical components to support the superstructures and the blast resistance of piers has attracted extensive attention considering the ever growing deliberate and accidental explosion attacks on bridge structures. However, most of the existing studies focus on the blast-induced dynamic response of a single pier without considering the bridge redundancy, even less the actual traffic performance of the entire bridge. This paper aims to propose a performance-based blast-resistant design approach of RC bridge piers under explosions of vehicular bombs. Firstly, the distribution model of blast impulse on bridge piers is proposed with considering both the ground reflections and diffractions of piers based on the validated finite element analysis (FEA) approach. Then, the fiber beam element-based model and the above blast impulse distribution model were validated based on the dynamic monotonic loading test and the explosion test on RC frame column. Furthermore, the simplified fiber element beam-based prototype RC bridge was established and the parametric studies were performed. Finally, the response surface methodology was adopted and the performance-based blast-resistant design procedure for three design basis threats specified in FEMA, i.e., cargo van bomb, small moving van bomb, moving van bomb, was proposed with utilizing the relative vertical displacement of the mid-bent as the performance index. It derives that, (i) the proposed distribution model of blast impulse is applicable to explosions at scaled distances of 0.5–2.1 m/kg1/3; (ii) the fiber beam element-based model can well describe the global response of the blast-exploded columns/piers; (iii) the proposed performance-based blast-resistant design approach can provide an efficient tool for bridge engineers.

Integrating experiments, finite element analysis, and interpretable machine learning to evaluate the auxetic response of 3D printed re-entrant metamaterials

Metamaterials have received extensive attention in fundamental and applied research over the past two decades due to their unique mechanical behavior. This paper presents an interpretable machine learning (ML) approach for efficient response prediction of three-dimensional (3D)-printed metamaterials. However, developing such an ML-based model requires a large consistent, representative, balanced, and complete dataset. To this extent, an experimentally validated finite element analysis (FEA) approach is implemented to generate 8096 non-self-intersecting re-entrant honeycomb structures by varying the mesoscale geometrical features to obtain the corresponding Poisson's ratios. This dataset is leveraged to develop a feed-forward multilayer perceptron-based predictive model. The developed ML model shows excellent predictive efficacy on the unseen test dataset. Shapely additive explanation (SHAP) is then used for model interpretation. SHAP results show that the slant cell length is the dominant input feature dictating the model output whereas cell angle and vertical cell length show mixed trends signifying that other input features influence their effect on the model output. Moreover, cell thickness does not significantly influence the model output when compared to other input features. Overall, the integrated numerical simulation-experiment-interpretable ML-based predictive approach presented here can be leveraged to design and develop metamaterials for a wide range of engineering applications.

Blast-resistant design approach for RC bridge piers

Piers are the critical components to support the superstructure of bridge, but susceptible to the intentional and accidental explosions due to its easy accessibility. The blast-induced damage to the pier may cause the entire bridge to collapse, resulting in huge casualties and economy loss, and thus it is necessary to perform the blast-resistant design for the bridge pier. At present, the analytical model and blast-resistant design approach for blast-loaded reinforced concrete (RC) pier considering both the direct shear and flexural responses were studied. Firstly, six shots of field ground explosion test on 1/5-scale circular and square RC columns were carried out, in which the TNT charges with the scaled distances of 0.86–1.22 m/kg1/3 were adopted. Then, the corresponding numerical simulations incorporating the newly developed Structured Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (SALE) solver were conducted, and the validity of finite element (FE) analysis approach was verified by comparing the experimental incident and reflected overpressure-time histories acting on the periphery of pier with deviations for most measuring points less than 20%. Afterwards, total 176 explosion scenarios were numerically simulated, and a blast loading distribution model on the pier for ground explosions was proposed, which considers the pier cross-section shapes (circular and square) and pier diameter/edge length (0.2–1.6 m), the scaled distances of explosive charge (0.3–2.3 m/kg1/3), as well as the blast wave reflection and diffraction by the pier. Furthermore, a Timoshenko beam-based multi-degree of freedom (MDOF) analytical model was established, and validated by both the existing explosion tests on RC columns and refined numerical simulations of blast-loaded bridge piers with corresponding deviations no more than 5%. Finally, a blast-resistant design procedure incorporating the above-proposed blast loading distribution and MDOF models was given, providing a reliable and efficient blast-resistant evaluation and design tool for bridge piers.