Civil engineering into defence: military engineering for force protection

Abstract

There is a long history of developments in civil engineering being tailored for and used by military engineers. This paper describes current UK research on protective structures and hardening of civil structures, its exploitation in current operations and future equipment and techniques. To deliver this research, an integrated team was created, with requirements definition and management being provided by military engineers and Ministry of Defence scientists. The research was conducted by consultants in civil engineering, defence, security and infrastructure together with academic teams from civil engineering and physics departments in UK universities. Major drivers were cross-fertilisation and pull-through from civil engineering, innovation and exploitation into current military operations and for future equipment. Maintaining a balance between the demands from the priorities of current operations and the need to maintain fundamental work to underpin longer term thinking has been a key feature. The programme structure, processes and lessons learned are described, together with some example work strands and their successful use in practice. Examples range from fast-running engineering models for use in operational theatres, retrofitting of hardening measures to existing buildings, modular structures through to high strain rate material characterisation and modelling of civil engineering materials.