Chris Leboeuf
Technical Manager of Structural Hazards/Advanced Engineering Division; ABS Consulting
Mr. LeBoeuf has more than 20 years of professional experience as a structural engineering consultant in the Extreme Loads and Structural Risk division specializing in the dynamic analysis and design of structures and equipment to resist blast loads from extreme loading events, to include high explosives, vapor cloud explosions, and bursting pressure vessels.
Mr. LeBoeuf works extensively with industry explosion safety criteria documents such as SG-22; NFPA 68; ASCE "Design of Blast Resistant Buildings in Petro-Chemical Facilities;" CCPS and AIChE "Guidelines for Evaluating the Characteristics of Vapor Cloud Explosions, Flash Fires, and BLEVEs;" and similar criteria documents. He has performed 50+ site surveys to collect data on existing buildings and analyzed the level of building response for blast loads. These studies are performed for chemical plants and refineries under the PSM requirements defined in OSHA 1910.119. To aid in upgrading buildings identified as inadequate for blast, Mr. LeBoeuf has developed upgrade solutions to enhance the capacity of structures to meet the protection requirements. He has worked closely with industry and contractors to implement these upgrades through construction. Mr. LeBoeuf has been involved in several explosion incident investigations during his professional career.
Mr. LeBoeuf has extensive experience with Department of Defense (DOD) and DOE manuals for predictions of blast loads and fragment hazard modeling and structural design including TM 5-1300, Structures to Resist the Effects of Accidental Explosions, and DOE/TIC-11268 Prediction of Blast and Fragment Loadings on Structures. He has applied criteria from government facility siting regulations and design guides such as DOE 6430.1, DOE/EV/06194-1, DOD 6055.9, DARCOM-R-385-100, AFM 127-100, and NAVSEA OP-5. He is also cognizant of test data and information available in literature that can be utilized to evaluate constructions for their levels of safety in blast environments.
He has performed advanced non-linear, dynamic, finite element analyses. He has extensive experience in the numerical modeling field. His experience includes the use of finite element programs such as LS-DYNA, AUTODYN, ADINA, NASTRAN, FEMAP, ANSYS, SAP2000, Etabs, Visual Analysis, and STAAD. He has also used state-of-the-art finite element codes to analyze structures, structural components, facilities and equipment (e.g. storage tanks, blast chamber, pipe failure) for nonlinear response when subjected to time dependent loads. He is well-versed in the ALE and Eulerian methods of modeling for blast propagation and blast loads in structures and in optimization and robust design using LS-DYNA.
Mr. LeBoeuf is a principal instructor for the structural component of multiple short courses dedicated to understanding explosion effects and dynamic structural analysis including "Fundamentals of Blast Analysis and Design" and "Blast Resistant Upgrade of Masonry Buildings at Petrochemical Plants” and "Facility Siting and Consequence Modeling - API 752/753."