Strengthening Measures for Reinforced Concrete Column Against Blast Loading—A Review

The recent years have seen a steep incline in the number of incidents wherein several infrastructures suffered a partial or complete collapse due to intentional or accidental explosion events. Although failure of each structural element somewhat contributes to the weakening of a structure, it is the failure of column which proves to be most destructive especially in case of RC framed structures since it can lead to a catastrophic progressive collapse as opposed to localized damage. This review article provides an overview of the response and failure mode of a column when subjected to explosion as well as the various measures and techniques being currently employed and researched around the world for making RC columns more blast resistant which includes various strength enhancement retrofitting methods for column in existing RC structures (such as Composite Wrappings) as well as design procedures proposed to inherently make an upcoming column and consequently the structure more resilient to blast loading.