Blast Engineering

We’ve pioneered blast engineering strategies that make all types of buildings and infrastructure less vulnerable to extreme events. When you need a blast consultant to evaluate or enhance a facility, we provide strength by design.

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Blast Consulting

Our protective design and security group has dozens of experienced blast engineers who can provide consulting on a full range of facility types. We are able to provide blast consulting for accidental and deliberate explosions and other extreme events. Past experience includes projects for the DoS, GSA, DoD, VA, PSRDM (Physical Security and Resiliency Design Manual), State and Local Governments, Land Ports of Entry (LPOE), airports, transit infrastructure, sports facilities, and commercial developments.

Blast Risk Assessment

Effective protection against blast effects starts with understanding threats and vulnerabilities. We help you make informed decisions by conducting comprehensive risk assessments – for individual facilities or full portfolios – to identify critical assets; assess and rank potential threats, including blast threats; and analyze potential consequences. Then we look to lessons learned in 60+ years of experience in blast consulting to craft a menu of solutions tailored to the unique needs of your project.

Blast Analysis & Design

We use cutting-edge analysis and modeling tools to predict the effects of a bomb attack on planned or existing structures of every type. Then we design powerful protection – without sacrificing architectural vision or breaking the bank.

Our blast engineering techniques can analyze a wide range of events using simplified or advanced tools. Conventional and improvised explosive devices, and even nuclear weapons. Cratering and ground shock. Underwater or in-air explosions. Impact and penetration. Progressive collapse. Fire. Our experts can analyze the effects of all these and more. We develop and maintain computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and computational structural dynamics (CSD) codes to model behavior, interaction, equipment response and human injury effects. We have extensively validated the results of our simulations against large-scale field tests conducted by military, public and commercial clients.

Façade Hardening

Our blast engineers work with façade engineers – our in-house professionals or external consultants – and contractors to develop customized systems that mitigate hazards from bomb blasts, firearms and unauthorized entry. We utilize our blast consulting experience to incorporate blast performance requirements into drawings and specifications to clearly convey the design intent to the contractor. We can perform detailed blast engineering of facades for contractors or support blast testing programs when required.

Perimeter Protection & Site Security

We partner with project teams to develop layers of protection that integrate seamlessly with a facility’s overall site planning, layout, landscape and architecture. We also help master planners with strategic site layout in accordance with CPTED (crime prevention through environmental design) principles, design anti-ram site architecture and assist in site-circulation and parking planning to enhance asset protection.

Disproportionate Collapse Prevention

We engineer for survivability, even with the loss of one or more structural element. We collaborate with all project stakeholders to select the option best-suited for each project. Then we delve into the details, analyzing our designs for their efficacy against blast – as well as other hazards like flood, earthquake, accidental impact and more. But we never lose sight of the big picture: your priorities, safety, architectural form and materials, operational flexibility and budget.

Explosive Safety Design

Government agencies. Private-sector clients. Academic institutions. For more than 25 years, we've been helping these and other clients make sure that explosive project elements for new facilities and retrofit projects are designed and sited with the utmost safety in mind.

We clearly understand the nuances of U.S. government standards – including DoD 6055.9, DCMA 4145, NAVSEA OP5, DOE/TIC-11268, UFC 3-340-1, UFC 3-340-02 (formerly TM5-1300) – as well as IATG and AASTP standards. And the knowledge gained through our extensive portfolio of explosive safety design projects means that we can provide you with proven, cost-effective solutions to an array of project challenges that can pass the most stringent safety reviews.