TTI is working alongside the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Boeing, and Sandia National Labs (SNL) in an effort to secure the nation’s border. TTI is helping to conduct a series of crash tests at its Riverside facility on various types of fencing that might be placed along miles of high-traffic, high-risk border areas. Roger Bligh and Dean Alberson are co-principal investigators on this project.
The results of the crash tests will help determine which types of fences will be used at diverse locations along the Mexico-U.S. border. “TTI has a stellar reputation for crash testing,” said Richard Young, the Fence Lab project manager for DHS. “The Institute has the facility and the know-how to accomplish this very important work.”
Although this is TTI’s first crash-test project with DHS, the Institute has helped the U.S. State Department test barriers for the protection of embassies and other facilities. Alberson, program manager of TTI’s Crashworthy Structures Program, is spearheading the effort to draft uniform standards for fences through ASTM International (formerly American Society for Testing and Materials).