Soft Target Protection

As building heights continue to grow to new levels, different fire safety challenges arise. In particular, challenges relating to fire safety has become a particular concern due to the difficulty of firefighting at such heights.The main aim of this paper is to investigate the provision of corridor smoke clearance as a means to assist internal firefighting and early fire evacuation in a study of smoke dynamics during live and simulated tests. The study was conducted in a super high-rise tower during its construction stage and assessed using computational fluid dynamics modeling to further understand the different dynamic phenomena.The experiments took place on the 19th floor of a 43-story residential building with a floor layout repeating throughout the building. The building is under construction and the experiment was carried out as part of the project task to measure the performance of the corridor smoke control system. Based on the study, the provision and activation of the post-fire smoke clearance within the common corridor upon a detection within the floor, the system aids the corridor to be tenable and safe environment for firefighters to carry out their firefighting, search and rescue operations. The system also helps to reduce the full incident floor evacuation travel time, as the visibility is maintained within a short period.This research is considered as novel in that involves the use of live experiments and computer modeling to understand smoke behavior. It also assesses the benefits of corridor smoke clearance which is typically not used in high-rise buildings internationally. This paper describes the experiments, computational analysis and information gleaned from the research and provides conclusions for consideration by others in the field of super high-rise building design. By assessing the smoke movement within the egress corridor for a plausible fire scenario it is possible to understand the potential benefits of providing post-fire smoke clearance within the egress corridor.

Societal concerns on security push light weight armor for ballistic protection to remain a topic of interest. Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene composites (UHMWPE) have shown appreciable performances for ballistic protection, because of their ability to mitigate kinetic energy of projectiles by various mechanisms of dissipation and because of their lower density. Among dissipative mechanisms of interest, delamination is one of them. In order estimate the bond strength between two plies, the laser induced shock wave technique has been utilized on Tensylon® thin panels. Firstly, this paper introduces this technique and its capabilities with respect to the characterization of ballistic protections at very high strain rates (106 s−1). Secondly, a set of experimental results is shown and interpreted to obtain the interply bond strength, through the spallation process. At last, experimental results are supported by a numerical model that is in the verge of being a predictive tool.

The use of glass in buildings as load-bearing material showed an exponential increase. Although it represents a relatively new solution for constructions, requiring appropriate design knowledge, glass is frequently used for facades, roofs, footbridges, etc. Deep care should be certainly spent at the design stage – to ensure reliable fail-safe requirements – but also during the life-time of glass structures. The brittle behaviour and limited tensile resistance of material, in addition to the high flexibility of glass assemblies, are responsible of major issues for structural engineers. Further criticalities are represented by time and ambient effects, or extreme loads. The vulnerability assessment of glass structures is hence an open topic, still requiring huge efforts. A combination of multiple aspects should be properly assessed to ensure appropriate protection and mitigation, especially for glazed soft targets. In this paper, dynamic identification methods are used for an in-service glass footbridge. On-site vibration experiments are discussed, including Finite Element numerical analyses, so as to explore the footbridge dynamic performance and assess its vulnerability.

Glass windows and facades are very popular in buildings, both in the form of traditional partitions and novel adaptive skins. There, given a series of intrinsic material features, special care should be spent at the design stage, so as to ensure appropriate fail-safe requirements, especially in presence of extreme design loads such as impacts. Even more attention is required for complex glass assemblies such as Triple Glass Units (TGUs), where the interaction of multiple components (i.e. the glass layers and the bonding foils, with the framing members) as well as the presence of gas cavities can further affect the dynamic response of these systems. In this paper, major outcomes of a research project in progress for the performance assessment of TGU windows under explosive loading are reported.

Approaches to the application of risk management in the protection of Soft targets are considered. The analysis were made of the current situation in the world and Ukraine with a terrorist threat at the above mentioned facilities, necessary measures to be offered to prevent or mitigate the possible negative consequences of the existing risks is performed. The characteristic has of objects of care out which are classified as “Soft targets” is shown, existing threats are shown. The main aspects of risk management of «Soft targets» are considered. It is proposed to consider the application of risk management in solving a complex problem of protecting civilian objects that do not have specialized and effective protection. The lack of such safety (protection) makes them vulnerable to terrorist attacks. The scope of this approach is to ensure that all strategic, managerial and operational tasks of the executive and other organizations, at all levels of government, are coordinated with the management’s risk to protect “Soft targets” for all projects, functions and processes.

The paper deals with an improvement of soft target safety. This need is recognized in Europe due to very scarce literature on this topic and due to a rising trend of terrorist attacks on unprotected targets. The effort is made to introduce the existing blast protection practices adopted by oil and gas sector. Typical type of explosion related to processing of oil and gas is described as well as traditional mitigation measures. The special attention is given to structural mitigation measure known as blast wall. The design approaches available in design guides and recommended practices are introduced and the benefit of finite element modeling is discussed. Furthermore, the commonly applied strategies for protection of soft targets are presented. Strengths and weaknesses of use of blast walls for soft target protection are evaluated. Some recent findings of other authors are presented, notably about behavior of panels with innovative typologies and panels made of aluminum, stainless steel and composites. The recently developed solution used in design of objects in seismically active areas is presented for improvement of blast wall energy dissipation. The proposed solution is suggested for use in façade systems, temporary protection of public spaces or multipurpose interior walls that provide protection against fire and blast to evacuation routes and muster zones.

The paper deals with security, fire protection and fire. The issue of security is wide, and its important part is, in particular, the protection of human life – so-called: soft targets in the military as well as in the civil sector, which can be components of critical infrastructure too. Anti-fire security is a matter of global concern, with its primary objective being to protect the health and lives of people, material values and the environment, with a focus on the civilian sector. Protection against fire is a system of prevention and repression, which is housed by the Fire and Rescue Service of the Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic. Fires and blasts are unwanted, destructive phenomena, which cause significant economic losses in the national economy each year, as well as significant losses to the lives and health of the population – soft targets in the civilian sector. Examination of fires can be prevented, in the event of their occurrence they can be localized in time and then effectively eliminated by organized activity – by extinguishing.

Terror, terrorism and terrorists, are nowadays words often used by media, political circles or debates. Preferred targets of terrorist attacks are public places with the high frequency of civilians called soft targets. Tall buildings (towers) dominate in international as well as national constructions. Victims of terror are threatened by terrorist attacks itself, but also by their consequences. The paper deals with a fire simulation in a building, where civilians are presented and can be considered as a soft target. Presented elevated temperatures caused by fire, as a consequence of terrorist attack, effect public safety in the building because of disrupted stability of the building. The paper shows usage of fire simulation out-puts for prevention and protection of soft targets.

The paper shortly presents the possibilities of soft targets protection using technical measures against the blast wave creating in explosion in terrorist attacks. Technical can be based on two principles: measures ensuring the reduction of the blast load increasing the perimeter using so called stand-off distance, i.e. to increase the distance between the protected asses and source of explosive and in that way to decrease the pressure affected the asses. Or if it is not possible, to increase the blast resistance using so called retrofit technique.

The article presents the discussion of modern experimental and numerical techniques used to the design critical infrastructure protection structures. The article presents also the results of experimental researches on S235 steel sheet. The S235 steel sheets were tested using the Hopkinson Bar Technic and perforation tests. In researches were used 3D scanners and numerical controlled measuring machine for checking the final shape after the deformation. The article also presents the results of FEM analysis made using explicit solver. Full-scale CAD model was used in numeric calculations.

The soft targets protection becomes the priority of individuals, social groups and the state. Ensuring their protection will minimize damage to property and reduce the number of injured or victims. There are several ways and tools to protect soft targets.The aim of this article is to analyze the relationship between the security culture and the soft targets protection. Individual levels of security culture support the soft targets protection, influence response to attacks on soft targets, and determine the scale of activities after attacking soft targets.It is necessary to focus on the security awareness of individuals who can affect the active soft targets protection, or they are only their visitors. Security awareness is reflected in the behavior and actions leading to the soft targets protection. It is also important for the state to create positively influence on the security environment to minimize attacks on soft targets. One way of creating such an environment is to take into account the soft targets protection when new regulations and laws are adopted.

Over the last few years the number of terrorist attacks in Europe has increased considerably, causing significant tension and nervousness. Not only in Europe, but around the world, terrorist attacks and other violent crimes are increasingly concentrated on targets that are easy accessable, and characterized by a high concentration of people and a relatively low level of protection – soft targets.In this paper, we will present methods of identifying factors that affect the protection of soft targets. We will use a mind mapping to identify an attacker, as well as conditions for attacking soft targets. We will also present possible concepts of soft targets protection.

Improving safety of the soft targets includes protection of the objects that surround them. Compulsory element of immediate surrounding of the soft targets in urban environment is utility systems of city essential services. The sewage networks are open into ground space by means of mines and wells, located in the immediate vicinity of the soft targets as well. One of the potential preventive measures for protection of the soft targets, that are found side by side to sewage mines is engineering solutions that minimize the secondary effects, formed in these facilities: fire hazard/explosion hazard and high concentration of toxic gaseous compounds (hydrogen sulphide, alkyl sulphydrate, carbonic oxide and others). Concentration of methane in gas air environment of the sewage pipelines presents special hazard, which concentration in some areas of the sewage network exceeds the lower explosive limit. The technical solution is experimentally deduced, that allows efficiently and cost-effectively to minimize concentration of gaseous compounds in the sewage networks. The lasting monitoring of gas air environment compound in the urban sewage pipelines has been executed, as well in the mines (17.7% of total amount), located in the immediate vicinity from the various soft targets. It is found that methane concentration in gas air environment of the urban sewage mines has significantly decreased over the last 20 years. And at present the mines with explosive methane content and hazard content of toxic compounds in the neighborhood of the soft targets are not detected.

The aim of the paper is to describe various approaches of numerical simulation techniques, with a special focus on air blast effects on structures. In this regard, the document summarizes and describes commonly available commercial software tools for the design and simulation of civil engineering structures and components under impulsive dynamic loads. In conclusion, some useful examples of numerical modelling of selected constructional elements are also presented.

Vulnerability of population in the terrorist threat is the main idea of the article. Regardless of the threat source, the probability to rescue people of different ages, health conditions and other factors is different. The purpose of this study is to gather information, based to make managerial decisions in optimization of the protective measures for buildings, which can be referred to “soft targets”. The goal of optimization is to provide maximum opportunities for rescuing people with different evacuation capacity, taking into account the characteristics of individual groups. This will improve the level of safety of people’s staying in public premises.

The focus target of our century and even of all centuries in the history is the security. Every state wants to guard their own functionality and citizens. The treasure of the nations are firstly peoples (soft target) and after all, buildings and assets.The construction engineering used the traditional materials and designing a long time ago. In our century, the useful materials are changed and the building operations technologies are developed and changed. Great example is the new idea of 3D printed houses. In case of the new buildings many special loads have to be considered (earthquake, blast load, flood, etc.), and also this knowledge has to be taken into account in design of buildings, and there is a need to use resistant materials for such loads. Lot of innovated materials (metal foams, special composites) have appeared in the last decade. Polymer composites with new segments, like the reinforcing fibers (glass fiber, carbon fiber, aramid fiber) and the special property acrylates can be used. The functional innovation for special loads and high energy absorbing is supported on the basic theories of the designing principles by material selection and the combination with their realisation. The base of this innovation is the knowledge of the design principles of the requirements of these loads.This work it can try to introduce the designing principles and the designing for high-energy absorbing materials what can be the base of the material science innovations.

During the recent period, the negative trend of attacks against the so-called Soft Targets has begun to spread across the world. The Soft Targets are linked with violent crimes or terrorist attacks and are objects, areas in which are people or individuals whose security is not sufficiently. This dangerous situation forces us to constantly think about the possibilities of its correction, specifically about prevention of attacks and the direct protection of soft targets themselves. The aim of this article is to get acquainted about the protection (or even defence) of individuals in dangerous areas afflicted by terrorism or high crime rate and brings us closer to procedures and principles of ICESERVE24 as a provider of top-level personal protection services.

This work is a review of selected own research in the field of resistance of selected built protective components for impacts by projectiles and air blast wave caused by the explosion of explosive material or air-fuel mixture. Background of those research were previously published (Kruszka and Rekucki, Appl Mech Mater 82:422–427, 2011; Kruszka and Rekucki, Resistance analysis of protective doors, windows and built wall to the effect of impact, blast loading and burglary. In: Proceedings of 7th international symposium on impact engineering, 4–7 July 2010. Military University of Technology, Warsaw, pp 421–445, 2010). Experimental bullet-proof investigation results of two types of steel protective doors under the comparative perforation tests using various projectiles shot from short and long typical fire-arms are presented here. The protective windows are tested under a soft impact of 30 kg mass and under an aerial shock wave due to the explosion of an explosive charge and a fuel-air mixture. The structural material of the door glazing, is Polish standard building steel, while the window leaves – Polish architectural protective glass of P4A class and duplex hardened glass.

The paper is dealing with issues of soft targets security represented by places with a high concentration of people and a low level of security against violent attacks. The aim of the paper is to assess the security of selected soft target object (with a large number of people) through appropriate methods for risk analysis, evaluation of results and proposal of indicators for implementing the methods into the practice. For solution of the issues analyses of complex systems methods – ETA and FMEA were used. Applying these methods resulted in a risk reduction at minimum required level. Based on the findings, the FMEA method was indicated to be the most effective due to flexible access to the object assessment. The results can be used as a basis for an assessment of soft targets security and also as an incentive in modelling of violent attacks.

Within this contribution we want to point out that filling stations, as endpoint of gas and oil cycle, in view of the attractiveness can be attractive target for terrorists because of the ensured media attention. Due to the low level of security against violent attacks (lack of presence of security personnel or police at the filling station), public accessibility and the content of a large number of flammable liquids (relatively readily available during the loading process) are easy targets for terrorists. In general, this means that a deliberately initiated attack in the filling station area will have negative consequences for the life and health of the population. Precisely, the modeling of terrorist attack and its negative consequences on the life and health of the population was a foundation for all other theoretical and practical activities performed within this contribution.

This paper is focused on basic principles and used forms how to reduce risk of potential terrorist attack committed by vehicle as a significant threat to soft targets. Firstly is briefly outlined phenomena of vehicle used during attack on the soft target. In the second part of the paper are written main ways how to protect areas from hostile vehicles, mainly focused on creating of safe perimeter.

Crisis management is an indispensable element of national security and plays a very important role in the resolution of any security-related problems as well as the prevention of and preparation for potential threats. Since crisis situations of a non-military nature occur in every country, in order to ensure effective protection should they occur, joint action by several state bodies is required. The elements which support the non-military defence system are: the Police, the State Fire Service, the Border Guard, specialist rescue units, and the Armed Forces. The objective of this article is to present the options for utilising the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland in crisis management.

In the cities, civilization use many electrical wiring and network cables. The explosion-established high rate energy (as an effect of terrorist attacks) can cause damage in the electrical and communication system. The explosives are different and affect different damage. The wires conduct electricity and the other group the network cables support the communication. Both of them are very important in our urban structure. Without electricity and/or communication (internet), urban life is frozen and it influences the soft targets protections. The metals conductivity, resistance and mechanical properties as a function of the blast attacks can change. These properties are important to ensure continuous service. The goal of the paper is to study the copper cables mechanical and physical properties changing under the blast load.

The paper deals with the design and technical implementation of training facilities in the “LEŠŤ” training complex. The training center is a multifunctional diagnostic, monitoring and training equipment, providing modern training conditions for special components of the security system in the Slovak Republic. Authors have rich experience with the design and technical implementation of these training center, not only in the Slovak Republic, but also worldwide. The authors give a brief description of the company “LEDIC Slovakia export”, which have been designed and implemented for 15 years, training centers. Selected training facilities are designed to ensure the preparation of special components of the Slovak security system in the fight against terrorism, the design and technical implementation of training facilities, as well as advantages and disadvantages in designing and the technical implementation of these facilities.

Consideration was given to the risks relating to the threat of chemical terrorism at the institutions of education. It is shown that the threat of chemical terrorism tends to the aggravation due to the social tension in the world. A detailed list of the options of access to highly toxic substances has been given. The most probable options of access are the theft of substances at the factories, use of toxic pesticides, manufacture of private small-size plants to synthesize toxic substances, use of natural poisons and toxins, theft at the storage sites of toxic substances or procurement and stealing from chemical industry companies and army deports. It is established that the most probable ways of carrying out the acts of terrorism using toxic substances are the blowing up of vessels containing highly volatile and nonvolatile toxic substances, leaving the vessels with easily volatile substances and spraying the aerosols of toxic substances. Special consideration was given to the risks that arise when chemical substances are used at the institutions of education. Special attention should also be paid to psychological aspects when training the personnel to enable a fast evacuation of the people from the impact zone, including the planning of evacuation events, preparing temporary shelters for the personnel, and detailed coordination of civil defense units inside the organization interacting with central civil defense bodies including the chemical survey management and the arrangement of radiation and chemical hazard monitoring posts with the on-line determination of the type of toxic substances.

In the modern world, there are constantly used more advanced technologies. Some of them are designed for security and protection, others are designed for use primarily in another field. However, the practice has shown that technological advances and incoming of new technologies can hit a wide spectrum of usability in several sectors. For this reason, it is important to analyze the technologies and detect their possible use. In this case, Market Locator’s usability analysis was performed. The primary objective is to meet the marketing objectives of various business entities. It uses information from mobile operators about mobile users. Using these data, it can perform various specifically targeted campaigns, demographic analyzes, population migration analyzes, and much more. The paper summarizes the results of an assessment of the suitability of the service for use in urban security, in particular for the protection of soft targets.

The paper discusses the present situation regarding the potential use of drones, usually referred to as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), for terrorist attacks of soft targets. An overview of currently available drones and their capabilities to carry out such an attack are also outlined. Since UAVs may play a dangerous role especially in striking selected soft targets, prevention measures are developing in order to mitigate the threats which may be associated with the use of CBRNE materials or weapons transported by these vehicles to attack the selected overcrowded sites. Special attention is paid to the use of drones to carry out radiological attack including the specification of relevant radionuclides.

It is proved that the construction of charts of the distribution of the magnetic field of the installed electrical equipment allows us to assess the electromagnetic environment, to develop means and methods of protection against electromagnetic interference, side electromagnetic radiation and induction, as well as to reduce the probability of malfunctions in the work of IT equipment, electronics and electrical equipment. It has been established that as engineering and technical means of protection from side electromagnetic radiation and induction from induction motors, which allows to remove confidential information, interfere with work, listen to negotiations or destroy data from switching and technological systems of objects of critical infrastructure, it is expedient to use screens of a mesh structure.

Many terrorist attacks in the last decade around the world have exposed the vulnerability of citizens in public places. The Migrant crisis in Europe additionally increased the intolerance among different ethnic groups leading to increased number of terrorist attacks at public places. Among others, explosive devices are often used at crowded public areas as in the case in Boston marathon 2013. Therefore blast protection of soft targets is very important issue in today’s world. Consequently the response evaluation of civilian objects, equipment and properties to this kind of loads becomes also important. For that purpose, this paper presents the results comparison between two different trash receptacles (non-blast resistant and improved design of blast resistant trash receptacle) taking into account the human injury criteria of the numerical HYBRID III 50% dummy by using the explicit code LS-DYNA.

Safety is not defined as a total absence of hazards, it is a state in which hazards and conditions leading to physical, psychological or material harm are controlled in order to preserve (protect) the health and well-being of individuals and the community. Civil aviation sector is a huge system, contributing essentially in global and any national GDP, and any harmful event inside the system may decrease such a contribution sufficiently. Analytical modeling of the system safety is used to describe the relationships between the causes, dangers and effects of system states in its various operational scenarios. For activities, which characterized with a significant quantitative risk assessment, an approach can suggest for assessing the acceptability of risk. Risk is assessed according to the hazard identification, associated with the probability of adverse events and their consequences. The approach uses two types of risk: individual and societal. A number of events must occur if a main stressor should take place with conditional probability of their realization. Framework for risk assessment and reduction is considered also.

Security services are one of the mechanisms for the provision of soft target protection. Security services complete the object protection system, e.g. protection of the persons or assets from the special category of soft target, mainly it is about the physical protection and the intelligence service. Type of security service is chosen by the owner or operator of the assets (e.g. shopping centre, school, campus, airport, etc.) or by the event organizer (e.g. concert, festival, march, sports event etc.). A special group of security services are private security services. Private security services constitute a part of a market economy providing security. At the same time aims to make a profit. The biggest benefit of this kind of security service is its professional competence and its interest to satisfy the client. The paper is focused on responsibilities and competencies of private security services in the soft target protection as well as the content of the terms of private physical protection and private intelligence services and the ways of its use in the soft target protection.