Comparison of Response of Building Structures to Blast Loading and Seismic Excitations

Blast loading and earthquake excitations can be regarded as the most destructive events a building structure can experience during its life. Response of the structures to these two types of dynamic loading can be of comparable magnitude. Therefore, in this study, response of a benchmark 10-story building to moderate blast loading is compared to that produced by several different synthetic ground motions whose spectra are compatible with the uniform hazard spectra for selected sites in the eastern and western regions of Canada. The results show that the lateral story drifts produced by blast loading are significantly larger than the corresponding seismic drifts. The study concludes that consideration of the global response of a building to blast loads is important, and response parameters, such as the lateral drifts and floor responses, should be paid attention in the design and response assessment procedures for blast loading.