This paper is focused on the residual capacity of steel columns, as a damage criterion. Load-Impulse (P-I) diagrams are frequently used for analysis, design, or assessment of blast resistant structures. The residual load carrying capacity of a simply supported steel column was derived as a damage criterion based on a SDOF computational approach. Dimensionless P-I diagrams were generated numerically with this quantitative damage criterion. These numerical P-I diagrams were used to show that traditional constant ductility ratios adopted as damage criteria are not appropriate for either the design or damage assessment of blast resistant steel columns, and that the current approach could be a much more appropriate alternative.