Use of explicit finite element analysis to evaluate explosion effects reduces shutdown time on oil and gas production platform

Abstract The use of explicit finite element analysis techniques dramatically reduced the shutdown requirements for an offshore oil and gas production platform in the North Sea. The blast wall between the process and compression areas and the rest of the platform required strengthening to withstand the forces from possible explosion scenarios. Strengthening the wall using conventional structural steelwork would have required an extended shutdown while the welding was performed. An alternate means of strengthening using carbon fiber reinforcement was a potential means of performing the required upgrade without the requirement to shut down, as the use of the carbon fiber does not require ‘hot’ work. The effectiveness of the carbon fiber reinforcement needed to be demonstrated by numerical means combined with explosion tests on a test panel. Dynamic analysis with an explicit code that could take into account the nonlinear effects in the composite and strain rate and strain hardening effects in the steelwork was used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed strengthening method. © 1997 Elsevier Science Limited