Innovative design tool for the optimization of blast-enhanced facade systems

Abstract

In current blast enhancement design strategies, to resist the effects of an accidental explosion, a facade system is commonly designed to behave in-elastically and undergo large deformations. The large deformation of the facade system leads to high blast energy dissipation, subsequently reducing the blast energy transferred to the main structure. In addition to the blast resistance of the facade system, human injuries due to glass fragmentation within the vicinity of the facade system should also be minimized in order to meet the required safety levels. Overall building safety can be optimized by balancing blast energy dissipation and glass fragmentation. Recently, Permasteelisa Group has developed an innovative design tool to optimize blast-enhanced facades using an equivalent MDOF approach. A novel fragmentation tool has been proposed to assist this design procedure. This paper presents various critical parameters considered in blast-enhanced facade analysis, the experimental validation of these parameters and their influence in the design optimization process.