The increased threat of terrorist attacks over recent years has brought to light the need for enhanced physical security features to be incorporated into occupied facilities. Such features may include the use of hardened window systems designed to reduce the level of hazardous glass fragments generated during an explosive event. Historically, the majority of building occupants seriously injured or killed in blast events sustained these injuries due to flying glass fragments from the building’s exterior window systems. This has prompted many Federal agencies to mandate explosive testing to pre-qualify window systems prior to being installed in their facilities. Explosive testing can reveal many deficiencies in new technologies and improperly designed window systems, in addition to providing valuable data for improved analytical methods and software validation. With many involved parties, explosive testing is a highly orchestrated process that requires much planning, but yields great benefits for the occupants of blast-hardened buildings in the form of proven blast mitigation window systems. Because of the real-world results that these tests provide, the explosive test bed has become a 'proving ground' for both newly developed technologies as well as project-specific designs.

Explosive Testing of Windows Large Scale Test Structure