Ph.D. Thesis summary - Blast resistance assessment of structures: explicit finite element simulations and fragility analyses

1        Introduction. 11

2        The hazard mitigation. 17

2.1        High detonations. 20

2.2        Gas explosions. 26

2.3        Computational Fluid Dynamic simulations. 30

2.4        Blast load. 36

3        The local resistance. 51

3.1        The scaled distance as intensity measure. 52

3.1.1        Blast load model 53

3.1.2        Cladding panel model 55

3.1.3        Response parameters. 59

3.1.4        Fragility curves. 60

3.2        The impulse density as intensity measure. 68

3.2.1        Relation between the pressure-impulse diagram and the fragility surface. 69

3.2.2        The fragility curve for impulse sensitive structures. 71

3.2.3        Application on a steel blast door 73

3.3        Slabs subjected to impulsive loads - The Blast Blind Simulation Contest 93

3.4        Insulated panels under close-in detonations. 102

3.4.1        Empirical assessment 108

3.4.2        Numerical investigation. 110

3.4.3        Experimental assessment 120

4        The global resistance. 123

4.1        The consequence factor 129

4.1.1        Tests on simple structures. 131

4.1.2        Application on a steel truss bridge. 134

4.2        The robustness curves. 140

5        Conclusions. 149

6        References. 153

7        Appendix A – Journal papers obtained from the Ph.D. Thesis. 171

7.1        Published and accepted papers. 171

7.2        Submitted and ongoing papers. 171 

8        Appendix B – Curriculum Vitae