State-of-the-Art Blast-Resistant Design of Airports: Innovative Analytical Methodologies and Tools

Airports, and in particular terminal buildings, present a real challenge for security and protective design engineers. The requirements for excellent accessibility, via road and rail connections, results in significant explosive threat vectors with few opportunities to provide adequate stand-off distances. Indeed, in terms of transportation infrastructure, airports present some of the most complex threat environments and present a real and credible target for malevolent attack, as has been proved by numerous case studies over the last few decades. When this complex threat environment is combined with architectural drivers to maintain accessible and open spaces to ease passenger flow and provide interesting and iconic structures, the headache for protective design engineers becomes more acute. This paper will present the state-of-the-art analysis methodologies and tools to design blast resistant airport structures and describe how their application can reduce human vulnerability, structural damage, and operational disruption. These tools include the employment of engineering-scale computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes for the calculation of airblast loads, with the ability to model propagation through failing surfaces and complex external and internal geometries, including the potential effects of channeling. The paper will discuss the development of effective analysis tools to characterize contact and near-contact detonations against critical structural elements, as well as fast running models (FRMs) to facilitate analysis and protective design for these extremely challenging scenarios. Finally, a discussion of innovative design and retrofit options to increase the blast resistance of airport structures will be detailed, with a description of the testing programs used to validate these technologies.

• Record URL:
  https://doi.org/10.1061/9780784479926.019
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/9780784479926
• Supplemental Notes:
  • © 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
• Corporate Authors:

  American Society of Civil Engineers

  1801 Alexander Bell Drive
  Reston, VA  United States  20191-4400
• Authors:
  • Brewer, Timothy R
  • Crawford, John E
  • Vonk, Peter J
• Conference:
  • 2016 International Conference on Transportation and Development
  • Location: Houston Texas, United States
  • Date: 2016-6-26 to 2016-6-29
• Publication Date: 2016

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: References;
• Pagination: pp 202-213
• Monograph Title: International Conference on Transportation and Development 2016: Projects and Practices for Prosperity

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Accessibility; Airport operations; Explosions; Fluid dynamics; Methodology; State of the art; Structural design; Terrorism; Threats
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Design; Security and Emergencies; Terminals and Facilities;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01606264
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 9780784479926
• Files: TRIS, ASCE
• Created Date: Jun 20 2016 3:03PM