Composite Retrofit Technicques for Blast Resistance

This Small Business Innovation Research Project will determine the advantages and disad-vantages of fibrous/polymeric composite materials over traditional material (steel) for retrofitting key civilian facilities against terrorist bomb attack. Retrofit techniques we will evaluate are: strengthening fully and partially exposed columns with composite wraps or shells, masonry walls with bonded composite fabrics, and concrete beams with externally bonded composite sheets. We will model the composites using a laminated shell capability and a progressive damage model. The damage model will consist of ply-by-ply fiber and matrix failure criteria and post-failure degradation rules. This project will also develop analytical models for design and performance evaluation of composite retrofit techniques, and implement them into a fast-running, user friendly, PC-based software tool. The software tool will consist of a graphical user interface, databases with default material properties, retrofit equations, output routines, and an advisor to check the validity of the input. The commercial use of composites in the infrastructure is a rapidly growing field. This project will provide validated computer models for predicting the vulnerability of our composite infrastructure to extreme loads, like seismic event. This project also provide transportation departments and construction firms with a software tool for composite retrofit design.