Reliability of profiled blast wall structures

Stainless steel profiled walls have been used increasingly in the oil and gas industry to protect people and personnel against hydrocarbon explosions. Understanding the reliability of these blast walls greatly assists in improving the safety of offshore plant facilities. However, the presence of various uncertainties combined with a complex loading scenario makes the reliability assessment process very challenging. Therefore, a parametric model developed using ANSYS APDL is presented in this chapter. The significant uncertainties are combined with an advanced analysis model to investigate the influence of loading, material and geometric uncertainties on the response of these structures under realistic boundary conditions. To review and assess the effects of the dynamics and nonlinearities, four types of analyses including linear static, nonlinear static, linear transient dynamic, and nonlinear transient dynamic are carried out. The corresponding reliability of these structures is evaluated with a Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) method, implementing the Latin hypercube sampling (LHS) approach. The uncertainties related to dynamic blast loading, material properties, and geometry are represented in terms of probability distributions and the associated parameters. Dynamic, static, linear, and nonlinear responses of the structure are reviewed. Stochastic probabilistic analysis results are discussed in terms of the probability of occurrence, the cumulative distribution functions (CDFs), and the corresponding variable sensitivities. It is observed that using the approach taken in this study can help identify the important variables and parameters to optimize the design of profiled blast walls, to perform risk assessments, or to carry out performance-based design for these structures.