International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056

Volume: 02 Issue: 07 | Oct-2015 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072

DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF BLAST LOAD ON STRUCTURES

UMESH JAMAKHANDI1, Dr. S. B. VANAKUDRE
1 Student (M.Tech), Department of Civil Engineering, SDMCET, Dharwad, Karnataka, India
2 Professor and Principal, SDMCET, Dharwad, Karnataka, India

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Abstract - The increase in the number of terrorist The explosion of bombs in and around buildings can cause
attacks especially in the last few years has shown that catastrophic impacts on the structural integrity of the
building, such as damage to the external and internal
the effect of blast loads on buildings is a serious matter
structural frames and collapse of walls. Moreover, loss of
that should be taken into consideration in the design life can result from the collapse of the structure, direct
process. Although these kinds of attacks are exceptional blast effect, debris impact, fire and smoke. Some terrorist
cases, man-made disasters; blast loads are in fact organizations have targeted buildings around the world.
dynamic loads that need to be carefully calculated just The consequences of those attacks proved the
like earthquake and wind loads. vulnerability of buildings to explosion. Many countries
have become victims of bomb explosion attacks in the last
The objective of this study is to shed light decades. There are many deliberate explosion incidents
that occurred in many different places such as the
on blast resistant building design theories, the
bombing of Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, Khobar
enhancement of building security against the effects of Towers Bombing, World Trade Center Bombing, among
explosives in both architectural and structural design others
process and the design techniques that should be
carried out. Firstly, explosives and explosion types have 1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT
been explained briefly. In addition, the general aspects
of explosion process have been presented to clarify the Understanding the performance of high-rise buildings
effects of explosives on buildings. To have a better under explosion is of great importance to provide
buildings which eliminate or minimize damage to building
understanding of explosives and characteristics of
and property in the event of explosion, especially with the
explosions will enable us to make blast resistant recent surge in extreme activities targeted at structures
building design much more efficiently. Essential with viable commercial values. Design consideration
techniques for increasing the capacity of a building to against explosions is very important in high-rise facilities
provide protection against explosive effects is discussed such as public and commercial tall buildings, because
both with an architectural and structural approach. there are many buildings that may be under threat of blast
loading although not originally designed for the same. The
analysis and design of blast-resistant structures require a
Key Words: blast load, etabs2015, time- detailed understanding of explosives, blast phenomena
and blast effects on buildings. Therefore, it is important to
history,analysis. gather the available literature review on explosives, blast
phenomena, blast wave interaction and the response of
structures to blast loads.
1. INTROUDUCTION
2. GENERAL
In the past few years, a structure subjected to blast load
gained importance due to accidental events or natural The analysis of the blast loading on the structure started in
events. Generally conventional structures are not designed 1960’s. US Department of the Army, released a technical
for blast load due to the reason that the magnitude of load
manual titled “structures to resist the effects of
caused by blast is huge and, the cost of design and
construction is very high. As a result, the structure is accidental explosions” in 1959. The revised edition of the
susceptible to damage from blast load. Recent past blast manual TM 5-1300 (1990) most widely used by military
incidents in the country trigger the minds of developers, and civilian organization for designing structures to
architects and engineers to find solutions to protect the prevent the propagation of explosion and to provide
occupants and structures from blast disasters.. protection for personnel and valuable equipments.

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 International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056
Volume: 02 Issue: 07 | Oct-2015 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072

The methods available for prediction of blast effects on Table -1: Damage Approximations (Kinney and
buildings structures are: Graham, 1985)
�Empirical (or analytical) methods
�Semi-empirical methods Damage Incident
�Numerical methods. Overpressure
(psi)
2.1. EXPLOSION AND BLAST PHENOMENA Typical window glass breakage 0.15 - 0.22

Explosive blast is quite different from other types of Minor damage to some buildings 0.5 - 1.1
severe loads resulting from extreme events such as
earthquake, impact or high wind. Blast loads are applied Panels of sheet metal buckled 1.1 1.8
extremely rapid and may last within a fraction of second.
Failure of concrete block wall 1.8 - 2.9
Blast loads cause damage that is limited to a very few
structural response mechanisms, and they are applied Collapse of wood framed building Over 5.0
globally such that the entire structural system responds to
resist the load. Explosive blast activates many structural Serious damage to steel framed 4 -7
response mechanisms because of its extreme spatial and buildings
time vari ations in magnitude and duration. Severe damage to reinforced 6–9
concrete structures
Probable total destruction of most 10 - 12
buildings

2.2. RESPONSE OF A BUILDING TO BLAST LOAD

The Dynamic response of a building to blast loading is very
complex for it involves the effect of high-strain rates,
nonlinear inelastic behavior of materials, uncertainties of
blast load calculations and time-dependent deformations.
Therefore, there are some assumptions that are made to
simplify the analysis of the response of a structure to blast
loading. The structures are normally idealized as a single
degree of freedom (SDOF) system and a link is established
between the positive duration of the blast load and the
Fig -1: Regular frame natural period of vibration of the structure. This leads to
blast load idealization and simplifies the classification of
Blast analysis can be carried out in ETABS 2015 by blast load regimes.
performing a time history analysis in which the blast
loading is applied, typically using a triangular time 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
function (i.e. function that varies linearly from full value to From graphical representation of later displacement
zero). The behavior of the structure under the effect of versus the height of the building it is evident that As
blast loading can be studied from the output generated by standoff distance increases the storey drift goes on
the ETABS 2015.The general approach for solving the decrease and explosive weight increases the storey drift
dynamic response of structural system is Non-linear goes on increases.
modal analysis. For most realistic results a very small time The maximum storey drift is 10.99mm which is happen in
step is required to obtain a stable solution. Reducing the a irregular frame model with the charge weight of 1800
time step size will increase the accuracy, the time step size lbs and at a standoff distance of 12m. The next highest
of 0.001s with 4000 time steps is taken for all models. storey drift is 8.60mm which is happen in regular frame
model with a charge weight of 1800 lbs at a standoff
distance of 12m.comes.

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 International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056
Volume: 02 Issue: 07 | Oct-2015 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072

4 CONCLUSIONS
According to the results the system affects significantly
when the charge weight increases and standoff distance
decreases respectively. But the actual charge weight of
explosive used by the terrorist, the efficiency of the
chemical reaction is not reliably predictable.
In this study it is found that the most optimum model is
regular frame which shows the lowest value of storey drift
and the structure is very good in lateral stability against
blast load. Therefore for economical design consideration
the column size can reduce.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to thank my guide, head of department,

principal, friends, family and all others who have helped
me in the completion of this thesis

REFERENCES

[1] TM5-1300 (1990). Design of structures to resist the

effect of accidental explosions. Washington D.C. U.S.
Department of Army.
[2] Hand book for blast- resistant design of buildings..
[3] Review of Blast Resistant Buildings and a Case Study
of Library Building at IIT Kanpur.
Figure.1Inter–Storey Drift results for the charge weight of [4] FEMA 426 (2003). Reference Manual to Mitigate
900lbs_12m and 1800lbs_12m standoff distance. Potential Terrorist Attacks against Buildings.
Washington D.C: Federal Emergency Management
Agency.
[5] T. Ngo, P. Mendis, A. Gupta & J. Ramsay.(2007). Blast
Loading and Blast Effects on Structures – An
Overview EJSE Special Issue: Loading on Structures.

BIOGRAPHIES

UMESH JAMAKHANDI
Student pursuing M.Tech in
Computer Aided Design of
Structures, SDMCET, Dharwad

Dr. S. B. VANAKUDRE
Professor and Principal
SDMCET Dharwad

Fig 2. Displacement of the structure due to blast loading

with respective to time

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