Evaluation of an expedient terrorist vehicle barrier
The threat of terrorist vehicle bombs has become evident in the past few years. The explosive power that can be generated by a ''home made'' bomb carried by a standard van or moderate size truck can generate sufficient blast overpressures to cause major damage or catastrophic collapse to building structures. There are a number of means available to help prevent a successful terrorist attack on a facility. One measure consists of the gathering of intelligence that can be used to thwart an attack before it takes place. The design and retrofit of structures and structural systems which can resist blast loadings and protect occupants is another area which is currently receiving a great deal of attention by the security community. Another measure, which can be used to protect many existing facilities, is to restrict access to the facility. This option consists of keeping unauthorized vehicles as far as possible from the facility so that if a vehicle bomb does approach the facility, the distance at which the bomb is detonated will result in significant reduction in the overpressures by the time the blast wave reaches the protected structure. This paper describes a simple and efficient vehicle barrier concept that can be used to prevent unauthorized vehicle access. The feasibility study described herein consisted of a field experimental program to test the validity of the barrier concept, and demonstrated the ability of the simple barrier to effectively disable speeding vehicles.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- US Department of Energy (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 15001997
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-ID-137747
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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