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Solid may be
DANGEROUS
In the US, they construct huge buildings for the sole purpose
of studying the effects of massive impacts. A time-consuming
and costly procedure. In Norway, other methods are chosen.
A decades-long cooperation between the Norwegian Defence
Estates Agency (NDEA), a growing number of industrial partners
and NTNU has carried SIMLab to a world-leading position in
the design of crashworthy and protective structures. When the
research group was awarded another eight year programme,
SFI CASA, the Ministry of Local Government and Modernisation
decided to join as partners. Deputy director general Christian
Fredrik Horst at the Department for Buildings, Security and
Services explains why:
“We need an environment that can find the structural solutions
for the objects we are going to build. This includes the capacity
to simulate with a high level of precision how impacts affect
whole structures, what fragments do to them, how resilient they
are and so on. We need to be certain that they can handle an
impact. Concluding afterwards that they didn’t is not an option.”
NOT FOR SALE
“Can’t you just buy this knowledge abroad?”
“We have experienced more than once that this kind of expertise
is much more accessible if we have some competence of our
own to offer in exchange. Our partnership gives us access to
the international expert network CASA is part of. The value of
this should not be underestimated.”
“You already cooperate closely with NDEA and the Norwegian
National Security Agency, another CASA partner. Wouldn’t it
work just as well getting the results from them?”
“We could and do get results from them. In fact, we rely heavily
on their expertise and we specifically do not have any ambition
to carry out research in this field on our own. However, we are
constantly challenged by our suppliers on the specifications of
our orders. Statsbygg, which is also part of our ministry, will
be the formal commissioner of the government administration
complex. Along with us, they will have to draw on advice from
a number of expert groups, including the military services and
the police.
We obviously don’t want the buildings to look like fortresses.
This means that we will be on constant lookout for vulnerable
areas, compensatory measures and so on. This is where CASA
is so valuable. They will be able to provide us with much more
accurate information about what is needed than we would have
had otherwise. We need to approach this from a scientific point
of view.”
PHD PROJECTS COMING UP
“Does this also mean that you see the need for specific PhD
projects linked directly to your needs?”
“Certainly. There is a need for basic research for instance
concerning what materials to use where. We also expect that
the increased expertise will save us a lot of money. As an
example, we reduce the risk of building something much more
solid and expensive than necessary.
Furthermore, CASA will produce a lot of students with more
expertise and closer attention to this area than would have
happened otherwise. This is useful both to the ministry and to
society as a whole,” Horst says.
The plan is for the administration complex to be finished in ten
years’ time. Three years ago the price tag was estimated at NOK
five billion upwards. Since then it has increased considerably.
HISTORIC BROADCAST
A news broadcast on Norway’s state channel NRK from 2006
will sit in many people’s memory as long as they live. It opens
with the following words:
“The obstructions outside the high-rise in the government
administration aren’t exactly deterring. Anyone can place a car
full of explosives in front of the government building.”
Five years later, on 22 July 2011, that is exactly what terrorist
Anders Behring Breivik did.
The broadcast was only aired locally in 2006. After the attack
it became known to the whole nation. It contained an interview
with Christian Fredrik Horst where he presented the result of a
risk analysis, concluding that the street in front of the building
needed to be closed to public traffic. As we all know, nothing
happened. Protests sent the plans on a journey that still hadn’t
finished in 2011.
“WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?”
“Above all that the unthinkable isn’t unthinkable and that
the time factor is crucial. The challenges posed by varying
proposals, solution procedures and so on are massive and
demand cooperation on a scale nobody had foreseen.”
Bullet proof windows don’t help much if the whole building
comes down on you. Obvious? Sure, and it is one of the classic dilemmas facing the people
who plan the new government administration complex in Oslo.