Numerical Study on the Behaviour of Hybrid FRPs Reinforced RC Slabs Subjected to Blast Loads

The safety of civilian and military infrastructure is a concern due to an increase in explosive risks, which has led to a demand for high-strength civil infrastructure with improved energy absorption capacity. In this study, a Finite Element (FE) numerical model was developed to determine the effect of hybrid Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP) as a strengthening material on full-scale Reinforced Concrete (RC) slabs. The reinforcing materials under consideration were Carbon (CFRP) and Glass (GFRP) fibres, which were subjected to blast loads to determine the structural response. A laminated composite fabric material model was utilized to model the failure of composite, which facilitates the consideration of strain rate effects. The damaged area of the laminate is determined in the FE model, and it is in good agreement with the corresponding experimental results in the literature. Models containing different stacking sequences were built to demonstrate their efficiency in resisting blast loads. In general, the damaged area was reduced when a hybrid reinforcement with CFRP as the top layer was used.