Evaluation and Comparison of Behavior of Steel Jacketed RC Columns with Circular and Square Sections under Blast Loading

Reinforced concrete (RC) structures are widely used in urban buildings and infrastructures, and these are always subjected to explosions caused by intentional or unintentional accidents. Among the structural members, columns are key load carrier elements. In this paper, behavior of RC columns with circular and square sections strengthened by steel jackets is investigated and compared under blast loading. Accordingly, six circular columns and six square columns, which are equivalent in geometry and material properties, were modeled using ABAQUS software package. The effect of varying the concrete strength, longitudinal reinforcement and geometrical properties of steel jacket on FE models of the columns has been studied. In addition, a sub-program has been written to evaluate the changes in axial and lateral capacity of the column. Based on the most important results, the circular columns perform better under blast loading. Using steel jackets, in addition to increasing the explosive capacity of the column, improves the effects of other remediation strategies such as the use of high strength concrete and the higher percentage of reinforcement. This effect was observed to be higher in circular columns in compare to square columns.