The Discovery Channel's Daily Planet recently visited the UC San Diego Department of Structural Engineering and Englekirk Structural Engineering Center as part of a 9/11 anniversary special looking at technological advances designed to thwart future attacks.
The Discovery crew filmed the department's blast simulator, the only one of its kind in the world, and interviewed Professor and department Chair Gil Hegemier, an expert in blast mitigation. The hour-long special, which aired in Canada on September 9, featured just seven stories from around the world. The segment on the blast simulator is in Part 3.
You can view the entire special here. The large structure featured in the picture isn't the blast simulator, in case you're wondering. It's the five-story structure the Structural Engineering Department is building at the Englekirk Structural Engineering Center to assess how well current nonstructural elements hold up to earthquakes and post-earthquake fires. The tests will focus on a broad range of systems and equipment that can malfunction during an earthquake and make it more difficult to evacuate buildings, which can lead to more injuries and deaths.
