Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online 2026-3
A comprehensive experimental assessment of reinforced concrete walls under blast: In situ monitoring of loading,dynamic response and damage with NDT methods and embedded sensors
A safety or security related assessment of explosions, accidental and intentional scenarios alike, often necessitate performance of resource intensive replication tests. For an efficient assessment without performing full scale blast tests, e.g., supported by numerical simulations, detailed knowledge is necessary to predict the blast loading from a given charge configuration, the resulting dynamic response of the structure under investigation as well as the resulting damage. Validation of numerical simulation requires the spatially resolved acquisition of all these parameters in real time. In this paper we present a set of measurement techniques and discuss their suitability for monitoring reinforced concrete (RC) walls under blast loading. Different blast-loading scenarios were realized by varying the charge weight and the standoff distance. The dynamic loading of the wall was characterized with pressure sensors complemented by numerical simulations using the APOLLO Blastsimulator and ConWep. High speed digital image correlation (DIC) was implemented in combination with multiple acceleration sensors to observe the dynamic deflection of the walls during the loading and to determine the residual deformation after the loading had ceased. In addition, one test specimen was instrumented with fiber optic sensor cables. These fiber optic sensors were used for distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) delivering information on dynamics of compression and tension cycles from within the structure. Additionally, the local damage pattern emerging during the series of blasts was determined via distributed fiber optic strain sensing (DSS) to enable the characterization of visual and non-visual damage to the structure. The obtained information was compared to results by an ultrasound structure-scanner.
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