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The first two editions of “Blast Effects on Buildings” seamlessly complemented the ASCE publications “Blast Protection of Buildings” and “Structural Design for Physical Security” with practical applications of protective design methods to practical design scenarios. I was therefore pleased to see the recently published third edition expand upon the excellent guidance and commentary for several important topics. Among these topics are much needed guidance on the limitations of simplified Single Degree of Freedom methods for blast analysis and a discussion of near field response. Additional information is provided for steelwork and concrete reinforcement detailing, glass resistance functions and façade framing design. Additional guidance is provided for both tie force and alternate load path methods to prevent disproportional collapse and information is provided to mitigate hostile vehicle impact. This third edition very concisely represents the current state of the practice. Since ASCE will soon offer new editions to both their publications on blast resistant protective design, it is only fitting that “Blast Effects on Buildings” was similarly updated.

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Robert Smilowitz, PhD, P.E., Senior Principal, Thornton Tomasetti, Inc.

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his edition is a fine update of a well-known, authoritative introduction to engineering buildings to resist blast effects. Notable is its coverage of underwater explosions and response of concrete-steel sandwich panels, subjects not normally found in comparable books. In addition to providing several empirical approaches for blast pressure determination, this edition also includes a useful introduction to sophisticated computational fluid dynamics for blast effects analyses. Further, the coverage of critical glazing design is much more advanced than is found in comparable books. I recommend this book as a comprehensive introduction to blast resistant design.

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Donald O. Dusenberry, Consulting Principal at Simpson Gumpertz & Heger