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EIT Demonstration Project and Workshop

Estimation of Concrete Respone Under Varying Confinement

Past Research Projects

Performance of Bulb Tees with Self Consolidating Concrete

Evaluation of Bond Mechanics in Prestressed Concrete Applications

FRP Bridge Decks with RC Parapets

Blast Resistance of a Load Bearing Shear Wall Building

Lehigh@NEES Equipment Site

Reserarch Experinece for Undergraduates

Design of RC Bridge Beam-Column Connections

Response of Waffle Slab Building Systems to Seismic Loads

Use of Polyurea for Blast Hardening of Concrete Construction

Introduction:
In recent years methods of blast protection have been developed for existing infrastructure. This project investigates the use of Polyureas coating applications for enhancing the blast resistance of building and bridge components. Polyureas have many uses, one common application which many people are familiar with is spray-on truck beds liners. The same qualities that allow Polyurea to protect trucks from various hauling materials makes it advantageous for blast resistance. At very rapid rates of demand, such as that generated from an intentional explosion, the material increases in stiffness. This allows it to harden under extreme events thus providing added blast resilience to an otherwise brittle structural component. It has been used predominantly on masonry wall systems to protect fragmentation of the blocks during an explosion. The research project is working toward the development of design equations for this particular application and methods of enhancing the strength of other concrete systems. The project is supported by Air Products and Chemicals and the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Alliance.

Researchers:
Clay Naito, Principal Investigator
Richard Sause, Co-Principal Investigator
Duygu Saydam, Ph.D. Graduate Student Researcher
Lynne Starek, M.S. Graduate Student Researcher