ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT The structural design philosophy for accidental actions differs from the usual approach adopted for persistent situations. Design for accidental situations is in particular implemented to avoid catastrophes, wherefore local failure, such as a member or component failure, might be acceptable if neither the whole structure nor an important part of it will collapse. However, the practical implementation of this principle is not straightforward, inter alia because objective acceptance criteria for the associated life safety risks are lacking, being the consequence that such risks are often ignored. The present study is a contribution to close this gap. Explicit risk analysis is conducted to quantify implicitly acceptable life safety risks associated with the effects of gas explosions on reinforced concrete structures, based on the probability of structural collapse and its consequences. Acceptance criteria for the design or the assessment of key members are derived from the findings.
