Case Study: University of Florida achieves advanced blast and progressive-collapse analysis with Dassault Systemes (SIMULIA/Abaqus)

Building Blast Simulation And Progressive Collapse Analysis

The University of Florida needed to assess steel-frame survivability under severe blast loading and the risk of progressive collapse. Working with Dassault Systemes, researchers used SIMULIA Abaqus/Explicit to run high-resolution finite‑element simulations that examined moment connections and ten‑story frame behavior under TM 5-1300–based blast scenarios.

Dassault Systemes’ Abaqus/Explicit models applied shock and gas pressures (18.5 lb TNT equivalent), dead loads and dynamic increase factors to detailed connection and frame meshes. The analysis found all local connection rotations exceeded the TM 5-1300 2° limit (local rotations up to ~9.6°), components yielded under blast, and a three‑column removal case caused total collapse with different failure cascades for rigid vs. semi‑rigid connections—identifying horizontal column buckling as a critical propagation mechanism and suggesting TM 5-1300 criteria may need revision.

University of Florida

Ted Krauthammer

University of Florida