Blast Resistant Engineering
Blast Resistant Engineering
Many specialist structures are required to be blast
resistant in the case of an explosion. Typical examples include
buildings in close proximity to large petrochemical facilities,
offshore facilities and high security risk infrastructure. Due to
the short nature of a blast event, materials and structures behave
differently compared to longer duration loads such as wind and
gravity and require a specialised design approach. Pritchard
Francis have the expertise in designing new or upgraded structures
for a range of blast pressures up to 270kPa. Materials used in
blast resistant structures have included steel, concrete and
masonry.
The video below is an example of the response of a steel framed
building subject to a blast load. In the model the blast event
lasts for 0.15 seconds, the model shows how the building deflects
over a 0.5 second period.