Experimental and Numerical Simulation Activities for the Assessment of Explosion Effects in a Train Station

Recent terrorist attacks in biggest cities of the world revealed the vulnerability of transport network as a whole and rail transport in particular. A particular role in improving the safety situation may play architecture alleviating the consequences of such attacks. The behaviour of structural materials and components at higher strain-rates, and experimental techniques and facilities for relevant studies has been considered. Numerical simulation tools, suitable for fast dynamic phenomena, have also in parallel been developed. Using these tools the authors attempted to assess the physical vulnerabilities of rail transport infrastructures to explosion loads, mainly due to terrorist bombing attacks. The source term, the air medium and the structure are properly modeled using the computational framework of the explicit finite element code Europlexus. Particular attention has been focused to the modeling of glass failure, which may be the cause of extended injuries. A case study of a rail station has been conducted, whose geometry has been reconstructed using a laser scanning technique. For several explosion scenarios the structural response is reliably determined, and through appropriate probit functions, the associated risk of human injuries has also been calculated. The potential of the technique to serve as a scene reconstruction tool for forensic purposes is outlined.