Assistant Professor Haim Waisman Awarded NSF Grant
08/08/2009
Assistant Professor Haim Waisman has been awarded a collaborative National Science Foundation Grant in the area of hazard mitigation and structural engineering. Dr. Waisman will collaborate with Dr. Caglar Oskay from Vanderbilt University to develop multiscale computational methods to study the failure mechanisms of metallic structures coated by thin layers of polymeric materials when subjected to blast loads. Application of these materials on structures have been recently shown to dramatically improve the blast resistance.
The investigation will lead to better understanding and novel simulation tools in the design of passive protection strategies for infrastructure systems against blast loads. The knowledge gained through this project has a transformative and direct short term impact on infrastructure including: protection of global and national energy supply routes, such as oil and gas pipelines (see figure) due to natural or intentional blasts; protection of civilian and military vehicles due to improvised explosive devices; protection of ship hulls in the event of an under or above water explosion and other.
Photo: Aging infrastructure: fatal steam pipe explosion in NYC July 19, 2007.