The design and retrofit of buildings for resistance to blast-induced progressive collapse

In recent years, concern has risen drastically regarding the suitability of structural design for blast resistance. Historic events have proven that buildings that are designed in compliance with conventional building codes are not necessarily able to resist extreme loads, particularly blast loads. While significant progress has been made towards the development of design guidelines for federal buildings according to threat level, comprehensive codes have not yet been devised for blast hardening of non-federal buildings. One of the most important considerations in the strength-based design of buildings is adequate protection against progressive collapse in any unforeseen event. In the past, this has been achieved to a limited extent through exterior barriers, which help thwart efforts to directly impact the building, and thus minimize damage. With the emergence of structural design for blast resistance, methodologies to inhibit progressive collapse can expand to not only comprise exterior components, but also the structural components themselves. This thesis outlines potential structural and architectural techniques to design and retrofit buildings for resistance to blast impact loads as well as progressive collapse. These considerations are then applied to the study of two well-known blast events, the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma, and the 2001 attack on the Pentagon. A comparison of the two cases reveals that the redundant and ductile design of the Pentagon provided considerable resistance to impact loads, and contributed greatly to impeding the onset of progressive collapse.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2009

Author dc:creator

• Abbott Galvão Sobreira Lopes, Isabel

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Jerome J. Connor.

• Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/50625

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/50625