The Hardened Structures Engineering team provides the following building “hardening” services to meet your damage mitigation expectations:
- Blast mitigation design and construction for new or existing commercial buildings
- Analysis of structural building elements
- Site and building assessments of a commercial building from a wide spectrum of threats including earthquake, natural disasters, CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear) threats
- Security assessment including building “hardening” recommendations
Building “Hardening” Process:
The Hardened Structures team provides a detailed survey to determine and record current structural integrity, barriers, detection systems, operational, logistic, and security requirements, roads, landscaping, and other features.
This initial site survey information must be integrated and coupled with the appropriate building “Hardening” design and planning to provide the necessary client specific level of protection (see chart below) for critical asset protection
Levels of Protection – Commercial Buildings
| Level of Protection | Potential Structural Damage | Potential Injury |
| Below Standard | Severely damaged. Frame collapse/massive destruction. Little left standing | Majority of personnel suffer fatalities |
| Very Low | Heavily damaged. Onset of structural collapse: Major deformation of primary and secondary structural members, but progressive collapse unlikely. Collapse of non-structural elements | Majority of personnel suffer serious injuries. There are likely to be a limited number (10% to 25% fatalities) |
| Low | Damages – unrepairable. Major deformation of non-structural elements and secondary structural members and minor deformation of primary structural members, but progressive collapse unlikely | Majority of personnel suffer injuries. There may be a few (<10%) fatalities |
| Medium | Damaged-repairable. Minor deformations of non structural elements and secondary structural members with no permanent deformation in primary structural members | Some minor injuries but fatalities are unlikely |
| High | Superficially damaged. No permanent deformation of primary and secondary structural members and non-structural elements | Only superficial injuries are likely |
