New Architectural Forms To Reduce The EffectsOf Blast Waves And Fragments On Structures

Abstract

Important structures such as embassies, government buildings, office buildings ... etc. form a category of civilian buildings that can be considered as a potential terrorist target. This fact leads to the need of offering them an adequate degree of protection against blast waves and fragments. This may convert them to a type of fort or casemate which will psychologically influence users of that building. An approach for designing these sorts of buildings can be by using new materials like laminated glass, ceramic cladding, ... etc. Alternatively, protection can be offered by increasing the dimensions of the structural elements (columns, beams, lintels, walls, ... etc.). These approaches, despite their advantages, may oppose the aspiration of the architect as well as incurring high construction costs. From here, a new concept of design may give a better solution to these problems, by using the effect of different architectural vocabularies (architectural forms, landscape, cantilevers, louvres,... etc.) in the form of design criteria, to reduce the effect of blast waves and fragments on these types of structures. This paper examines by analysis, the concept of using specific architectural general forms to reduce the effect of blast waves and fragments on structures, and simulating this process by using the Autodyn simulation package. Transactions on the Built Environment vol 32, © 1998 WIT Press, www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3509