Fast prediction method of failure modes for steel box structures under internal blast loading

Abstract

Steel box structures widely existed in ships, buildings and some steel girder bridges. In our previous work, the failure modes of steel box structures under internal blast loading were observed, summarized and validated through both experimental and numerical studies. On the basis of the previous research, a fast prediction method for the failure modes was proposed in the present study. Firstly, dimensional analyses were carried out for the analysis of failure mode, the main influencing factors were determined and a prediction model was constructed. Then, a large number of numerical simulations considered different kinds of steel, structure dimension, plate thickness and different explosive masses were conducted. The failure modes of all the simulation cases were obtained. After that, failure modes maps on one dimensionless coordinate axis and two-dimensional dimensionless number coordinate system were plotted based on the large numbers of failure modes data, respectively. On which regular distributions of different failure modes were observed and empirical equations were proposed for the fast prediction of failure mode of steel box structure under internal blast loading. In addition, the proposed empirical equation and failure mode map for fast failure mode prediction were verified by experimental results.