TABLE OF CONTENTS Explosions on offshore installations have come very much into the focus in the last few years because new insight has revealed that previous knowledge about blast loads is obsolete. Even worse, the blast loads that result from the latest tests are so high that they cannot be designed against, in many cases.
There is therefore a lot of focus on what are realistic blast loads, how they may be determined, and what is the most appropriate approach to design against blast loads.
Estimation and assessment of blast loads are therefore important subjects for this book. The physical laws and detailed calculation methods are outside the scope of this book because it would be a book in itself. A brief introduction to some of the main concepts is provided.
The calculation of explosion loads on a structure and its response follows a similar series of steps to that used in fire analysis:
Calculation of releases of hydrocarbon
Calculation of explosion overpressure loads as a function of time
Calculation of structural response to the time dependent overpressure loads
Evaluation of secondary blast effects, such as missiles, etc.
Explosion modelling has been substantially improved as a result of a programme of large scale tests conducted through the BFETS (Blast and Fire Engineering for Topside Structures) research programme (SCI, 1998).
The knowledge gained through this programme has led to the realisation that loads are likely to be considerably higher than previously thought.
