Overpressure fields for long-span rectangular flat roofs subject to internal explosions

Although long-span spatial structures have developed rapidly in recent years, considerable uncertainty remains regarding the determination of pressure generated by internal blast loads. This paper focuses on long-span rectangular flat roof as there are significant safety hazards when they are subjected to terrorist bomb attacks. Parametric analyses are performed using the software package LS-DYNA to obtain pressure distributions on roofs resulting from internal explosions. The spread of the shock wave and the overpressure distribution are described for different simulated models, considering both the location and equivalent mass of the explosive. Finally, this paper proposes two techniques for determining peak overpressure fields as alternative methods to hard numerical simulations.