Weapons Effects FRMs for Reinforced Concrete Walls & Floor/Ceiling Slabs

The effort proposed in this Phase II SBIR will develop improved fast running blast response and progressive collapse models for reinforced concrete walls and slabs used in civil construction. These models will be developed and integrated within the MEVA (Modular Effectiveness Vulnerability Assessment) software. Currently, the blast response models in MEVA are limited to hardened construction and MEVA’s progressive collapse models do not address the full range of reinforced concrete construction commonly found in civil buildings. The proposed work will use an innovative multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) modeling approach to develop accurate, fast running blast response models that can represent the range of wall/slab construction of interest to MEVA when subjected to the blast and fragment loading produced by Air Force inventory weapons. Additionally, the representation of reinforced concrete slabs and walls used in the Multi-hit progressive Collapse (MPC) module currently in MEVA will be upgraded to address the same set of slab/wall construction types. BENEFIT: The primary market for the blast modules that will be developed under this project are primarily DoD organizations in the U.S. who also maintain targeting or vulnerability assessment software tools that would benefit from improved accuracy of the new fast runing models being developed. This includes codes like IMEA and VAPO for offensive targeting needs and counter-terror security planning, respectively. Also the increased fidelity of the MPC progressive collapse assesment tool will lead to expanded commercial interest in this tool. WAI plans to adapt the MPC tool for the commercial marketplace where it could be applied to evaluating a building''s resistance to progressive collapse and also support security planning for groups like the Department of Homeland Security.