Wessex Institute: Blast Effects and Analysis 2020 (Online Short Course)

Overview

Dr Graham Schleyer from the University of Liverpool, School of Engineering recently delivered an online course on Blast Effects and Analysis over three half days to a group of nine participants from the UK, Switzerland, Indonesia, UAE, Spain and Portugal. This course was designed to equip engineers, security consultants and researchers with the knowledge and tools to better understand the effects on the built environment that large dynamic loads can produce from explosion sources. Practical design examples were used throughout with reference to commonly used design manuals and using spreadsheet analysis tools. The course covered the elementary concepts of HE blast loading and response in the far-field domain, and participants were provided with an appreciation of the scope and limitations of analytical and numerical methods for modelling these types of problems. The participants especially appreciated the condensed overview of an important area to the safety and security of the built environment as well as the opportunity to interact and network with others on the course.

Course Sessions

The course consisted of six sessions (over 3 half days):

Introduction, general considerations & blast effects
Blast loading calculations
Single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) analysis methods
SDOF spreadsheet analysis tools
Design of structural steel members under blast loading
Design of RC structural members under blast loading & round-up

Presenter

Dr Graham Schleyer CEng, FIMechE, SFHEA is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Engineering and a member of the Impact Research Centre at the University of Liverpool, having worked previously for several years in the gas industry and for shorter periods with leading consultancies in the UK and the US. Over the past 30 years or so he has conducted hundreds of field and laboratory tests on full-size and sub-scale structures involving gas, HE and pressurized air explosions which have provided fundamental insights into the explosion resistance of steel, RC and glazing as well as validation of numerical models and simplified analytical methods.

Dr Schleyer is co-chair of the International Conference 'Structures Under Shock and Impact' (SUSI) organised by the Wessex Institute. He is a previous Royal Academy of Engineering Global Research Award holder (formerly Engineering Foresight Awards) and has published widely in journals, conference proceedings, and government and industry reports.