Advancements in Design, Analysis, and Retrofitting of Structures Exposed to Blast
1University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy
2PLA University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, China
3Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Delhi, India
4HafenCity University Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
5Curtin University, Perth, Australia
Advancements in Design, Analysis, and Retrofitting of Structures Exposed to Blast
Description
Protection of constructed facilities from damaging natural hazards and exceptional loads has recently become an important issue in common practice. Besides the generalized goal of protective constructions to minimize injuries and improve the probability of survival of people, after the bombing of the Oklahoma Federal Building (1995), the blast design of structures has become a fundamental requirement, so that most of the actual strategic buildings and infrastructures must guarantee appropriate levels of blast resistance.
Compared to quasistatic ordinary loads or conventional hazards such as wind gusts, seismic events, floods, or moderate impacts, blast events are commonly characterized by large-scale, rapid, and sudden release of energy, typically in the order of thousandths of seconds or milliseconds. As a result, specific design methods and advanced computational models able to properly include the effects of several aspects, like high strain rates, nonlinear inelastic material behaviors, and time-dependent deformations, are strictly required.
The vulnerability assessment of a given structure exposed to explosive events, moreover, should properly take into account the interaction of the assigned blast wave and the targeted system, as well as the uncertainties implicitly related to the blast pressure description. Finite-Element (FE) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations, in this sense, can represent the first tool for the dynamic analysis of a given structural assembly under air blast waves. The implementation of these approaches, however, could result to be particularly difficult in the case of complex structural configurations. Several key input parameters, moreover, are strictly required in them for appropriate risk analyses.
In some cases, special retrofitting techniques, as well as the implementation of novel passive/active control systems, could be required to guarantee appropriate levels of resistance in a given structure subjected to blast events.
A multidisciplinary approach, including fluid-structure interaction theories, material sciences concepts, and technological innovation, is thus essential.
The aim of this special issue is to provide an overview on the current trends and advancements on the blast design, analysis, and retrofitting of civil engineering buildings and infrastructures.
Potential topics include, but are not limited to:
- Advanced FE and CFD numerical analyses
- Experimental assessment of the vulnerability of structural systems subjected to blast events
- Experimental characterization of the high strain constitutive behavior of materials of common use in constructions
- Review/assessment of existing design tools and simplified methods
- Proposal of new simplified design methods
- Development of novel design techniques for retrofitting and mitigation of structures subjected to air blast events