SBIR-STTR Award

A 9-month, $100,000 effort is proposed to (a) extend STMG capability to include non-U.S. construction standards for mechanical, electrical, plumbing, data, and architectural systems and components; (b) extend STMG capability to include hardened (belowground) construction; (c) perform fragment tests on typical booster pump components and define their fragility for eventual incorporation into MEVA. For feasibility demonstration, enhanced STMG functionality will be limited to one geographic grouping and will represent plumbing systems only. The automated generation algorithms will rely on proven industry experience derived from design of realistic systems for a variety of building types. The testing will be augmented as necessary by analysis and consideration of accidental explosion data in petrochemical facilities.

Benefit:
The new fragility models will aid the Air Force in predicting functional kill on a facility based on assessment of the building's mechanical, electrical, data, and plumbing systems. New capabilities will be developed in model generation software supporting the definition of such systems within simplified target models used by assessment codes. In the commercial sector, the models and tools being developed will be of great interest to developers and urban planners doing top-level sizing and planning of new facilities. The automated rules for generation of MEP components could then be linked to databases of equipment cost, installation cost and difficulty, and maintenance cost, facilitating quantification of tradeoffs between alternate building footprints/heights, functions, and locations. Potential users would primarily be architect/engineer companies involved in planning and design of commercial/industrial buildings.

Keywords:
Equipment, Electrical, Mechanical, Plumbing, Fragility, Hardened, Bunker