Lightweight, Portable, Blast-Resistant Barriers

This study is to establish the feasibility of developing a lightweight portable, blast-resistant barrier that can be rapidly deployed to protect government and commercial facilities from terrorist bombs. This is to be accomplished by developing barrier concepts and determining their efficacy through analysis and experiments which indicate their response to blast loads and their effectiveness at protecting structures. The central features of the barrier designs proposed are ease of installation, demonstrable protection (as indicated by both experimental data and physics-based finite element codes), portability (to ensure rapid availability), and use of materials that can be stockpiled or are readily available. Guidelines will be provided for selecting the appropriate barrier and barrier configuration to meet a particular threat.