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Vulnerability Assessment and Protection Option (VAPO)
Problem Statement and
Objectives
The mission of the U.S. Department of Defense Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) includes sponsoring research and capability development to protect US forces against CBRNE threats. In 2003, DTRA looked to industry to provide fast-running physics-based computational models, the latest environment and fragility models, and research on structural retrofits into a single capability. Drawing on more than 25 years of experience in weapons design, testing, and analysis, ARA developed this program titled Vulnerability Assessment and Protection Option (VAPO).
Results and Benefits
ARA saved the government millions of dollars by leveraging key capabilities from other programs. VAPO included and extended capability developed over 12 years for the Integrated Munitions Effects Assessment (IMEA) program made possible by IMEA’s modular software architecture. VAPO supports terrorist threat analysis, primarily from high-explosives, in an urban environment. VAPO’s state-of-the-art urban airblast model includes the reflections, shielding, and diffraction of blasts that exist in a multi-building, 3D environment. VAPO is intended for experienced and novice users and provides CBR dispersion capabilities by way of integration with the Hazard Prediction and Assessment Capability (HPAC). Additional VAPO capabilities include:
- Point-and-click facility and site modeling with copy, move, rotate, import/export capabilities, and automatic generation of buildings from vector outlines
- Vulnerability, damage, and Unified Facilities Criteria contours displayed in 2D and 3D
- Modeling of threats including pipe bombs, vehicular bombs, mortars, airdropped weapons and user defined fragmenting and non-fragmenting devices
- Placement, modeling and damage of equipment and chemical/biological containers inside facilities
- Chemical and biological leakage, burn, and release from a facility; WMD dispersion provided by integration with the Hazard Prediction and Assessment Capability (HPAC)
- Airblast environment within an urban scene that accounts for reflection, shielding and diffraction due to other structures
- 2-D and 3-D visualization of damage, injury and environment results
- Glass breakage and human injury prediction based on latest glazing fragmentation and blunt trauma models
- Point-and-click application of retrofits and comparison of pre- and post-retrofit structural response
- Vehicular ramming model providing vehicle speed and kinetic energy estimates based on user-defined routes, and barrier selection aid based on Department of State and Department of Defense barrier ratings.
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2D, 3D and cut-away views of VAPO facility models and attack results allow for detailed analysis of results and easy presentation to decision makers.
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