Structural Design for Physical Security

Book excerpt: Prepared by the Task Committee on Structural Design for Physical Security of the Structural Engineering Institute of ASCE. This report provides guidance to structural engineers in the design of civil structures to resist the effects of terrorist bombings. As dramatized by the bombings of the World Trade Center in New York City and the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City, civil engineers today need guidance on designing structures to resist hostile acts. The U.S. military services and foreign embassy facilities developed requirements for their unique needs, but these the documents are restricted. Thus, no widely available document exists to provide engineers with the technical data necessary to design civil structures for enhanced physical security. The unrestricted government information included in this report is assembled collectively for the first time and rephrased for application to civilian facilities. Topics include: determination of the threat, methods by which structural loadings are derived for the determined threat, the behavior and selection of structural systems, the design of structural components, the design of security doors, the design of utility openings, and the retrofitting of existing structures. This report transfers this technology to the civil sector and provides complete methods, guidance, and references for structural engineers challenged with a physical security problem.