Announcement on Force Protection Engineering (FPE) Conference – Innovation
Gary Bullock, MD of Flexiroc Australia Pty Ltd and Vice President of Protectiflex LLC together with Professor Alex Remennikov, University of Wollongong – National Facility for Physical Blast Simulation (NFPBS) will be attending the Force Protection Engineering (FPE) Conference on Innovation in November.
They will provide a technical presentation on the development of ProtectiFlex technology titled Development of Rubberised Concrete Material for Blast Protection Using Advanced Blast Simulator.
The 2020 FPE is a two- day seminar 2-3 November2020 facilitated by Australian Army 19th Chief Engineer Works. It provides a professional forum to discuss operational planning considerations, capability development and research priorities and brings together a range of participants from Defence, Federal and State Government agencies, coalition partners, industry and academia.
Details on the Presentation session:
Development of Rubberised Concrete Material for Blast Protection Using Advanced Blast Simulator (NFPBS)
Gary Bullock and Prof Alex Remennikov
Description: Recent blast testing programs were performed in Australia on various forms of the rubberized concrete material ProtectiFlex, a blast and ballistic mitigating cementitious building product. Shock tube testing was conducted in the Advanced Blast Simulator (ABS) at the University of Wollongong – National Facility for Physical Blast Simulation (NFPBS) on a pumped composite panel form composed of ProtectiFlex and reinforced concrete as well as on a spray-on form (ProtectiFlex Shotcrete) applied to masonry walls.
This presentation primarily focuses on the blast loading, observed damage, and deflection results recorded during these two test programs, which demonstrated the advantages of using the large-scale blast simulation facility for the research and development of new protective materials. A series of blast and ballistic testing and analytical efforts conducted by Protectiflex, LLC within the United States that led to the Australian test programs will also be briefed.
With the proven superior performance of ProtectiFlex as blast protection, Flexiroc Australia and UOW are in the process of building a further series of test walls and blast testing them in the UOW blast simulator to:
• Develop design charts for engineers and Defence to prepare blast protection systems for new and retrofit blast-protected structures. This will enable engineers to readily incorporate sprayed ProtectiFlex into their designs for blast protection of buildings and structures.
• Continue our work with Australian Defence providing data to incorporate ProtectiFlex shotcrete protection into Defence’s Ballpark Blast program, a design/risk-based assessment tool for mitigation of blast & ballistic threats. This tool is used by Defence and the National Security community and, with incorporation of ProtectiFlex shotcrete R&D results, they can make informed decisions to reduce asset damage and personnel injury by application of ProtectiFlex shotcrete.