Blast-resistant design is becoming more common in the precast concrete industry as more blast-resistant buildings are constructed with precast/prestressed concrete components. This is occurring primarily because many large government and U.S. Department of Defense buildings now require some level of blast-resistant design. Blast design has been performed for many years for the chemical and petrochemical industry and explosive storage and manufacturing facilities, which have inherent accidental explosion hazards. Based on both theoretical analysis and testing, blast design guidelines and methods have been developed for many common types of building components, including steel members, concrete masonry unit walls, and reinforced concrete members.1,2 Much of this blast design guidance is applicable to precast/prestressed concrete components, though it is not widely understood by designers within the precast concrete industry. Some of the design guidance is restricted to official government use only or is based on proprietary research, but most of this information resides in the public domain. This paper presents prevalent blast-resistant design information that can be used for precast/prestressed concrete elements and structures. It is part of work in progress of the newly formed PCI Blast Resistance and Structural Integrity Committee.
