Assessment of blast loading effects – Types of explosion and loading effects

There has been a great deal of work undertaken on the modelling and protection of the structure of buildings to explosive blast, fragment and missile penetration. Buildings and tunnels present interesting challenges because of the different energy release characteristics of modern explosives and gaseous mixtures. The paper describes how by combining modelling capabilities in blast–structure interaction with vulnerability models a capability is formed that has a wide range of potential uses, which links the many stages of response planning to an attack or more general emergency. From designing survivable infrastructures and planning protective measures, through training of staff and responders to handling of actual events, the concept provides a comprehensive approach to the whole spectrum of building and infrastructure survivability assessment issues for a wide range of environments. The paper describes its application to buildings and other related infrastructure.