404 research outputs found
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Stop Blaming Disasters on Forces Beyond Our Control
Get PDFAs we enter the new millennium, let us recognize that the losses resulting from natural or malevolent events that cause major property damage, severe injuries, and unnecessary death are not always due to forces beyond our control. We can prevent these losses by changing the way we think and act about design and construction projects. New tools, technologies, and techniques can improve structural safety, security, and reliability and protect owners, occupants, and users against loss and casualties. Hurricane Mitch, the African embassy bombings, the ice storms in Canada and the northeastern US last winter, the Oklahoma City bombing, flooding and earthquakes in California, tornadoes and flooding in Florida, and wildfires in the Southwest are threats to the safety and security of the public and the reliability of our constructed environment. Today's engineering design community must recognize these threats and address them in our standards, building codes, and designs. We know that disasters will continue to strike and we must reduce their impact on the public. We must demand and create innovative solutions that assure a higher level of structural performance when disasters strike
An Introduction to Architectural Surety(SM) Education
No full textThis report describes the Sandia activities in the developing field management approach to enhancing National Laboratories (Sandia) educational outreach of architectural and infrastructure surety, a risk the safety, security, and reliability of facilities, systems, and structures. It begins with a description of the field of architectural and infrastmcture surety, including Sandia's historical expertise and experience in nuclear weapons surety. An overview of the 1996 Sandia Workshop on Architectural SuretysM is then provided to reference the initiation of the various activities. This workshop established the need for a surety education program at the University level and recommended that Sandia develop the course material as soon as possible. Technical material was assembled and the course was offered at the University of New Mexico (UNM) during the 1997 spring semester. The bulk of this report accordingly summarizes the lecture material presented in this pioneering graduate-level course on Infrastructure Surety in the Civil Engineering Department at UNM. This groundbreaking class presented subject matter developed by experts from Sandia, and included additional information from guest lecturers from academia, government, and industry. Also included in this report are summaries of the term projects developed by the graduate students, an overview of the 1997 International Conference on Architectural Suretp: Assuring the Performance of Buildings and Injiastruchwes (co-sponsored by Sandia, the American Institute of Architects, and the American Society of Civil Engineers), and recommendations for further course work development. The U.S. Department of Energy provides support to this emerging field of architectural and infrastructure surety and recognizes its broad application to developing government, industry, and professional standards in the national interest
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Architectural Surety Applications for Building Response to Dynamic Loads
Get PDFThis paper provides a summary introduction to the emerging area of Architectural Surety{trademark} applications for buildings and infrastructures that are subjected to dynamic loads from blast and naturally occurring events. This technology area has been under investigation to assist with the definition of risks associated with dynamic loads and to provide guidance for determining the required upgrading and retrofitting techniques suggested for reducing building and infrastructure vulnerabilities to such dynamic forces. This unique approach involves the application of risk management techniques for solving problems of the as-built environment through the application of security, safety, and reliability principles developed in the nuclear weapons programs of the United States Department of Energy (DOE) and through the protective structures programs of the German Ministry of Defense (MOD). The changing responsibilities of engineering design professionals are addressed in light of the increased public awareness of structural and facility systems' vulnerabilities to malevolent, normal, and abnormal environment conditions. Brief discussions are also presented on (1) the need to understand how dynamic pressures are affected by the structural failures they cause, (2) the need to determine cladding effects on columns, walls, and slabs, and (3) the need to establish effective standoff distance for perimeter barriers. A summary description is presented of selected technologies to upgrade and retrofit buildings by using high-strength concrete and energy-absorbing materials and by specifying appropriately designed window glazing and special masonry wall configurations and composites. The technologies, material performance, and design evaluation procedures presented include super-computational modeling and structural simulations, window glass fragmentation modeling, risk assessment procedures, instrumentation and health monitoring systems, three-dimensional CAD virtual reality visualization techniques, and material testing data
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Surety applications in transportation
Get PDFInfrastructure surety can make a valuable contribution to the transportation engineering industry. The lessons learned at Sandia National Laboratories in developing surety principles and technologies for the nuclear weapons complex and the nuclear power industry hold direct applications to the safety, security, and reliability of the critical infrastructure. This presentation introduces the concepts of infrastructure surety, including identification of the normal, abnormal, and malevolent threats to the transportation infrastructure. National problems are identified and examples of failures and successes in response to environmental loads and other structural and systemic vulnerabilities are presented. The infrastructure surety principles developed at Sandia National Laboratories are described. Currently available technologies including (a) three-dimensional computer-assisted drawing packages interactively combined with virtual reality systems, (b) the complex calculational and computational modeling and code-coupling capabilities associated with the new generation of supercomputers, and (c) risk-management methodologies with application to solving the national problems associated with threats to the critical transportation infrastructure are discussed
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An introduction to the architectural surety program
Get PDFThis paper provides a summary introduction to the nationally emerging area of Architectural and Infrastructure Surety that is under development at Sandia National Laboratories. This program area, addressing technology requirements at the national level, includes four major elements: education, research, development, and application. It involves a risk management approach to solving problems of the as-built environment through the application of security, safety, and reliability principles developed in the nuclear weapons programs of the Department of Energy. The changing responsibilities of engineering design professionals is addressed in light of the increased public awareness of structural and facility systems vulnerabilities to malevolent, normal, and abnormal environment threats. A brief discussion is presented of the education and technology outreach programs initiated through an infrastructure surety graduate Civil Engineering Department course taught at the University of New Mexico and through the architectural surety workshops and conferences already held and planned for the future. A summary description is also presented of selected technologies with strong potential for application to specific national architectural and infrastructure surety concerns. These technologies include super-computational modeling and structural simulations, window glass fragmentation modeling, risk management procedures, instrumentation and health monitoring systems, and three-dimensional CAD virtual reality visualization techniques
Recommended from our members
An Introduction to Architectural Surety(SM) Education
Get PDFThis report describes the Sandia activities in the developing field management approach to enhancing National Laboratories (Sandia) educational outreach of architectural and infrastructure surety, a risk the safety, security, and reliability of facilities, systems, and structures. It begins with a description of the field of architectural and infrastmcture surety, including Sandia's historical expertise and experience in nuclear weapons surety. An overview of the 1996 Sandia Workshop on Architectural SuretysM is then provided to reference the initiation of the various activities. This workshop established the need for a surety education program at the University level and recommended that Sandia develop the course material as soon as possible. Technical material was assembled and the course was offered at the University of New Mexico (UNM) during the 1997 spring semester. The bulk of this report accordingly summarizes the lecture material presented in this pioneering graduate-level course on Infrastructure Surety in the Civil Engineering Department at UNM. This groundbreaking class presented subject matter developed by experts from Sandia, and included additional information from guest lecturers from academia, government, and industry. Also included in this report are summaries of the term projects developed by the graduate students, an overview of the 1997 International Conference on Architectural Suretp: Assuring the Performance of Buildings and Injiastruchwes (co-sponsored by Sandia, the American Institute of Architects, and the American Society of Civil Engineers), and recommendations for further course work development. The U.S. Department of Energy provides support to this emerging field of architectural and infrastructure surety and recognizes its broad application to developing government, industry, and professional standards in the national interest
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Dynamics of window glass fracture in explosions
Get PDFAn exploratory study was conducted under the Architectural Surety Program to examine the possibility of modifying fracture of glass in the shock-wave environment associated with terrorist bombings. The intent was to explore strategies to reduce the number and severity of injuries resulting from those attacks. The study consisted of a series of three experiments at the Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center (EMRTC) of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology at Socorro, NM, in which annealed and tempered glass sheets were exposed to blast waves at several different levels of overpressure and specific impulse. A preliminary assessment of the response of tempered glass to the blast environment suggested that inducing early failure would result in lowering fragment velocity as well as reducing the loading from the window to the structure. To test that possibility, two different and novel procedures (indentation flaws and spot annealing) were used to reduce the failure strength of the tempered glass while maintaining its ability to fracture into small cube-shaped fragments. Each experiment involved a comparison of the performance of four sheets of glass with different treatments
MONTANA - THE NEW R.V. SALES CAPITAL OF THE U.S.
No full textMotor home travelers across the country are flocking to Montana to purchase their luxury R.V.s as the vehicles are not subject to sales tax and registration fees are minimal. Some see this activity as tax evasion, but taxation expert Walter Hellerstein says its perfectly legal. To read the complete story, see The New York Times. The article title is The draw of Montana for the R.V. set? It\u27s not the Scenery. It was published on 8/17/05, and the author is Jim Robbins
MONTANA - THE NEW R.V. SALES CAPITAL OF THE U.S.
No full textMotor home travelers across the country are flocking to Montana to purchase their luxury R.V.s as the vehicles are not subject to sales tax and registration fees are minimal. Some see this activity as tax evasion, but taxation expert Walter Hellerstein says its perfectly legal. To read the complete story, see The New York Times. The article title is The draw of Montana for the R.V. set? It\u27s not the Scenery. It was published on 8/17/05, and the author is Jim Robbins
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New Glass Technologies for Enhanced Architectural Surety: Engineered Stress Profiles in Soda-Lime-Silica Glass
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