Numerical study of fracture process on full-scale concrete foundations by means of controlled blast method utilizing galvanized steel charge holders

Mechanical breakage systems are generally employed to demolish a portion of a concrete building, however it is time consuming and costly. And the mechanical demolition work involves various risks such as those associated with occupational safety and presents a noise hazard to the general public living in the vicinity. Therefore, alternative methods for such work have been sought. For this purpose, a dynamic breakage system utilizing diamond-shaped charge holders was proposed to rapidly remove the desired portion of the concrete foundation. The charge holders which initiate crack growth were placed inside a concrete mass along the desired fracture plane. In this study, full-scale blast experiments utilizing the charge holders were introduced and the roughness of fracture planes was observed using a 3-dimensional photography system. In order to verify the effect of the charge holders on fracture controlling in full-scale blast experiments, the fracture processes of the concrete blocks were analyzed using the dynamic fracture process analysis (DFPA) code. The mechanism required to achieve controlled breakage was discussed after taking into account the influence of various loading conditions and crack tip velocity. It was found that the DFPA tool is a useful instrument in the analysis of full scale blast experiments.