Effects of Boundary Conditions on the Design of Anti-Ram Bollards

Anti-ram bollards used in perimeter protection are tested to meet performance requirements of established standards such as the US Department of State Specification SD-STD-02.01. Under these standards, tests are conducted in prescribed conditions that should be representative of the service installation. In actual project, conditions encountered on site may vary from the test environment and it would be expensive and time consuming to validate each deviation with a physical test. High-fidelity physics-based (HFPB) finite element modeling can provide precise simulations of the behavior of anti-ram bollards. This paper presents the use of HFPB finite element modeling, using LS-DYNA, in an actual project to evaluate the performance of an anti-ram bollard design subjected to various boundary conditions representing the physical conditions encountered on site. The study shows that boundary conditions can have a significant influence on the performance of the anti-ram bollards. This suggests that anti-ram bollards must be designed and engineered according to actual conditions that are found on site. It also shows that HFPB modeling can be an effective tool that supplements physical testing of anti-ram bollards.

Optimal design and dynamic impact tests of removable bollards

Anti-ram bollard systems, which are installed around buildings and infrastructure, can prevent unauthorized vehicles from entering, maintain distance from vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices （VBIED） and reduce the corresponding damage. Compared with a fixed bollard system, a removable bollard system provides more flexibility as it can be removed when needed. This paper first proposes a new type of K4-rated removable anti-ram bollard system. To simulate the collision of a vehicle hitting the bollard system, a finite element model was then built and verified through comparison of numerical simulation results and existing experimental results. Based on the orthogonal design method, the factors influencing the safety and economy of this proposed system were examined and sorted according to their importance. An optimal design scheme was then produced. Finally, to validate the effectiveness of the proposed design scheme, four dynamic impact tests, including two front impact tests and two side impact tests, have been conducted according to BSI Specifications. The residual rotation angles of the specimen are smaller than 30~ and satisfy the requirements of the BSI Specification.

Development of Shallow Footing Anti-Ram Bollard System Through Modeling and Testing

In past terrorist attacks, vehicle borne improvised explosive devices (VBIED) have been the primary manner of attacking buildings and infrastructures. Preventing unauthorized vehicles from approaching a protected area with anti-ram systems would maintain an established standoff distance against moving and stationary vehicles and consequently reduce blast and debris threats. This strategy has been considered the first line of defence against terrorists. Several types of anti-ram devices have been developed in accordance with U. S. Department of State K-rating criteria, for example, wedge barriers, rising beams, sliding/swing gates, and drop arms. However, these devices typically need a deep foundation for installation and can't be implemented into many locations where a depth of excavation is limited in order to protect utility lines of buildings and infrastructures. This paper presents a recent development of a series of shallow footing anti-ram bollard systems (SFABS) that can satisfy K-12 rating with only five-inch thick footing. A high-fidelity physics based finite element technique with a vehicle crash model is used for predicting anti-ram capacity and determining design parameters of the SFABS. Full-scale vehicle crash tests of the developed SFABS systems have been carried out to validate the design and analysis.

Numerical Evaluation of Rudder Performance Behind a Propeller in Bollard Pull Condition

Correct evaluation of rudder performance is a key issue in assessing ship maneuverability.This paper presents a simplified approach based on a viscous flow solver to address propeller and rudder interactions.Viscous flow solvers have been applied to this type of problems,but the large computational requests limit(or even prevent)their application at a preliminary ship design stage.Based on this idea,a simplified approach to include the propeller effect in front of the rudder is considered to speed up the solution.Based on the concept of body forces,this approach enables sufficiently fast computation for a preliminary ship design stage,therebymaintaining its reliability.To define the limitations of the proposed procedure,an extensive analysis of the simplified method is performed and the results are compared with experimental data presented in the literature.Initially,the reported results show the capability of the body-force approach to represent the inflow field to the rudder without the full description of the propeller,also with regard to the complex bollard pull condition.Consequently,the rudder forces are satisfactorily predicted at least with regard to the lift force.However,the drag force evaluation ismore problematic and causes higher discrepancies.Nevertheless,these discrepancies may be accepted due to their lower influence on the overall ship maneuverability performance.

Experimental Study of the Collective and Cyclic Pitch Propeller for an Underwater Vehicle

A series of experimental studies of the innovative propulsor named Collective and Cyclic Pitch Propeller(CCPP) applied to an underwater vehicle were designed and performed at the Australian Maritime College, University of Tasmania. The bollard pull and captive model tests were conducted to investigate the characteristics of CCPP and to examine the effect of different parameter settings to its performance. The results show that the CCPP is able to generate effective manoeuvring forces in various operational condition. In addition, the obtained results in the form of force coefficients provide a useful empirical model for the simulation and control of an underwater vehicle equipped with this propulsor.