Inelastic deformation and failure of partially strengthened profiled blast walls

Problem Statement
Recent accidents have shown that existing topside blast walls may be subjected to blast overpressures higher than those anticipated in their design Need to provide cost effective strengthening solutions that would prevent plant shutdown, which is an extremely expensive venture

Developed Technology
Retrofitting existing stainless steel blast walls partially with centrally located Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) patches of sufficient thickness Selection of appropriate composite (CFRP) patch so as to reduce the interfacial stresses between the wall and the composite patch

Methodology and Results

Development of analytical model for the dynamic response of a strengthened blast wall Analytical model involved idealising the connection between the wall and offshore deck as a combination of an elastic-plastic horizontal spring with strain hardening, elastic-plastic rotational spring with strain hardening and an elastic vertical spring

The strengthened region is idealised to behave as a rigid body, thus, no membrane stretching in the retrofitted region. This effect pushes the formation of plastic hinges which would have formed at the centre of the wall to the ends of the CFRP The bucking of in the regions where plastic hinges form within the wall is modelled (point idealised with a rigid plastic spring) Energy equations are developed using assumed mode shapes comprising strain energy (flexural and membrane) and kinetic energy of the system. A robust code is subsequently developed in Matlab to model the dynamic equilibrium equations in the various stages of the motion of the system The reduced maximum deflection predicted by the developed analytical tool correlates well with the Finite Element model of system developed in Abaqus 6.9

Attractiveness of Proposed Solution

The benefits of composites such as high strength to weigh ratio, corrosion resistance, high fatigue life etc make the scheme cost effective Increased energy is absorbed by the formation of four plastic hinges in the system as opposed to the formation of three plastic hinges in an unstrengthened system An average reduction of 33% in the maximum displacement of a blast wall can be achieved by this scheme