Despite careful measures taken to protect buildings, unforeseen hazardous events such as gas leaks, traffic accidents or, worse, terrorist attacks are a real threat. As it will never be completely possible to prevent such events from occurring, it is important for building designers, owners or local government and administration officials to consider some of these scenarios during their analysis in order to maintain the safety of the building occupants and preserve structural integrity under a wide variety of conditions. Because of the destructive nature of any disaster scenario, it quickly becomes impractically expensive to conduct more than a small number of traditional experimental investigations. Hence, with such investigations, only limited information can be obtained about the actual behavior of a given structure under severe conditions. Engineering simulation provides a valuable alternative to traditional investigations. The unequalled depth of technology from ANSYS within many simulation domains makes it possible to model, with the necessary accuracy, different kinds of explosions that may occur within a given environment, taking into consideration architectural aspects and landscape design. Similarly, the impact of objects or vehicles crashing into specific buildings can be investigated with great geometrical and physical detail. The unparalleled breadth of the company’s solutions that span multiple disciplines allows modeling consequences of a disaster such as fire triggering and propagation inside the building as well the neighboring area, or deterioration of the building’s structural integrity that could initiate a collapse. In addition, the stability of damaged structures together with the effectiveness of landscape design can be cost-effectively measured by using simulation tools from ANSYS. Virtual modeling provides comprehensive multiphysics insight into the development of a disaster, bringing together physics as different as explosion modeling, fire and smoke propagation, impact on structure and thermomechanical deterioration of the structure under the combined action of intense heat and mechanical impacts. This new approach offers important information that can either help prevent the event or can heavily contain the resulting damage. Using virtual models within our software, alternative solutions can be considered by modifying ventilation and fire suppression systems, strengthening the structure in its most vulnerable points or selecting and positioning the most appropriate HVAC equipment. This simulation-driven building design approach provides a cost-effective way to optimize the design while minimizing the risks. There is a clear competitive advantage for the civil or mechanical engineer that uses an approach to optimize and illustrate safer behavior of a structure under extreme conditions and to identify potential and existing weaknesses before any disaster occurs. |
Blast modeling in downtown Manhattan
Deformation of a structure under the impact of inside explosion
Masonry destruction due to explosion |
