Mitigation of Air-Blast Pressure Impulses on Building Envelopes through Blast Resistant Ductile Connectors

The rise of intentional or unintentional explosions on both defense critical and conventional buildings requires development of enhanced solutions for the blast protection of structures. This study investigates use of a simple, effective building envelope connector that provides an energy absorbing mechanism for mitigating the effects of a blast event onto a building. The application of the blast resistant ductile connector was assessed by applying principles of conservation of energy and momentum on a generalized single degree of freedom dynamics model (simplified approach) followed by transient nonlinear finite element model to verify the results. The simplified approach allows for rapid design for a range of blast scenarios and potentially varying envelope systems. Conceptual BRDC designs were then evaluated through nonlinear finite element analysis and experimental testing. This study found that the proposed blast resistant ductile connectors were able to safely dissipate the energy for a reasonably wide range of blast scenarios and prevent damage to a minimally reinforced envelope panel.