Drawing on the vast research expertise and diverse intellectual talent of a major university, the CIPPS’s core capabilities are:
Blast, Shock, and Impact Mitigation Technologies
– world renown in blast analysis, including generating devices, structural loads, behavioral responses, and design considerations.
Structural and Impact Testing
– premier facility for measuring structural load behavior, performance, safety, and design analysis.
Courses and Training
– graduate-level and professional short courses on the latest methods for structural analysis, design, assessment, and construction of protected facilities.
Graduate Courses
CIPPS offers five graduate-level courses.
Introduction to Protective Structures
Loading phenomena associated with the effects of conventional and nuclear explosive devices, and structural response to such severe dynamic loads. Dynamic analysis and design approaches for a wide range of structural systems and materials to mitigate such effects. Also addressed is the behavior and design of structural connections, non-structural systems, and progressive collapse. Load-impulse diagrams for structural behavior and damage assessment.
Advanced Protective Structures
This course is aimed at addressing planning, security assessment, and technical issues dealing with mitigating the severe effects associated with explosive incidents (e.g., blast, shock, impact, etc.). It is focused on advanced treatment of threat and hazards assessment, and mitigation approaches when considering various loading environments (e.g., conventional, nuclear, industrial, and terrorism hazards). Some of the topics that are addressed include: Characteristics of explosive devices and environments, protective planning and design philosophy, structural dynamic analysis and behavior, and implementation, engineering, architectural, safety and security considerations, damage assessment, evacuation, rescue, and recovery.
Retrofit Methods for Protective Structures
Threat and risk assessment of existing structural facilities under explosive loading effects. Damage prediction of various structural elements under explosive loads, and the development of retrofit strategies to mitigate the anticipated damage. Comparison of pre- and post-retrofit performance to assess risk remediation.
Applied Protective Technology
Treatment of sound protective technology approaches and procedures under emergency conditions, and/or for military operations, when expedient action is required. The environments are in urban and field settings. Application assessment of procedures for threat and hazard definition, load definition, facility response and consequence assessments, and expedient remediation procedures and their assessment.
Impact Engineering
Elastic and plastic impact of simple particles. Elastic and plastic behavior of beams and plates under concentrated and distributed impact loads. Address limit states, plastic hinge, and/or yield line formation. Compare closed-form solutions with advanced numerical solutions for such cases.
Short Courses
The short course Modern Protective Structures is offered annually (http://reg.conferences.dce.ufl.edu/MPS/), or by special arrangement with various organizations in the USA and abroad.
Other short course and specialized training can be arranged to meet the needs of various organizations in the USA and abroad.
Please contact CIPPS for additional information.
Academic Leadership
Repository for worldwide sources in blast, shock, and impact mitigation technology and for current research within the business, government, and academic communities.
Technical Activities
CIPPS is involved in all aspects of modern protective structures, and defensive architecture and construction, including the following technical activity areas:
- threat, hazard, and risk assessment and mitigation
- preparation for catastrophic events, including industrial accidents and terrorist attacks
- physical security and anti-terrorist design
- conventional, industrial, and nuclear explosive environments
- explosive loads from internal and external explosions, and their mitigation
- explosive safety and security assessment and management
- performance and design requirements for hardened facilities
- fortification science and technology
- military engineering
- air blast and ground shock related to various explosive devices
- gas dynamics and shock wave propagation
- penetration mechanics, and penetration of various construction materials (e.g., soil, rock, concrete, steel penetration)
- forensic engineering and blast damage assessment
- material properties and behavior under explosive loads and impact (e.g., rock, concrete, steel, wood, etc.)
- safety, engineering, and architectural aspects of protected facilities
- behavior of structural elements under blast and impact (e.g., concrete, steel wood, cladding, etc.)
- protective construction analysis and design (e.g., buildings, bunkers, tunnels, bridges, etc.)
- analysis, design, and assessment of critical above-ground and underground infrastructure systems
- technology transfer, education, and training in all these areas
Technical Support
CIPPS staff can provide technical support in the following areas:
- anti-terrorist, force protection, and physical security assessment building enclosure under blast, shock, and impact
- blast-, fragment-, and ballistic-resistant closures
- blast suppression
- blast-resistant building systems
- computer modeling, simulation, and validation
- containment and storage facilities for hazardous materials, and energetic environments
- evacuation, rescue, and recovery operations
- explosive safety for industrial facilities
- external and internal explosive load definition
- fortifications and hardened facilities
- ground shock, medium-structure interaction, and underwater explosions
- material and component behavior
- nuclear and conventional weapons effects
- progressive collapse and post-event damage assessment
- precision impact testing
- security barriers and gates
- structural behavior, design, performance and safety for blast, shock, and impact mitigation
- survivability of and fragility of land- and sea-based systems and facilities
- threat, risk, and hazard assessment
- technology transfer, education, and training
- transportation infrastructure protection
- ultra-high-performance concrete systems