Response of Curtain Wall Architectural Envelopes to Negative Phase Blast Effects

  • Lusk, Braden (PI)

Grants and Contracts Details

Description

The University of Kentucky will collaborate with Winco Window Company, SMI Systems, and The University of Missouri to develop architectural envelopes for blast mitigation solutions in typical curtain wall configurations. The National Infrastructure Protection Plan states an over-arching goal to "Build a safer, more secure, and more resilient America by enhancing protection of the Nations Cl/KR to prevent, deter, neutralize, or mitigate the effects of deliberate efforts by terrorists to destroy, incapacitate, or exploit them; and to strengthen national preparedness, timely response, and rapid recovery in the event of an attack, natural disaster, or other emergency." In order to accomplish this goal, action is required to mitigate vulnerabilities. The Kentucky Critical Infrastructure Protection Program has established the protection of critical infrastructure against blasts as a key goal in its KCIPP solicitation. The most important unique aspect of this work involves the development and validation of designs to resist the negative phase blast effects associated with large scale blast events. The target objective of the proposed project is to increase resiliency of Critical Infrastructure by limiting the effects of an explosion near a critical building by creating design options for blast mitigation in curtain wall formats. In order to obtain increased resiliency, four critical tasks have been identified for the project. The major critical tasks include: 1. Blast load selection and development including negative phase 2. Curtain wall system designs 3. Validate design models and calculations 4. Create architectural envelope selections The critical tasks listed above are covered in detail in further sections of the proposal. The listed critical tasks will lead to the development of several deliverables. Specific curtain wall designs will be developed to meet the overall objective; however, the generation of alternative test methods and protocols and validation of models and calculations will be additional supporting deliverables. Commercial products will be generated by the completion of the project as well as quality additions to the body of knowledge regarding blast mitigation. Designing, modeling, and testing curtain wall systems with specific intent to withstand negative phase effects is unique but important depending on the specific circumstances of blast load duration and natural frequency of vibration within the designed systems. To facilitate the completion of this project, funds totaling $874,750.82 are requested from NIHS over a 36 month project timeline. The project deliverables will be useful tools for increasing resiliency in critical infrastructure. 18
StatusFinished
Effective start/end date3/9/093/8/12

Fingerprint

Explore the research topics touched on by this project. These labels are generated based on the underlying awards/grants. Together they form a unique fingerprint.