An Influence of Gas Explosions on Dynamic Responses of a Single Degree of Freedom Model

Abstract

Explosion risk analysis (ERA) is widely used to derive the dimensioning of accidental loads for design purposes. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations contribute a key part of an ERA and predict possible blast consequences in a hazardous area. Explosion pressures can vary based on the model geometry, the explosion intensity, and explosion scenarios. Dynamic responses of structures under these explosion loads are dependent on a blast wave profile with respect to the magnitude of pressure, duration, and impulse in both positive and negative phases. Understanding the relationship between explosion load profiles and dynamic responses of the target area is important to mitigate the risk of explosion and perform structural design optimization. In the present study, the results of more than 3,000 CFD simulations were considered, and 1.6 million output files were analyzed using a visual basic for applications (VBA) tool developed to characterize representative loading shapes. Dynamic response of a structure was investigated in both time and frequency domains using the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) algorithm. In addition, the effects of the residual wave and loading velocity were studied in this paper.