A building flexing ‘muscles’ against the attack of nuclear

weapons – A review
A.A ADEDEJI
Department of civil engineering, university of Ilorin, PMB 1515, Ilorin, Nigeria.
amadeji@yahoo.com aaadeji@unilorin.edu.ng

Abstract

Nuclear weapons and atomic bombs are terrible in that they attack the support system of life at any
level. In any warfare blast targets, buildings suffer the most. The result of the assessment of
building design approaches in this work has created awareness and solutions to build sustainable
building that will resist the attack of bombs and other nuclear-based weapons. Reviewed in this
paper are the applications of smart, flexible and superelastic materials, such as strawbale, brick and
concrete wall as infill to wooden, reinforced concrete and steel frame with the overview of shape
memory alloys (SMA) and its use, as an active component, to reduce the damage effects of nuclear
holocaust on our buildings. Materials resistant to high thermal shock and ones, which enhance free
flow of air pollution, are found to be resistant against radioactive emission caused by nuclear blast.

Keywords: Warfare, nuclear, weapons, thermal, emission, air pollution and shock resistant

1. Introduction

The Vanguard Newspaper (Ujah, 2003) carried a story stating that Federal Government has
approved War Risk Insurance Cover (WRIP) in Nigeria, following Tuesday, September 11, 2001
attack on United States of America, when towers 1 and 2 of the world Trade centre in New York
were both hit by commercial aircraft. This was in recognition of the importance of insurance in
natural development and the urgency to ameliorate the effect of communal religions and tribal
crisis coupled with the campaign for individual country to put this any of the external attacks by
these attackers or the so-called terrorists. Cases of bomb attacks, which are easily brought to mind
through achieves of libraries, media records and research and research information, started in
Nigeria since the ‘80s to date. Here human attacks on others and property are called by their
proper names (terrorism) so as to get proper solutions to the problems caused. Typical examples of
building destroyed following bomb blasts shown in Figures 1, 2 3, 4 and 6 (Aljazeera 2009, Ujah
2003, Reuters 2009) are enough evidences. It should be noted however that Figure 2 (due to bomb
blast) and 5 (due to seismic loading) have the same mode of failure calling for similarity of
structural analysis. The deadly blasts in Figure 4 as reported by Reuters (2009) appeared to target
two government buildings — the Ministry of Justice and the Baghdad provincial government — and
many of civil servants were among the dead.

WRIP is not the only one at finding solutions to terrorist attack either, parts of the security activities
suggested by the Intelligent Transport System (ITS) include:

Identification and location of suspicious vehicle through license readers motorists assistance
patrols, surveillance and early warning through sensors and automatic detection of unauthorized
vehicles etc, defence to prevent or reduce severity of terrorist attacks by transferring of surveillance
data and many more.
Figure 1. A building collapsed due to bomb blasts Figure 2. A building collapsed due to
(Aljazeera, 2009) bomb blasts (Adedeji, 2004)

Figure 3. A building collapsed due to bomb Figure 4. Reuters – Car bombs kill dozens
blasts (Aljazeera, 2009) in Iraq (October, 2009)

Figure 5. Observed a sever damage in Figure 6. A building collapsed due to bomb

Under designed existing R.C. frame buildings blasts (Euronews, 2009)
with Infills (Izmit-Kocaeli earthquakes in 1999)
From NISEE Image Collection
According to Abern (2003), terrorism is generally considered as a form of unconventional warfare
with the purpose of creating fear within a targeted group to weaken their will to resist the
objectives of the terrorists. The objectives of the terrorists are to create high numbers of causalities
and destruction of infrastructure so as to create fear and adverse economic impact on their preys.
On the international scene where terrorists attacks have been against civilian targets, which ranges
between: high profile government buildings; high profile national monuments; major transportation
infrastructure critical to the economy; public utilities infrastructure of modern and large cities sports
and recreation facilities with large attendance; large, high profile educational institutions; chemical
manufacturing and aerospace facilities and business critical to economy. From these
aforementioned targets, buildings suffer the most. This is because people, even animals (domestic,
wild animals look for security in buildings whenever they sense danger, such as earthquakes); feel
secured inside buildings, and not outside them, whenever they sense incoming danger.

The history of human warfare against each other include the Sodom and Gomorra holocaust, the 1st
and 2nd world war, internal/societal/family - call it any thing - civil wars, religious meanness and
terrorism, yet there is always a convention upon conventions to stop producing bombs and
weapons but all to nothingness.

It is the objective of this work; therefore, to create awareness in the design of buildings that can
resists external attack, due to nuclear or biological weapons, by human aggression. It should be
noted that a conventional explosive will deliver a swift shock, just like a slap, to whatever it hits,
while the blast wave of a sizable nuclear weapon endures several seconds and can surround and
destroy the whole non-economically feasible building. Human creation, in this sense indicates the
use of dangerous weapons such as nuclear, hydrogen, bombs, handguns and grenades. The
answer to this question again is to ‘build a house’ to flex muscle against the external forces of the
nuclear weapons.

2. Bombs and Missiles

2.1 Nature effects

When an atomic nucleus is split, releasing energy, various unstable isotopes are produced, and
these new nuclei, acting under the influence of the weak force, decay, emitting, radioactivity into
the environment. In general of radioactivity emissions greatly overmatches the strength of the
chemical bonds that hold living things together. So, when the cosmic energies are turned loose on
a small planet overwhelming destruction is the result. As said earlier, when an atom is split, it
releases several neutrons at high velocity. In a chain reaction, the neutron released splits other
nuclei, which in turn release other neutrons that still split further nuclei in a series that ends only
when the available material is used up or dispersed. In some substances such as uranium-235, 238
or plutonium-239 or any other newly found substances, a spontaneous chain reaction will start
when enough of the materials-a quantity known as critical mass-is assembled in one place. A chain
reaction does not necessarily make a bomb. Most of the fission energy is released in an extremely
short period (Schell 1982, Encarta 2008).

In fission reaction energy is released in expenditure mass. Each atom contains a balance of force
and energies. Energy can also be released by fusion, which is the basis for the hydrogen bomb.
Fission and fusion can occur in great many forms, but in all for them mass is lost, while the grip of
the strong force is tightened on the products of the reaction, and energy is released. In general the
only limit on a bomb’s destructive effect is the earth’s capacity to absorb the blast.

Most conventional bombs produce only one destructive effect - the shock wave. Nuclear weapons
produce many destructive effects. At the moment explosion, when the temperature of the weapon
material instantly gasified, is at the super stellar level, the pressure is millions of times the normal
atmospheric pressure. Immediately, the radiation, consisting mainly of gamma rays, which are very
high-energy form of electromagnetic radiation, begins to stream outward into the environment.
This is called the ‘initial nuclear explosion’. In an air burst of a one-megaton bomb (of an explosive
yield of a million tons, which is a medium-sized weapon in the nuclear arsenals) the initial nuclear
radiation can kill unprotected human beings (how protected?) in an area of 8 km2 (Harrison 1993,
Schell 1982). Virtually simultaneously with the initial nuclear radiation, in a second destructive
effect of the explosion, an electromagnetic pulse is generated by the intense gamma radiation
setting on the air. In a high-altitude detonation, the pulse can knock off railroad tracks, pipes, and
overhead power lines.

In another destructive effect of an explosion, the blast wave of an air-burnt one-megaton bomb can
flatten or severely damage even the strong buildings within a radius of 5 km2. As the fireball burns,
it rises, condensing water from the surrounding atmosphere to from the characteristic mushroom
cloud. In a case where the bomb is set off on the ground where the fireball touches the surface
(ground burst), a crater is formed and tons of dust and debris will be fused with the intensely
radioactive fission products sucking up into the mushroom cloud. The mixture will return to earth as
radioactive fallout. The fallout within about a day of the explosion in the vicinity of the blast will
expose human beings to radiation disease. In an event of a blast (Schell, 1982), a fission bomb
with a yield of 12.5kmT of TNT (trinitrotoluene) was detonated from about 650 m above the
ground, almost half the tree within 2 km were charred and some knocked down. Half an hour after
the blast, fires set by the thermal pulse and by the collapse of the buildings. In any unfortunate
zone hit by the blast, there will be overpressure (in excess of atmospheric pressure) to the tune of
at least 0.003N/mm2. If the burst occurs on the ground, the overpressure is greater in the centre of
the blast; the range of thermal pulse may be the same as that of airburst.

The threat for a conventional bomb is defined by two equally importance elements, the bomb size
(or charged weight, which is normal, measured using TNT and the standoff distance between the
blast source and the target. The blast source, for instance, at the basement of a three-storey
building (Ujah, 2003) has the weight of 816.5kg TNT, while the Oklahoma bomb in 1995 has a
charge weight of 1814 kg TNT at a stand-off of 1.5m. (Longinow et al, 1996).

The initial nuclear radiation, the electromagnetic pulse, the thermal pulse, the blast wave and the
fallout are the primary effects of nuclear weapons. These primary effects usually produce
secondary effects on the natural environment. Take for instance flattening and fire outbreak of
buildings many kill more people than the initial thermal pulse. The primary effects are the concern
of this work. People can migrate to other safe area before the secondary effects set in.

2. 2 Human behaviour through air radiation

As in the case with all matters, air is made up of molecules. Each molecule has a core, or nucleus,
of positively charged protons surrounded by negatively charged protons surrounded by negatively
charged electrons. Nature constantly seeks equilibrium in all things and in this case it seeks a
balance in which there are as many electrons as protons so that the positive and negative charges
cancel one another out. This happens in a stable or passive molecule of air. An electron is about
1800 times lighter than a proton, so it is the electron that is mostly displaced. And when this
happens the equilibrium is upset and ‘maverick’ molecules or ion is created. If a molecule looses an
electron it becomes positively charged and when the displaced electron attached itself to a normal
molecule, that molecule becomes negatively charged – an ideal environment for living things and a
relatively clean air. The earth itself is negatively charged and it repels the negative ions to drive
them from the area near its surface. The radioactive fallout due to bomb blast will return to earth
and eventually it will expose human beings to radiation disease. Even the so called ‘falling winds’
created when a body of air from the upper layers of the atmosphere falls down toward the surface
of the earth can make people sick. Negative ions are more active than positive ions. They move
around at a great speed. They are more readily attached themselves to submicroscopic particles of
pollution (bomb blast etc) forming charged particles cluster to become large ions, that may not
have any effect on the living things. However in big cities, the lower the total ions count, the
greater the pollution the greater will be the imbalance in the ratio of positive-to negative-ions.

Nuclear weapons are terrible in that they attack the support system of life every level. Many kinds
of harm (incident of cancer or genetic) done to human beings by radiation depend on the dose
accumulated over many years. Exposure to radioactivity in human beings is measured in rems
(roentgen equivalent in man - a standard measure of gamma-or X-rays). A one-week accumulated
dose from nuclear fallout may attack central nervous system that may bring death in few hours.
Living things exposed to a radiation might even be killed by exposure to the sun following serious
ozone depletion. The answer to these questions again is to design and ‘build a house’.

3. Building Design Approaches

Knowing the properties (engineering) of building materials to be used appropriately (construction

properties) is a half design. Application of Shape Memory Alloys (SMA), which are characterised by
super-elasticity allowing energy dissipation through a phase change without any material damage is
discussed herewith. In recent times, man has begun to modify its environment in terms of
electricity, magnetism and acoustics. Houses of wood, earth, and stone are giving way to steel,
reinforced concrete structures. This is giving enough rooms to buildings with good conductors that
are greatly affecting us as electromagnetic pollution. Hot or cool air forced through ductwork of
most central heating systems have been shown (Soyka et al, 1991) to set up friction that may
result in the loss of almost all the negative ions and then draw most of the positive ions out of the
air as well. This air can pass into the rooms and passages upsetting human mental and physical
equilibrium. There is the need to create appropriate energy levels both within and without.

3.1 Energy transfer

Thermal Stresses: These are stresses induced in a body as a result of changes in temperature that
can lead to material fracture or undesirable plastic deformation. In a uniform object, such as a bar,
the magnitude of the stress resulting from a temperature change from To (initial) to Tf (final) is:

  E f (To  T f )  E f T (1)

Where E = modulus of elasticity and f = linear coefficient of thermal expansion. As  > 0 in

compression, the material expansion is constrained (T f > To) while in tensile stress, σ> 0 occurs at
Tf < To. Upon heating, the exterior of a specimen is hotter and therefore will have expanded more
than the interior region. Hence, compressive surface stresses are induced and balanced by tensile
interior stresses. The interior-exterior stress conditions are reversed for rapid cooling, so that the
surface is put into a state of tension. During an explosion, the electromagnetic radiation touching
will eventually heat the exterior of a building. For each class of material (metals, ceramics, wood,
straw and polymers) the greater the atomic bonding energy, the deeper and more narrow the
potential energy trough. Therefore, the increase in interatomic separation with a given rise in
temperature is low and will yield a small value of α f. At room temperature, steel αf fails between 9.9
to 17.5 E-6 (oC)-1, concrete is between 6.5 to 7.6 and a fibber is -2 or 60 for aramid (kevlar49) and
carbon records 7 and 10 (transverse direction at low and high modulus respectively) and 0.5 and -
0.7 (longitudinal direction at high and low modulus respectively).
Thermal Shock: The capacity of material to withstand crack formation and propagation from
surface flaws due to imposed stress in tension is the thermal shock resistance. For a ceramic body
(such as brick), that is rapidly cooled, the resistance to thermal shock depends not only on the
temperature change, but also on the mechanical and thermal properties of the material. In order to
resist thermal shock due to a high bomb blast, a ceramic of high fracture strength f, and high
thermal conductivity with a low modulus of elasticity E and a low coefficient of thermal expansion f
will be appropriate. The thermal shock resistance parameter TSR (Callister, 1997) is,

 fk
TSR  ( 2)
E f

Where k = thermal conductivity (of lattice vibration electron), σf is easily changed and controlled,
for example, silica-based material (SiO2) of approximately 7.5 E-6 (oC)-1 are particularly susceptible
to thermal shock.

3.2. Structural Analysis

Here the energy method of analysis is employed, which is based upon the principle that at the time
of maximum deflection and zero velocity, the work done by the externally applied load is equal to
the internal strain energy in a structure. The strain energy can be easily determined from the
resistance function.

Pe(t) m

Re (x)

Figure 7. Single equivalent system

Consider a single degree system as shown in Figure 7. The external work done is generally
described as:
x 2 x
1  dx 
 Pe (t ) dx  me    Re ( x)dx
2  dt  0
(3)
0

at maximum deflection,
x x

 Pe (t )dx   Re ( x) dx (4)
0 0

Where Pe(t) = external load as a function of time, me = mass of equivalent system, and Re(x) =
internal resistance as a function of deflection (x).

The external force in this case may be termed a pure impulse load, so that during the application
the resistance and internal strain energy of the system is taken as null. Then,
 2
H me 1
 me v 2 (5)
2me 2

In which the initial velocity,

H me
v (6)
me
Where Hme = total impulse of the external load, which is the area under pressure-time graph in
Figure 8. for the incident and front face overpressures.

Fig. 8 Typical example of pressure – time relationship for one –degree system
(Norris et al 1959, Adedeji 2004)

3.3 Failure Analysis

The usual cases of failure of engineering materials are due to improper materials selection and
processing and inadequate design of the component or its misuse. The concern of this work
involves the following failure (ductile and brittle) modes of materials.
Cracks initiation and propagation: In the process of fatigue failure, the cracks initiation is
where a small crack forms at some point of high stress concentration, while crack propagation
occurs during which the crack advances incrementally with each stress cycle. The following
equation (7) expresses the fatigue life Nf as the sum number of cycles of crack initiation Ni and
propagation Np:

Nf = Ni + Np (7)

At low stress level (high-cycle fatigue) a large fraction of the fatigue life is utilized in crack initiation.
With increase in stress level, Ni decreases and cracks form more rapidly. For a low-cycle fatigue,
the (high stress levels) the propagation step predominates, so that N p > NI. In the final stage of
crack propagation, when its direction is perpendicular to the applied tensile strength, the rate of
propagation developed. Mathematically this rate may be expressed, in terms of stress intensity
factor k, as:

da
 A(K m m ) (8)
dN

Where symbol a = ½ length of an initial crack, symbol N = no of cycle to fatigue failure, K range of
stress intensity factor ∆K = Y (σmax – σmin)√(πa) in unit MPa√m or N/mm2√mm, A (value of 1-1.8
E-12) and m (between 1 and 6) are constant parameters for a particular material due to the
environment frequency and stress ratio (σmin: σmax, always less than -1) numerically no of cycle to
fatigue failure is expressed by,
1  1 1 
Nf    (9)
A 0.5 m (  ) m Y m  ao ac 

In which the crack width at minimum tensile strength ac is by,

2
1 K 
ac    (10)
  Y 
Where Y is a function of element dimensions, stress and crack width.

In the case of thermal fatigue stress is calculated as in equation (1) and (2), mean stress, σm will
affect the fatigue life of material and the graph of stress amplitude vs cycle to failure (S – N curve)
is represented by a series of the mean stress, S-N curve for optimum design due to both
mechanical and thermal loads is shown in Figure 9.

Figure 9. Stress amplitude vs. cycles to failure (S – N) curve

for strawbale wall

4. Building Construction Approaches

It is effective to prescribe minimum requirements for parameters, such as loads, fire resistance
ratings and egress requirement, for buildings against blast. Function-based approaches, wherein
the overall performance or function of the building and its system are defined, are also very
important and it should be included in any code of practice for a sustainable building.

This paper investigated the possibility of using the Shape Memory Alloys (SMA) for the realisation of
mechanical and dynamic protection systems for structures based on devices having intrinsically
energy dissipation capabilities. SMA materials are characterised by super-elasticity allowing energy
dissipation through a phase change from Austenite to Martensite and vice-versa. This stress-strain
cycling does not produce any material damage and is always performed in traction, allowing the
use of cables for the realisation of the devices.
4.1 Properties of Shape Memory Alloys

Most of SMA's are binary alloys, most frequently composed by an association of Nickel and Titanium
(NiTi). They change their crystalline arrangement as they are cooled down or heated up, as well as
in the presence of a stress field (Wikipedia, 2009). The NiTi-based shape memory alloy is
considered to be one of the engineering materials and they can be manufactured to any shape and
size with the yield stress of up to 500 MPa. One of the advantages of using SMA is the high level of
recoverable plastic strain that can be induced with maximum of up to 8% but 0.5% with
conventional steel.

From the work by Tirelli et al 1999, Massad 2002), the crystalline geometry is ordered cubic, but
after phase transformation from Austenite to Martensite the crystal, under stress, bends. The result
is a large elastic deformation of the sample with reversibility when returning in the austenite phase.
This property of no-degrading the crystal structure when the alloy is under stress is the so-called
super-elastic behaviour of the material. In addition, the path followed by the material in the
theoretical stress-strain curve shows a flat level of stress in the loading phase, whereas another
plateau appears at a lower stress level, during the unloading phase. Since the test results under
dynamic loading were less promising than the predictions based on quasi-static loads, a specific
set-up was derived to enhance the behaviour of SMA for their use in seismic applications.

Figure 10. Energy dissipated for successive increasing seismic (dynamic) load
Legend: Green = Unprotected; Blue = Protected; Red = SMA devices
Source: (Render et al, 2000)

The main tests carried on samples of SMA’s of different diameters and composition provided by FIP
Industriale (Padova, Italy) include: cyclic tests at increasing strain, strain rate tests at low
frequencies, stabilisation tests, dynamic tests. In general, and from the different tests carried out
on several samples (Renda et al, 2000), the shape of the hysteretic cycle during dynamic tests has
been improved and was much more similar to the low frequency curves and the energy dissipation
which has also been considerably increased (Figure 10).

4.2 Simplified protocol for accelerated aging of SMA and strawbale Wall

For alloys with a high capacity for single stress-aging, duplex stress-aging may yield further gains in
useful strength without destructive losses in elongation and 'Relative Toughness'. With duplex
stress-aging, the proportional limits are higher than the initial tensile strengths of these three
steels. Duplex stress-aging resulted in increases of 344.7 N/mm2 for the 0.1% offset yield strength
for 4340 steel; On a yield strength-to-density basis, duplex stress-aged 4335 Si-Modified is about
equal to titanium alloy while duplex stress-aged 300M appears to be superior to any commercial
alloy.

The ability of product designers to accurately predict changes in a masonry, especially in plastered
strawbale wall, is of critical importance to the construction industry. Modeling the kinetics of the
straw deterioration is difficult and complex, and the difficulty is compounded by the fact that a
single-rate expression of degradation or change developed over the short term may not be valid
over the long-term service life of this masonry. In order to design a test plan that accurately
models the time-correlated degradation of strawbale wall, it is necessary to possess an in-depth
knowledge of the material composition and structure, end-product use, assembly and failure-mode
mechanisms.

For any accelerated aging and ambient temperatures selected, the relationship of oven test time to
service life time is expressed as follows:

TimeRT
TimeTI  (Ti TRT )
(11)
Q10 10

where T1 = oven aging temperature (50°C), TRT = room temperature (ambient = 24°C), and Q10 =
reaction-rate coefficient. The typical relationship selected for commonly used is Q10 = 2—that is, a
doubling of the reaction rate for each 10°C increase in the temperature above the room
temperature. . The test time in a 50°C oven would be required to achieve equivalency to 5 years of
ambient life aging of the strawbale at 24°C. The response is as follows:

240weeks 240
TimeTi  50 24
  39.6 weeks
10
6.06
2

In other words, an oven test time of 39.6 weeks at 50°C would be equivalent to 5 years at 24°C
ambient temperature (i.e., 7.92 weeks/year).

It was assumed that there is no significant difference in coefficients of expansion of the cement
plastered strawbale and the embedded SMA rods that could have contributed to significant stress
generation and part failure, temperatures need to be cycled through high (accelerated aging) and
then low temperatures. The high (accelerated aging) temperature is selected as described above,
with the low temperature <5°C. During the low-temperature conditioning, no test time is
accumulated toward the ultimate life equivalency of the strawbale enclosing the SMA element. It is
therefore the interest of this paper to use (a) SMA as diagonal braces embedded in/plastered to the
masonry and attached it to the frame (brick/block/concrete-RC column i.e. masonry-frame
composition) in walls without openings, (b) Hazel pin (stub) connector for strawbale-wooden frame
with steel bar as diagonals (c) SMA as connectors between frame elements (RC beam-column, wall-
column) in walls with openings and (d) SMA as connector between frame (steel beam-column, wall-
frame). Typical examples of these applications are shown in Figure 11.
 RC Beam \Wooden Beam
RC
Column Wooden
Column
Wall
wooden bar
Steel
cable Wall (SB)
(with
SMA opening)
cable

SMA Hazel
Bar Pin (stub)
(40mm
Dia.1m long)

(a) SMA braces for a frame-infill composition (b) Hazel pin (stub) and steel bars for a frame-infill with an
opening

\RC Beam \ Steel Beam

Steel
RC Column
Column
Wall
Wall (with
(with opening)
opening)
SMA bar (at
SMA bar wall-frame
(at wall-frame contact
contact lengths ky
lengths ky and kx)
and kx)
SMA
column-beam
connector
( c) SMA applied at the contact lengths at frame-wall
composition (d) SMA applied at the contact lengths and beam-column
joints

Figure 11. Applications of SMA and hazel pin (stub) to frame-infill element

Contact lengths kx, ky are estimated as: kx = xL in which x = ratio of wall length to height or kx
= /2Ly and ky= /2Lx (Pubal,1982) as Ly , Lx = lengths of wall height and widths respectively.

4.3 Internal Microclimate

Some of the buildings observed (Adedeji, 2001) in Ilorin, Nigeria have no adequate ventilation, with
high pollution, especially aerosol particles, of 1.18(2,12) E-6 kg/s and at an air flow rate of
5.33(2.11) E2 m3/s for residential (public) buildings. It is therefore essential to have design
consideration for adequate ventilation, so that during a blast, polluted air will flow in and out freely.
This will also help to reduce thermal pulse at the period of blast.

4.4 Construction System

(a) Construction of buried or semi-buried structures (underground-cellar, transportation,-

supper markets etc), built where possible, are extremely resistant to high blast pressure.
Foundations of reinforced concrete will not only resist the earth pressure, but the blast as
well.
(b) Surface structures.
- Building with shear wall elements should be constructed whenever possible. This
should be of reinforced concrete. Design should be detailed to transmit lateral blast
load.
- Fin walls, where the fins are built into the returning walls, and constructed from earth
wall are economical and will resist high lateral blast. Modulus of elasticity as well as
the liner coefficient of thermal expansion of this wall material is generally low. This will
reduce the effect of thermal shock.
- Rigid frame structures are recommended only where there is no possibility of
constructing shear or fin walls.
- Single storey building need not withstand lateral blast load, as it is closer to the
ground. Only the earth has capacity to absorb the blast.
- Openings (doors and windows) panels made of fibre-reinforced glass or plastic (steel
or wooden materials can endanger human body during a blast) will resist thermal
shock and impact load to reasonable degrees.

4.5 Material Selection in Design

Design of buildings against weapons blast: Design due to mechanical (dynamic, vibration, and
static) and thermal radiation (shock, diffraction loading, drag) effects. It is obvious, that wall and
roofs serve as the building ‘coat’ and ‘cap’, therefore these coat and cap become the important
aspect in any building design plan contrary to previous design solutions suggested by many
researchers, for other members of the buildings. This is obvious and real in the practical examples
of the blast shown in Figure 1. Walls and roofs are terribly affected terribly by the bomb blasts.

If the exterior building walls are capable of resisting the blast load, the shock front penetrate
through window and door openings, subjecting the floor’s, ceilings and people to sudden pressures
and fragments from shattered windows and floors etc. the blast pressure decays exponentially.

5. Design
5.1 Material Database

Though, most of the research activities of the SMA applications in structures are still in laboratory
stage, a few have been implemented for field applications for field applications and found effective
(Song et al, 2006). A full history of application of SMA in control of civil engineering structures are
well reviewed by Song et al (2006). Typical examples of different types of recommended building
materials, against a blast and their applications based on their properties, are shown in Table 1.

Table 1 below gives the properties (physical, mechanical and thermal) of wall materials commonly
employed in construction of residential and public buildings.

Table 1 Design of building’s ‘coat’ (wall and roof) and frame against blasts
Structure Material selection Properties/Types of blasts
Mechanical Thermal/air pulse
Wall (minimum Strawbale Light, Flexible, Withstands Regulates ventilation
thickness: 300 blast ≤ 18KT, poor for roof
mm) and roof cover
of one to five Plastic Lightweight, high compressive Susceptible to fire
storeys. Wall is strength, withstand blast >
built as fin or 100KT
diaphragm Earth Heavyweight, high Regulates ventilation,
compressive strength, fire resistant
withstands blast > 50KT
 Concrete Heavyweight, high Fire resistant, allows
compressive strength, slow penetration of
withstand > 50KT polluted air
Frame Reinforced concrete Heavyweight, high Fire resistant
compressive, tensile strength,
withstands > 100KT
Prestressed burnt- Heavyweight, high strength, Fire resistant
brick masonry withstands > 100KT
Steel Heavyweight, high strength, Fire resistant
withstands > 100KT

Table 2. Properties of wall materials (for A = 1 E-12, m = 3 and Y = 6, equations (8 to 10))

Parameter Concrete Sandcrete Burnt Earth Straw-bale Wooden
block Block Brick Block (cement
plastered)
Young Modulus, E 25000 93000 - 7000 115 9500
(N/mm2)
Strain, Є 0.0035 0.0035 0.0028 0.0025 0.0032 0.0035
Wall thickness, tw 225 225 225 225 225 225
(mm)
Plaster thickness, 12 12 12 12 12 12
tp(mm)
Critical crack width, acr 0.0440 3.6990 0.1250 2.5250 0.0370 0.0466
(mm)
Initial crack width, ao 0.00337 0.0035 0.0032 0.0025 0.0032 0.0032
(mm)
Crack width at min. 0.038 0.037 0.0033 0.037 0.038 0.035
tensile stress, ac (mm)
Max. comp. stress, 30 2.8 25 2.0 2.2 18
σ max, (N/mm2)
Min. comp. stress, 25 1.1 20 1.3 1.63 7.2
σ min, (N/mm2)

5.2 A Typical Design Example for a Wall

Simple supported strawbale wall: A with equivalent strut thickness t = 300 mm and height 3300mm
is subjected to blast P(t) as shown in Figure 11.

P(t) L

Figure 11. Simply supported wall

5.3 Flexural Design Consideration
The wall ultimate design load, using BS 5628, clause 36.4, [12] is given as qlat = Ψ (fk, t, L) in
kN/m2, in which fk = masonry characteristics strength, t = wall thickness and L = wall length.

The design moment of resistance of a free standing wall subject to horizontal load is given,
assuming no wind load, as:

m  qk f h2 (11)
o if the wall is horizontal spanned, and

m  qk f L2 (12)
o if the wall is horizontal spanned.

Where = bending moment coefficient, уf = partial safety factor for load, h and L = height and
length of wall between supports. Having determined m, a check has to be made that the masonry
can be of that strength. Then ultimate moment of the masonry is expressed by:

f kx Z
Mu  (13 )
m
o for wall spanning horizontal, and

( f kx  f self ) Z
Mu  (14)
m
o for wall spanning vertically.

Where f self = design self weight stress at the middle height, ym = partial safety factor for material
and Z=section modulus (b tW2/6 or htW2/6 respectively for wall spanning vertically and horizontally
respectively. For the masonry shear strength:

f ks A
  f qk Aw (14)
m

Where fks = masonry characteristic shear strength, A, A w = sectional area and effective wall area
respectively. Form the equations (11) to (14), m ≤ M (35.937 ≤ 49.500 kNm), the wall thickness is
calculated as tW ≥ (mym6/fskb)1/2 =1468.40 mm at b = 1000 mm. Since this thickness is too large
and unrealistic, therefore the masonry should be either reinforced or apply a diagonal SMA.

5.4 Dynamic Design Consideration

The following procedure is used to assess the wall strength subjected to blast force.
 For the preliminary design assume a resistance ratio C R of 0.6, then:
 Required maximum resistance of the system, Rm (= 60N) at C R = 0.6 and load = 100N.
 And required moment due to load, M = 1/8 Rm h (= 19.8 kNm, at h = 3300mm)
 Moment of resistance (at fk), Mu = α fk b tW2 (37.937 kNm, at tW =300mm, b = 1000mm and fx
= 2.7 N/mm2)
 Equating the required and provided resistance, hence thickness tW (= 1178.05 mm at b =
1000mm) is calculated.
 Stiffness K, based on the second moment area of the masonry = 76.8EI/L 3 = 4.472 kN/m.
 For the equivalent system:
 Mass of equivalent system me = m(t)Km (Km = 0.33, Norris et al, 1959, for plastic design)
18.817 kNs2/m.

The spring constant of equivalent system, k e = KLk (KL = 0.5, Norris et at, 1959, for a plastic
design) = 2.236 kN/m.
Natural period, Tn = 2√(me/ke) = 0.00182s.
Then ratio of duration of load to natural period, CT = T /Tn = 5.49 (at T = 0.01 s).
Resistance of the system Rme = 0.5Rm (value 0.5 is for plastic design) = 30N.
Peak value of external load, Pc = 0.5x100 = 50N.
Then, C R = Rme/Pe = 30/50 = 0.6.
Form Figure A1 (appendix). Deflection ratio αm/αpe = 70, then xm/xd = 8.0, then xm = 13.42 x 8 =
107.36 mm (at xd = Rme /ke = 30/2.24 = 13.42).

It should be noted that R me is arbitrarily taken as the peak load. This result can also hold for any
larger Rme.

6. Conclusion

Result from impact time-history analysis showed that dynamic response is about 1/6 of the state
response under peak blast pressure; as such unreinforced masonry may not withstand a blast load
than 105 tons. Results, from many researchers and in particular from different tests carried out on
several samples by Renda et al (2000), show that the shape of the hysteretic cycle during dynamic
tests has been improved and become much more similar to the low frequency curves and the
energy dissipation that has been considerably increased.

The results of the assessment of building design approaches in this work has created awareness
and solutions to build sustainable building that will resist the attack of bombs and other nuclear-
based weapons. For highly-risk facilities such as public and commercial buildings and its system are
defined should be included in any code of practice for a sustainable building. It is also essential to
have design consideration for adequate ventilation, so that during a blast, polluted air will flow in
and out freely. This will also help to reduce thermal pulse at the period of blast.

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