Blast resistant steel stud wall design

Steel studs have the desired combination of strength and ductility crucial to the design of efficient blast resistant wall systems. This research focused on developing a method to use steel studs in blast resistant exterior wall systems to provide protection to building occupants in case of a bomb detonation near the structure. Designing connection details that utilize the ductility of the steel studs is critical to the performance of the system. A connection method was developed to anchor the steel studs to the floor and ceiling of the structure to prevent failure at the connections and allow the stud to absorb energy through plastic deformation. An analytical static resistance function was developed to predict the midpoint deflection of the steel stud wall subjected to uniformly distributed loads. This resistance function predicts the response of the wall as the behavior transitions through several behavior regions: flexural bending, plastic hinge formation, tension cable behavior, and ultimate failure. The analytical static resistance function was validated using data from full-scale quasi-static uniform loading experiments. The resistance function was incorporated into a single degree of freedom (SDOF) dynamic model, which is used to design a steel stud wall system to achieve a desired the level of performance under any explosion threat level. A full-scale validation experiment demonstrated that the analytical model conservatively predicts the measured experimental results. This dissertation presents the analytical modeling and experimental evaluation of steel stud wall systems under blast loads.