Resilient Structures: Protective Design Against Terrorist Threats

Synopsis

The rise in terrorist attacks highlights the need to plan for a resilient world. Taking such threats into account at the start of a project can make structures or communities more resilient without the necessity of costly design interventions.

Protective design refers to the discipline that aims to counteract terrorist threats through a range of interventions such as structural, façade design and the provision of Hostile Vehicle Mitigation measures in the public realm, with the aim to mitigate or eliminate the risk to people and assets. This, coupled with careful planning of critical facilities, enables the delivery of more resilient buildings and public realm with the aim to improve operational resilience post terrorist events.

In this talk, four engineers from ARUP will cover examples of protective design measures developed through design methodologies such as blast assessments, numerical fluid dynamics analyses, structural and façade design under blast loads and hostile vehicle mitigation measures, with a focus on infrastructure projects.

About the Speakers

Patrizia Carpentieri joined Arup as a Senior Consultant at Arup Resilience, Security & Risk team in June 2019. She has extensive overseas experience managing projects involving structural, earthquake and blast engineering topics. In Arup, she specialises in the management of blast design for façades and structural elements, dynamic response of buildings, and hostile vehicle mitigation strategies. Her focus is on developing holistic design solutions that meet the Client’s risk appetite against terrorist threats.  

Anqi Chen is a Consultant within Arup's Resilience, Security & Risk team. After gaining his PhD in Blast Engineering at Imperial College London, he has done research work on blast effects on structures, floor vibrations, and structural steel design. Since joining Arup in 2020, he has worked on a variety of projects related to the protective design of buildings in the public and infrastructure sectors. He has also spent time assessing explosive storage sites for potential licensing with HSE for transportation projects.

Eirini Kotrotsou is a Senior Consultant within Arup’s Resilience, Security & Risk team. Her academic background is in structural engineering with a focus on earthquake engineering and the dynamic response of structures. Her work in Arup focuses on developing strategies and designs that enhance the resilience of buildings, sites and communities against terrorist threats with a focus on façade blast design.

Mattia Bernardi is a Senior Engineer within Arup’s Specialist Technology and Research team. His academic background is in structural engineering with a focus on earthquake engineering and the dynamic response of structures. His work in Arup focuses on analytical and numerical methods for the analysis and design of structures under static or dynamic loading such as seismic or blast.

Registration

The event is open to all and is free to attend. Please join the meeting via Teams^* by clicking on this link. No registration is required.

Further information

This online meeting is organised by Young SECED. For further information, please contact Stamatina Marinatou (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

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