Blast Resistant Design and Retrofit of Buildings at Petrochemical Facilities

Onshore 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. MMI Engineering (MMI) has designed over 150 blast-resistant control rooms, operator shelters, multi-story living quarters and operation centers in petrochemical facilities throughout the world, and has also performed the blast evaluation and retrofit design of more than 50 existing buildings/structures worldwide. This paper will focus 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, will be presented. Blast design considerations, analysis procedures, and design challenges will also be discussed, as well a number of case studies.