UCSD gets $4.4 million bomb blast simulator contract

By: North County Times wire services | Wednesday, May 5, 2004 9:43 PM PDT ∞

SAN DIEGO - The University of California San Diego received a $4.4 million federal contract for a bomb blast simulator under construction at a site eight miles east of campus, the university announced today.

The blast simulator, under construction at Camp Elliott, will be the world's first facility capable of studying bomb blast structural damage without creating actual explosions, according to UCSD.

Construction of the blast simulator is being funded by the Technical Support Working Group, a federal interagency organization for combating terrorism. The recent contract brings the agency's support for the project to $8.6 million.

"The controlled and repeatable tests we will do with the blast simulator will allow us to create and validate computer tools that can then be used to tailor the design and assessment of important facilities," said Frieder Seible, dean of the Jacobs School of Engineering.

The blast simulator will recreate the speed and force of explosive shock waves using servo-controlled hydraulic actuators.

Researchers will perform blast simulations on the load-bearing components of a building, including, beams, girders, walls and floors, and on non- structural elements like curtain walls and windows.

Structural engineers will be able to simulate a wide range of blasts, ranging from the equivalent of 50 pounds of TNT detonated with a few feet of a structure to 5,000 pounds detonated from more than 100 feet away.

The machine is being designed by Jacobs School structural engineers and the MTS Systems Corp., which makes test laboratories for automotive crash tests and military weapons tests.

Construction is scheduled to be completed at the end of this year, and research will begin in early 2005.

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