ARMY AL&T
In their testing, researchers found that using doors to enclose the bunkers was the most expedient and effective means to manipulate the internal blast conditions, reducing the likelihood for traumatic brain injury. Te door design reduces internal bunker peak pressure by nearly seven times compared to open air.
Te team worked closely with the Missile and Space Intelligence Center and the National Ground Intelligence Center to collect information and guide the design of the enclosure. Tey coordinated with the Medical Research and Development Command to gain a better understand- ing of traumatic brain injuries.
BRAINS ARE DYNAMIC AND FLUID “Around the time our project was wrap- ping up, a news article came out discussing the lasting effects of traumatic brain injury that the Soldiers from Al Asad have experi- enced, which drove home the importance of what our team was accomplishing,” Fulk said.
“Our main goal is always to protect the warfighter,” she continued, “and this is a unique instance where we were able to see widespread fielding of our solutions that will help prevent these injuries and save lives in the event of future attacks.”
In December 2020, less than a year after the attack, leveraging years of survivabil- ity research conducted under ERDC’s Expedient Passive Protection Program, large-scale field experiments were held on the enclosures, which validated the research and computational models.
Te final set of large-scale experiments were executed in January 2021. Tese tests validated several ERDC-developed bunker modifications that reduced the exposure to personnel within the bunker
BUNKERS GET A BOOST
The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, along with collaborators, developed bunker modifications that reduced the exposure to personnel within the bunkers and reduced their vulnerability to traumatic brain injuries. A modified concrete bunker undergoes testing at a range at Fort Polk, Louisiana, in January 2021.
and reduced the vulnerability to traumatic brain injuries. Tese modifications took into consideration ease of implementation, cost and the ability to construct.
SCALABLE FUTURE Te final design package was completed in July 2021, with nearly 1,000 bunkers spread throughout other countries identi- fied for retrofit.
“Te larger team’s constant flow of data forced our prototype at ERDC to focus on the future scalability,” said John M. Hoemann, a research civil engineer at ERDC’s Geotechnical and Structures
Laboratory. “Our design loads for future retrofits varied based on streaming threat data from the theater. Listening to the real-time needs that might change during a daily call required us to hear, compile and adapt the designs.
“Ultimately, we wrapped up not just a prototype, but a process for redesigning for different scenarios. We had to do this to truly make an adaptable prototype,” he said.
ERDC’s bunker retrofit solution was developed, tested and deployed in less than a year—thanks in large part to ERDC’s
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