Design Against Blast

Book excerpt: Terrorist attacks and other destructive incidents caused by explosives have, in recent years, prompted considerable research and development into the protection of structures against blast loads. For this objective to be achieved, experiments have been performed and theoretical studies carried out to improve our assessments of the intensity as well as the space-time distribution of the resulting blast pressure on the one hand and the consequences of an explosion to the exposed environment on the other.This book aims to enhance awareness on and understanding of these topical issues through a collection of relevant, Transactions of the Wessex Institute of Technology articles written by experts in the field. The book starts with an overview of key physics-based algorithms for blast and fragment environment characterisation, structural response analyses and structural assessments with reference to a terrorist attack in an urban environment and the management of its inherent uncertainties.A subsequent group of articles is concerned with the accurate definition of blast pressure, which is an essential prerequisite to the reliable assessment of the consequences of an explosion. Other papers are concerned with alternative methods for the determination of blast pressure, based on experimental measurements or neural networks. A final group of articles reports investigations on predicting the response of specific structural entities and their contents.The book concludes with studies on the effectiveness of steel-reinforced polymer in improving the performance of reinforced concrete columns and the failure mechanisms of seamless steel pipes used in nuclear industry.