Evaluation and Design of Blast-Resistant Buildings at Refineries and Petrochemical Facilities

Buildings in refineries and petrochemical facilities, especially those housing personnel, need to be safe to withstand the effects of explosion, fire and toxic gas ingress, as per existing API requirements. The authors have designed over 200 blast resistant control rooms, operator shelters, multi-story living quarters and operation centers in petrochemical facilities throughout the world, and have also performed the blast evaluation and retrofit design of numerous existing buildings/structures worldwide. This paper focuses on blast resistant design and evaluation for onshore buildings/structures, which are typically performed following the procedures in 2010 ASCE Guidelines, “Design of Blast-Resistant Buildings in Petrochemical Facilities”. An overview of blast-resistant design of new buildings, as well as blast evaluation and retrofit design of existing buildings, is presented. Blast design considerations, analysis procedures and design challenges are also discussed, as well a number of case studies.

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