Blast Resistant Building Design
Students Heading link
- Eduardo Jimenez
- Shannon Coppula
- James Nickel
Project Description Heading link
Based on the 2017 Explosive Incident Report from Bomb Arson Tracking System (BATS), there have been 14,814 explosive related incidents with 687 explosives of which 335 were bombings in United States. Within the past 5 years, the highest reported bomb targets have been education and office buildings: 237 bomb threats to educational buildings and 148 to office/federal buildings. Seeing this concern for the safety of educational areas, this project focuses on improving the structure of school buildings ensuring that the structure does not fail when receiving damage from a direct impact of an explosive. The blast would consist of an improvised explosive device (IED) because they cause the greatest damage on buildings and higher casualties compared to other explosives, which include fireworks, commercial, and military devices. The design structure focuses on one classroom model, which could be repeated throughout the school. This project will explore three different design proposals by looking into differing wall materials and designs, comparing blast resistance effectiveness, the structures, and costs. This project will also look into blast-resistant window designs.