STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING
Kavanagh Lecture - Abstract
March 30, 2006
Engineering for Security
by
Jeremy Isenberg
Recently Retired President and CEO
Weidlinger Associates, Inc.
ABSTRACT
This paper considers the technology available for protecting facilities such as buildings, bridges, tunnels
and transportation terminals against terrorist attack. It describes
briefly the development and status of testing and computer simulation
of blast effects starting with nuclear weapons testing and simulation
during the Cold War and proceeding to the threat of chemical explosive
attacks on civilian targets. Rational methods for prioritizing facilities
and hardening projects within complex facilities are discussed and
the role of insurance, whose future is uncertain at the time of writing,
is noted. Finally, future directions of the technology and of the terrorist
hazard to be addressed are speculated upon.
