Report for the Design of Concrete Structures for Blast Effects

Description

The design of concrete structures for blast resistance has been of great interest to the military and other federal agencies for several decades. In addition, certain specialized segments within the engineering community have also had to consider blast loads on structures as a result of potential accidents. For example, the petrochemical industry has designed for blast resistance in their facilities for many years.

Even though there is considerable history in the design of structures to resist blast effects resulting from accidents or intentional acts, it is only recently that the general structural engineering community has shown a strong interest in the response of structures subjected to explosions and other high-rate loading phenomena, such as impact.

Following the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, DC, on September 11, 2001, the vulnerability of the nation’s infrastructure to terrorism became a top priority for many state and federal government agencies as well as private consulting engineers. Though the significance of these attacks greatly increased engineering interest in the design of structures to resist extreme loads, statistics show that US interests have been targeted by terrorists with increasing frequency during the last several decades (U.S. Department of State, 2003), leading to significant financial and personal losses.

As a result, the engineering community has learned important lessons that have allowed for improved methods of analysis and design to be developed. For example, lessons learned from the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 and the U.S. embassy attacks in Tanzania and Nairobi in 1998 shaped present design guidelines for prevention of progressive collapse.