A modelling scheme for predicting the response of elastic-plastic structures to pulse pressure loading

This paper is concerned with the analysis of structural members subjected t o dynamic loading arising from an accidental explosion or bomb blast. The t hrust of the paper is on approximate techniques for predicting the response of structural members to pulse pressure loading in which elastic deformati ons have a significant effect. The type of loading is of the kind to cause plastic deformation and large deflections in the members leading, in the ex treme case, to uniaxial tensile failure or loss of integrity at the support s. The structural geometry, material behaviour and load intensity and distr ibution are such that the structure responds as a whole. The approach has b een developed primarily for the class of problems in which elastic effects are significant, pulse shape is irregular, boundary conditions are neither fixed nor simply supported and the loading is in the quasi-static to dynami c regime. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.