SEU, a program provided by SE Solutions, LLC

Blast-Resistant Design of Buildings

Speaker:
Aldo E. McKay, PE
Date:
March 10, 2021
Session Details

Session Length: 1.5 Hours.

Important commercial properties, infrastructure, utilities, and federal buildings are at risk of deliberate attack with explosive weapons, or of accidental industrial deflagrations and detonations. These explosive loads can cause significant damage to conventionally designed buildings resulting in injuries, fatalities, and loss of important assets. In many cases, adequate protection can be achieved with proper site planning to create standoff, and with operational measures that reduce the risk of an explosive attack. However, there are situations where buildings and structures must be properly analyzed, designed, and constructed to resist blast loads.

This SE University session will provide engineers with an introduction to the Threat and Vulnerability Risk Assessment (TVRA) process and blast-resistant design of buildings. The physics of explosions and blast loads will be introduced along with their interaction with buildings and structures. Blast-resistant design methods, software tools, and performance requirements for components, connections, and structures will be discussed using design examples based on actual projects. This session will also provide an overview of open resources from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), ASTM International, and others that are used for defining explosive threats, analysis and design of blast loaded components (including retrofits of existing facilities), and specification and testing of blast-resistant building elements.

Learning Objectives:

Become familiar with references and resources available for blast protection of buildings (government and commercial).
Gain a better understanding of modeling of structural systems and components under blast loads.
Become familiar with the performance objective and blast loading requirements for different market sectors.

Current SE University subscribers can access the recording in their SEU Resource Center account. Please use the link below to view the session page in the SEU Session Library.