Advanced analysis of building frames against blast and fire

Abstract

The lesson learned from the terrorist attacks on buildings is a need to assure that the structure is capable of sustaining localised damage without catastrophic failure. This paper presents a numerical approach for analyzing steel frame structures subject to localized damage caused by blast load and subsequently investigating their vulnerability under fire attack. The proposed numerical method adopts an adaptive mixed element approach for modeling large-scale framework and it is proven sufficiently accurate for capturing the detailed behavior of member and frame instability associated with the effects of high strain rate and fire temperature. A multi-storey steel building frame is analysed so that the complex interaction effects of blast and fire can be understood and quantified. The frame is found to be vulnerable, as it possesses little fire resistance due to the deformation on key structural elements caused by the high blast load. © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group.