Research is a blast

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Structural engineers in the US are developing blast mitigation technologies to harden buildings and bridges against terrorist attacks.

structural engineers together with a team of industry and university partners will develop and evaluate blast mitigation technologies to harden buildings and bridges against terrorist bomb attacks through a new $7.5 million federal contract.

More than 40 tests will be performed over the next two years in the new blast simulator laboratory at the UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering’s Englekirk Structural Research Center. Testing is expected to begin in June, after the simulator has been commissioned.

The blast mitigation program at UCSD is supported by the Technical Support Working Group (TSWG), the federal interagency organisation in the USA for combating terrorism. In 2003 and 2004, TSWG awarded UCSD contracts totalling $8.6 million to construct the blast simulator. The newest contract brings cumulative support for the blast mitigation program to $16.1 million.

The UCSD blast simulator is the world’s first laboratory to simulate the effects of bombs without the use of explosive materials. The project is led by UCSD structural engineering professors Gil Hegemier and Frieder Seible.

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