Report: Pressure Vessel Explosions inside Buildings: Assessing Damage Using Stochastic Accident Simulation

Publisher： International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering

ISSN： 1016-8664

Source： Structural Engineering International, Vol.13, Iss.4, 2003-11, pp. : 249-253

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Abstract

A methodological framework of assessing damage to buildings caused by accidental pressure vessel explosions is presented. It is proposed to assess the damage using a stochastic simulation of actions imposed by these explosions. The stochastic simulation is used as a tool, which allows the considerable uncertainties related to explosion accidents to be dealt with efficiently. A methodology developed in the field of quantitative risk assessment and known as the predictive, epistemic approach to risk analysis is proposed to deal with these uncertainties and to deal with the scarcity of data related to specific situations of structural exposure to a potential pressure vessel explosion. It is also proposed to provide the final result of the simulation-based damage assessment. This will be shown as a set of pairs of foreseeable damage events and subjective probabilities of their occurrence. These probabilities are measures of uncertainty related to the damage events. The uncertainty is considered to be purely epistemic, that is, resulting from the lack of knowledge only.