Assessment of Soil–Structure Interaction Effects on the Beirut Port Silos Due to the 4 August 2020 Explosion: A Coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian Approach

Abstract

Blast loadings have become the subject of research in recent decades due to the threats they pose to the surrounding medium. On 4 August 2020, a huge explosion occurred in the Port of Beirut that led to massive damages in the medium surrounding it. Researchers have conducted studies in order to estimate the equivalent explosive mass as well as the damage extent left on structures; however, the studies considered the soil–structure interaction by simple methods. For that, this paper aims to understand the effect of explosion on the grain silo structure present at the port with an emphasis on the soil–structure interaction effects. The structure consists of a group of silos resting on a raft footing that is supported by group of driven piles. A soil–structure model analysis is performed in order to investigate the soil behavior, the damage extent in piles, and the soil–structure interaction due to the Beirut explosion using the CEL (Coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian) approach that suits events involving large deformation. The analysis is performed using the ABAQUS/Explicit FEM software (version 6.14) taking into account the properties of soil medium, the contact algorithm at the soil–structure interface, and the boundary conditions in order to better simulate the real field conditions and ensure accurate results. The work is primarily validated through site data such as the crater size and silo damage.

Keywords

• soil–structure interaction
• nonlinear dynamic analysis
• damage assessment
• CEL method
• grain silos
• Beirut explosion