Blast mitigation has recently become
a critical need for public infrastructure because the probability of explosions
is no longer linked to accidental reasons only. In the spring of 2005, an
international project regarding blast
mitigation started under the coordination
of the University of Missouri – Rolla and the participation of the University
of Naples “Federico II” and two Italian firms, ANAS, owner of the Italian
highway network, and AMRA, a research center of excellence. The objective of
the project was to investigate a real structure under blast loading conditions;
the team had the opportunity to study and test to collapse a recently dismissed
long-span reinforced concrete arch bridge in southern Italy.
The first phase of the project has
been focused on a detailed structural analysis of the bridge performed via a
finite element modeling of the structure anticipated by static/dynamic materials
characterization. The conducted numerical modal analysis was validated by
in-situ vibrodyne tests. This allowed the calibration of the model later used
for blast loading analysis.
At this time, two mitigation
techniques using
composites have been proposed to protect the piers of the
bridge. These solutions will be modeled and tested on the structure under blast
loads.