January 19, 2004—Structural engineers at the University of California-San Diego (UCSD) will test the effects of bomb blasts in a new blast simulator laboratory under construction. It will be the world’s first facility designed to study structural damage caused by bomb blasts without creating actual explosions. The researchers will also test new technologies to harden buildings against bomb blasts, including a UCSD composite overlay technique (originally designed to protect structures from earthquakes), which has proven effective in full-scale explosive blast tests and has been deployed abroad in several US embassies and military buildings.
The Explosive Loading Laboratory Testing Program is supported through a $4.2 million contract from the Technical Support Working Group, the federal interagency organization for combating terrorism.
