Security

Elmore Engineering has been involved in security issues and blast analysis since the early 1990's. We are capable of determining the effects of blast pressure waves on structures, components, and humans, as well as helping to mitigate those effects. We are also adept at many other engineering security related issues.

Security Capabilities:

Featured Projects

Physical Perimeter Design

Our nuclear energy utility client wanted to reduce overall security operations, including number of security personnel, for their fleet of nuclear plants. EESI's engineering team worked closely with corporate and individual sites, supporting initial planning schematics, design and layout, and construction phases of the project. EESI was the sole engineering support controlling the design of the new protection perimeter, which included an integrated Early Warning Alarm System (EWAS), guard towers, and surveillance capabilities for industry required malevolent adversarial, vehicular, and explosive threats.

Foundation Design

As part of our nuclear client's upgrades to site security, new guard towers were installed. Unique conditions restricted the design of the foundation due to unfavorable existing soil capacities. In addition to design requirements for traditional wind, seismic, dead, live, etc. loads, the tower structural system was required to resist NRC Design Basis Threat loads. EESI's engineering team designed the initial foundation using internally developed computer routines to aid with blast loading on structures. The foundation design was then optimized by modeling the guard booth, tower structure, foundation, and representative soil in Finite Element Analysis software LS-DYNA. The highly dynamic, nonlinear, inelastic solver capabilities of LS-DYNA aided in meeting structural acceptance criteria for performance and life safety.

Explosives Effects Analysis

Due to modifications at the site our client needed to raise an existing guard booth 20' from the original height. Additionally, a new stair tower was required to access the booth. The tower was required to resist a blast pressure wave, seismic, and wind loads. EESI's engineering team built a finite element model of a conceptual design solution and performed an explosives effects analysis using LS-DYNA to simulate the blast pressure. Seismic and wind loads were also evaluated with this model. The finite element model was then used to economize the design and create a solution that would require minimal effort during the installation. Finally, complete engineering drawings were generated.

MSSD Determination

Our client required the protection of an aboveground piping system from a surface blast overpressure and the Minimum Safe Standoff Distance (MSSD) was desired for a site-specific blast threat. EESI's engineering team used LS-DYNA to apply dynamic blast pressures to the pipe and structural support system in order to determine the MSSD for the system that would maintain functionality and structural integrity.