Risk assessment of buildings against blast effectsThis article is one of a selection of papers published in the Special Issue on Blast Engineering.

Abstract

Because of changes in functional or security requirements, many new or existing buildings are now required to resist blast loads. New buildings can be designed and constructed to resist defined blast loads. Existing buildings, on the other hand, would have to rely on a risk assessment to determine both its vulnerability to blast effects and the necessary measures to mitigate the unacceptable blast effects. A rapid screening methodology has been developed for conducting a preliminary assessment of buildings against external blast effects. The methodology accounts for the threat, the vulnerability of the building, the consequence of an event and the risk, which is the product of the threat and the consequence. The rapid screening methodology has been applied to several buildings and the results are reasonable. This paper presents the rapid screening methodology and its application to two federal buildings in Canada.