A fire and blast-resistant wall is essential for effectively separating hazardous areas from non-hazardous ones on the topside. It plays a critical role in safeguarding people and vital equipment from the devastating impacts of gas explosions.
The unique thing about fire and blast walls is that they are designed for fire and gas explosion load only, which implies:
- High utilisation of the material is allowed for
- Significant permanent damage is acceptable
- A high degree of optimisation can be achieved because of simple load and boundary conditions
- Use of an accurate analysis method pays off directly in low weight
The design of fire and blast walls relies on analytical models that accurately represent the behavior of structures both up to and beyond their ultimate strength. This means that these models must predict the true behavior of the walls in both the elastic and plastic states. When designing fire- and blast-resistant walls using Non-Linear Finite Element Analysis (NL-FEA), it is essential to maximize material utilization, resulting in a lighter structure. To ensure the reliability of the results produced by NL-FEA, the finite element models must accurately predict the structural strength. This can be achieved by:
- Representing the geometry and boundary conditions accurately
- Using the best possible material data available.
The advantages of using the FE-method when designing a fire and blast resisting wall are:
- The total production cost of the wall is reduced, i.e., lower structural weight.
- The structural response assessment of the wall is correctly and accurately documented