Influence of Blast-Induced Ground Motion on Dynamic Response of Reinforcement Retaining Walls

Abstract

Blasting is used in jobs such as construction, mining, oil and agriculture and forestry in our country and the world. Blast technology is commonly applied to most civil engineering applications such as housing, railways, roads, dams, airports. Although this technology benefits many construction applications, it also causes some negative effects such as ground motion and air shock. This paper only studies blast-induced ground motion. The ground motion acceleration time histories are simulated using the software. The software generates acceleration time histories of blast-induced ground motions using peak acceleration and the time envelope curve function of ground motion acceleration. Moreover, it obtains shock response spectra determined from ground shock time histories. In this study, the influence of blast-induced ground motion on reinforcement retaining walls was investigated. These walls are very often built in Turkey. Therefore, the influence of blast-induced ground motion is important for them. The three-dimensional finite element model of the reinforcement retaining wall was designed. The maximum stresses and displacements of thereinforcement retaining wall were investigated. As a conclusion, when charge weight increases (constant charge center), displacements and Von Misses stresses also increase. Therefore, the blast-induced ground motion must also be taken into account for important structures such as retaining walls, bridges, dams and historic buildings.