Designing for blast protection

[pch1]

I have received a request to check a steel cabinet design against a blast of 0.1N/mm^2.
I have received from a consultant a list of beams suitable for the job and the thickness of plate to be used, alas there are no calculations or workings but just the answers.
The cabinet dimensions are 4000mm width, 2500mm height, 1500mm depth.

Could someone give me an insight into how one would calculate the required size of beam and thickness of plate, assuming a 1000mm distance between braces?

I do have Roarks book of stress and strain formula to hand and have already started thumbing through the flat plate section.

 

[neil254]

There are two publications which it would be worth having a look at:

1. "Blast Effects on Buildings" a book by Larry Mays and P Smith

2. TM5-1300 a code produced in the US


It was a while ago that I used these but they are both intended for blast loading on buildings. If I remember correctly the book by Mays and SMith has some general theory on how to analyse structural members for blast effects including how to assess member response and also how to convert a short blast pulse into a design load. When analysing a member it gave two approaches depending on whether you wanted it to remain elastic or whether plastic deformations were allowed.

I think that both of the above would give you information which you could apply to your cabinet problem.

Hope this is of help,
Neil.

 

[dbuzz]

There is also Design of Blast Resistant Buildings in Petrochemical Facilities, published by ASCE.