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Contracts
Awards
Under solicitation
number SB1341-03-Q-0334, an indefinite deliverable, indefinite quantity
(IDIQ) purchase order has been awarded to APPLIED RESEARCH ASSOCIATES,
INC. (ARA) of Albuquerque, New Mexico:
ARA is an engineering
firm that specializes in the following areas: nonlinear structural dynamics
under blast and impact loading, vehicle crashworthiness and impact behavior,
aircraft impact analysis, dynamic fracture modeling and failure analysis,
impact and penetration mechanics, probabilistic engineering mechanics,
and structural engineering. ARA is well qualified to conduct the analysis
of the aircraft impact into the WTC towers with active research programs
in crash, impact, and blast damage of structures for over 20 years. ARA
is selected by the Federal Highway Administration as a Center of Excellence
in finite element crash analyses and is designated by Livermore Software
Technology Corporation (the developer of the LS-DYNA software package)
as a Research Collaborator. Specific examples of the team’s past
work include:
- Analysis of aircraft
impact into nuclear power plant containment structures and storage containers.
- Analysis of a
fighter aircraft impact into multiple reinforced concrete barriers.
- Fragmentation
of aircraft components due to turbine rotor failure.
- Simulation of
railcars in high-speed impacts.
- Studies of the
effects of blast on buildings and their progressive collapse.
The specific tasks
that ARA will perform include:
1) Provide estimates of the damage to structural systems due to aircraft
impact – including exterior walls, floor systems, and interior core
columns.
2) Provide estimates of the aircraft fuel dispersal during the impact.
3) Provide estimates and contours of accelerations and deformations as
a function of time in each of the two towers due to aircraft impact to
be used for estimating damage to fire proofing.
4) Provide a database of the major fragments of the aircraft and destroyed
structural components of the towers to be used for estimating damage to
the mechanical and architectural systems inside the towers.
The impact analyses
will be conducted at various levels including: (1) the component level,
(2) the subassembly level, and (3) the global level to estimate the probable
damage to the towers due to aircraft impact. The analyses will also include
simplified and approximate methods. Analysis of uncertainties using the
component, subassembly, global, and simplified analyses will also be conducted
to assess the effect of uncertainties associated with various parameters
on the damage estimates.
The team from ARA
combines engineers from several branches of ARA with diverse background
and experience in crashworthiness, dynamic fracture analysis, applied
mechanics and nonlinear dynamics, probabilistic mechanics, constitutive
modeling, and structural engineering. The team is led by the three engineers
with relevant backgrounds and appropriate knowledge in impact and crashworthiness
studies. Select experience of these key project personnel is summarized
below:
- Dr. Steven W.
Kirkpatrick is the program manager for this project. Dr. Kirkpatrick
is a senior engineer with 19 years of experience in vehicle crashworthiness,
structural dynamics, finite element analysis, impact and penetration
mechanics, and failure analysis. He has more than 80 publications in
these areas. His research experience includes a wide range of government
and commercial projects for rail, highway, civil, military, and aerospace
applications. He has been a program leader for many studies requiring
close collaboration between experimental and computational efforts with
emphasis on model validation. Dr. Kirkpatrick has a doctorate in mechanical
engineering from Stanford University.
- Dr. B. Samuel
Holmes is the program supervisor for this project. Dr. Holmes is a principal
engineer with 40 years of experience in vehicle crashworthiness, structural
dynamics, failure analysis, and fluid mechanics. He has served as a
program manager and group leader for a variety of projects combining
analysis and experiments. He acted as principal investigator for studies
of train crashworthiness and the design of a crashworthy locomotive
cab, and automobile accidents including compatibility and structural
design for high speed impact, train aerodynamics, and impact. His experience
also includes studies of weapons and blast effects on large structures.
He has more than 40 publications in these areas. Dr. Holmes has a doctorate
in applied mechanics from Drexel University.
- Dr. Justin Wu
is the technical lead in performing the uncertainty analysis of this
project. Dr. Wu is the director of probabilistic engineering at ARA.
He is a renowned expert in probabilistic methods with 20 years of experience
in the development and application of innovative physics-based probabilistic
methods for a wide range of applications including structural reliability
analysis and design of space shuttle, aircraft, offshore pipeline, power
plant, and automotive; nuclear waste repository risk assessment, and
hard target uncertainty analysis. Dr. Wu heads the development of ARA’s
ProFES (Probabilistic Function Evaluation System) software package,
previously supported by the Air Force and NASA. He also leads the development
of methodologies and software tools for hard target uncertainty analysis
for DTRA, reliability-based multi-disciplinary design for NASA, and
rotorcraft probabilistic damage tolerance analysis for FAA. He has more
than 100 publications. Dr. Wu has a doctorate in mechanical engineering
from University of Arizona.
Other key ARA team
members include:
- Dr. Robert Bocchieri,
Senior engineer, will provide expertise in constitutive modeling, rate-dependent
material behavior, fracture mechanics and failure analysis, finite element
analysis, structural dynamics, and crashworthiness. Dr. Bocchieri has
a doctorate in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at
Austin.
- Dr. Lawrence
A. Twisdale, Principal Engineer/Scientist, will provide expertise in
structural engineering and building performance. Dr. Twisdale is a licensed
professional engineer and has a doctorate in civil engineering from
the University of Illinois.
- Mr. Robert Frank,
Principal Engineer/Scientist, will provide expertise in structural mechanics,
structural dynamics, finite element analysis, and development and application
of simplified response models. Mr. Frank is a licensed professional
engineer and has a Master of Science degree in civil engineering from
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
In addition, the
ARA team is augmented by the following experts:
- Dr. P. V. Banavalkar,
President of Ingenium Inc., will provide expertise in the analysis and
behavior of high-rise steel structures. Dr. Banavalkar has over 40 years
of project experience and ten of his building designs are listed in
"100 of the World’s Tallest Buildings" published in
1998 by the Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. His experience
includes design for all conditions including critical seismic regions,
blast-resisting structures and systems for prevention of progressive
collapse. His notable projects include Library Tower in Los Angeles,
Fountain Place in Dallas, Chase Tower in Houston, and U. S. Bank Place
in Minneapolis. As a leading expert in his field, Dr. Banavalkar has
authored more than 40 publications and lectured extensively on subjects
such as steel structures, seismic stress, and concrete. Dr. Banavalkar
is a licensed professional engineer and has a doctorate in civil engineering
from Cornell University.
- Dr. Matthew H.
Koebbe, independent consultant, will provide expertise in finite element
modeling and automatic mesh generation, and nonlinear dynamics. Dr.
Koebbe has a doctorate in Mathematics from the University of California,
Santa Cruz.
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