Design and Analysis of Single Plate Blast Resistant Door

Nilesh S. Aitavade1, Dattatray N. Jadhav2, Devidas R. Thorat3 & Satish A. Ramavat4

2

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sardar Patel College of Engineering, Mumbai,

3&4
Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd., Mumbai
E-mail : -nilesh.s.aitavade@gmail.com; d_jadhav@spce.ac.in ; drt@godrej.com ; rsatish@godrej.com

A36. The explosive loading characteristics such as peak

pressure and loading duration of blast wave need to be
established prior to analysis (Fig.2). Similar analysis of
the blast door can also be performed under the
guidelines provided in the Indian Standard IS 4991 [2].

Abstract - Blast Resistant Doors are used to withstand high

intensity impulsive blast loads. They are designed to
prevent the impact of the blast from travelling from one
side to the other side of the door. Taking into account the
limitations and the growing need of efficient blast resistant
doors, a design was developed using ASTM A36 as the
material of construction instead of concrete. Analytical
calculations for the actual pressure-impulse loading
condition were done as per the UFC 3-340-02, and the
results of analytical calculations were compared with
results of the simulation of the numerical model for the
given boundary conditions.

II. ANALYTICAL PROCEDURE[3]:

Keywords: Blast loads, Pressure-time loading, Ductility ratio,

Support rotation.

I.

INTRODUCTION

The technology of the blast resistant doors in earlier

times was limited to military applications where the
structures, windows and doors were designed to
withstand high impact loads caused by bomb
explosions. Later, with development of technology and
various analysis software packages, blast resistant doors
found more general applications like mining and
excavation sites, blast furnaces and testing rooms for
explosives. Now-a-days, they are also used in explosive
storage rooms to prevent blast impact from reaching out
of the rooms in case of an accident. The traditional
blast-resistant doors are usually designed in a bulky and
solid way, which leads to difficulty in opening and
closing of the door. Such a design also leads to high
costs. An ideal protective structure should be
lightweight and capable of resisting blast loads for
multiple blast impacts. Therefore, the investigations on
the new structural forms and new materials are
needed[1].

Fig. 1 Top view of door plate

A. Input Data:
Door length (L)
Geometric
Input

Material
Input

Loading
Input

In this study, a door plate of dimensions, 2850mm x

1146mm x 36mm is modelled for calculating the
support rotation and the ductility ratio for the material

Acceptance
Criteria

Door width (H)

Thickness of plate
(t or d)
Material of
construction
Modulus of
rigidity
Poisson's ratio
Incident pressure
(P or B)
Time duration (T)

3 m = 9.84 ft =
118.08 in
1.2m = 3.93 ft =
47.16 in
36 mm = 1.417
inches
ASTM A36
2.9E+07
0.3
200 psi
2 ms

Ductility Ratio

Less than 5

Support Rotation

Less than 2

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International Journal on Theoretical and Applied Research in Mechanical Engineering (IJTARME)

The equivalent plastic design moment for beams with

ductility ratios less than or equal to 3 is computed as,

= 20.541 k-in/in.

For

= 0.2672.

= 2.4869,
[3]

A. Material Properties for A36:

x = 0.2672*L = 0.2672*112.2044 = 29.981 in.

Yield Stress, Fy = 36 ksi.

Ultimate unit resistance, , for a plate with fixed

supports on all four sides (direct load):

Dynamic Increase Factor for Yield Stress of Structural

Steels, c = 1.24.
Average Strength Increase Factor, a = 1.1
(for Fy<50 ksi).
Dynamic Design Stress (Fds or Fdy):

MHN = 0 & MHP = Mp = 20.541 k-in/in

Fdy = a*c*Fy = 1.1*1.24*36

= 49.1 ksi.
Dynamic Design Stress in Shear (Fdv):

= 114.26 psi.

Fdv = 0.55*Fdy = 0.55*49.1

The Flexural rigidity (D) of the door element is defined

as,

= 27.01 ksi.

B. Design of Solid Plate:

Determination of moment of inertia elastic and
plastic section modulus per unit width (b=1):

= 7.556*106 lb-in.
Elastic Stiffness of the door element is given by:

Moment of Inertia,

= 0.2371 in4/in
For,

= 0.4021, =0.002548. [3]

Elastic Section Modulus, S

= 715.639 psi/in.
= 0.3347 in3/in.

Equivalent Elastic Deflection, XE

= 0.1597 in.

Plastic Section Modulus, P

Calculation of Load Mass Factor KLM and Effective

unit mass me :

= 0.502 in3/in.
Design Plastic Moment,Mp :

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For

the actual door assembly was carried out with the

same boundary conditions and results were
retrieved.

= 2.4869,

KLM = 0.77[3] for all four supports of the door fixed.

Fig.3 shows a Hex Dominant meshed model

resembling the door plate of 2850mm long,
1146mm wide and of 36mm thickness. Uniform
pressure of 200 psi for 2 ms time duration is
applied on the outer face of the door plate. The
four edges of the door plate are kept fixed which
resemble the actual condition of the door assembly.
The solution was obtained for total deformation
and equivalent stresses developed on the door plate

Unit mass of Plate, m:

2

= 1039.88 lb-ms /in .

Effective unit mass, me :

Calculation of natural period of vibration of the

door plate, TN

== 6.646ms.
Determination of door plate response:

For,

&

,
Fig. 3 Meshed Model of Door Plate

Ductility Ratio,

Maximum stress value of 403.11 MPa and total

deformation of 5.2023 mm is observed to occur at
time period of 2ms. Also the total deformation on
the door plate corresponding to the yield stress of
the material of the plate (A36) is observed to be
3.0311 mm.

= 1.7 [3] .

(< 5 as required).

= 0.2751 in.
Calculation of Support rotation,

Ductility Ratio of the door plate =

5.2023
3.0311

= 1.716 (< 5 as required).

= 0.28

(<2 as required).

III. SIMULATION OF DOOR PLATE

(2850mm X 1146mm X 36mm)
For simulation of the model, first a flat plate
model of the door with same dimensions and
boundary conditions was prepared and analysed for
modal and transient analysis. The results of this
simulation were validated with the analytical
results. After validation of the results, analysis of
Fig .4 Deformed Model of Door Plate
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Fig.4 shows the deformed model of the door plate. The

maximum deformation obtained is 5.2023mm. The
maximum deformation occurs at 50th element of the
mesh from the top edge of the plate.

for 2 ms time duration is applied on the outer face of the

door plate.
Maximum stress value of 314.48 MPa and total
deformation of 2.3629 mm is observed to occur at time
period of 2ms. Also the total deformation on the main
door corresponding to the yield stress of the material of
the plate (A36) is observed to be 1.8373 mm.

Dist. of the node from the bottom edge of the plate

= (50/118.75)*2850
=1200mm.
Support rotation of the door plate = tan1
= 0.25

5.2023

Ductility Ratio of the door plate \=

1200

(< 2 as required).

= 1.28

2.3629
1.8373

(< 5 as required).

IV. VALIDATION OF ANALYTICAL AND

SIMULATION RESULTS:
Approach

Support
Rotation

Ductility
Ratio

Analytical

0.28

1.7

Simulation

0.25

1.716

Remark
Door plate
usable for
more than 1
Blast.

V. SIMULATION OF DOOR ASSEMBLY:

The assembly of the door model was analysed for
modal analysis first. The initial time period of blast
impact was determined using the frequency of vibration
results obtained from the modal analysis of the blast
door. Then transient analysis of the blast door was
performed and results were retrieved.

Fig .6 Deformed Model of Door Assembly

Fig.6 shows the deformed model of the door plate where

the maximum deformation obtained is 2.3629 mm from
the top edge of the main door.
Dist. of the node from the bottom edge of the plate
= (49/118.75)*2850=1176mm.
Support rotation of the door plate = = tan1
= 0.115

2.3629
1176

(< 2 as required).

VI. FUTURE SCOPE

The primary focus in design of blast resistant
doors is to design the door for the first blast impact. Due
to the short time period of impact and high loads, the
door behaves non-linearly and some amount of
permanent plastic deformation is induced in the door.
Analysis and behaviour of this deformed model for a
second blast impact needs to be carried out. Also the
effect of fragments or particles flying along with the air

Fig. 5 Meshed Model of Door Assembly

Fig.5 shows the meshed model of the assembly of
the door plate, the vertical and the horizontal door
resting frames. The vertical and horizontal door frames
act as fixed supports and a uniform pressure of 200 psi

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blast which act like bullet impact point loads should be

considered in the analysis.

VIII. REFERENCES

Sometimes data in the form of mass and the

stand-off distance of the explosives is available instead
of pressure-time data. Conversion of mass and stand-off
distance to pressure-time loading has to be worked
upon.
Furthermore, the development in new and
efficient designs with composite materials instead of
single flat plate homogenous material designs should be
considered and analysed.
VII.

CONCLUSION

The analytical and simulation solutions of a

single plate Blast Resistant Door has been presented.
The results show good compliance between the two
solutions. The method was further used on an actual
door model where the support rotation and the ductility
ratio obtained were well within the acceptance criteria.
Hence it can be concluded that the door can withstand
the impact of the blast load without failure and can be
reused for more than one blast impacts.

[1]

Wensu Chen, Hong Hao, Numerical study of a

new multi-arch double-layered blast-resistance
door panel, International Journal of Impact
Engineering, 43 (2012), 16-28.

[2]

Indian Standard Criteria for blast resistant

design of structures for explosions above ground
IS: 4991-1968.

[3]

Unified Facilities Criteria (UFC 3-340-02): 5th

December, 2008- Structures to resist the effects
of accidental explosions.

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