Explosion induced dynamic responses of blast wall on FPSO topside: Blast loading application methods

• Main Authors: Ki-Yeob Kang, Kwang-Ho Choi, Jae Woong Choi, Yong Hee Ryu, Jae-Myung Lee
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2017-03-01
• Series: International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
• Subjects: Topside platform; Blast wall; Geometrical effect; Identified explosion loading condition; Explosion wave profiles
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2092678216304411

Topside areas on an offshore oil and gas platform are highly susceptible to explosion. A blast wall on these areas plays an important role in preventing explosion damage and must withstand the expected explosion loads. The uniformly distributed loading condition, predicted by Explosion Risk Analyses (ERAs), has been applied in most of the previous analysis methods. However, analysis methods related to load conditions are inaccurate because the blast overpressure around the wall tends to be of low-level in the open area and high-level in the enclosed area. The main objectives of this paper are to study the effects of applying different load applications and compare the dynamic responses of the blast wall. To do so, various kinds of blast pressures were measured by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations on the target area. Nonlinear finite element analyses of the blast wall under two types of identified dynamic loadings were also conducted.