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    <copyright>Copyright © 2026. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.</copyright>
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    <managingEditor>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</managingEditor>
    <webMaster>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</webMaster>
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      <title>Research in Progress (RIP)</title>
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      <title>Approach to Blast Resistant Design of Aging Transportation Structures with Little or No Stand-Off Distance</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1419892</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Considerations to blast loading by potential terrorist attacks have been increased in structural designs since September 11. Essential government and transportation facilities as well as symbolic private sector buildings have been targets of terrorists. Publicly available approaches to designing structures against blast loadings are not suitable for such urban structures, because the approaches were developed mainly for military projects, in which certain stand-off distances can be maintained from publicly open streets. Due to congested nature of urban environment, essential structural members are often exposed to the public with little or no stand-off distances. For this reason, the analysis to design urban structures against blast loading should be performed differently with a detonation with little or no stand-off distances. State-of-the-art software packages are useful to analyze blast effects on urban structures. However, they are not commonly used in structural design offices, because numerical modeling and simulation using the software are time-consuming and not practically affordable.
The purpose of this exploratory research is to develop a novel simplified approach for blast analysis and design of steel structures with little or no stand-off distances for use by general structural engineers without access to the sophisticated software. The main focus of this study is on the riveted built-up shapes that are commonly used in aging urban transportation structures. A series of numerical simulations will be performed and used to quantify damage levels of structural members subjected to blast loads. The simulations will be based on detailed nonlinear explicit dynamic analyses for investigation of high-intensity and short-duration blast effects on structures using a fully coupled interaction technique between computational fluid and structural dynamics. Parametric studies of such analysis would result in certain patterns, which will then be used to develop quantifiable damage curves or equations of steel members for efficient mitigation design]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 12 Aug 2016 16:51:34 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1419892</guid>
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      <title>Surface Transportation Security Research</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1334247</link>
      <description><![CDATA[ Emergencies arising from terrorist threats highlight the need for transportation managers to minimize the vulnerability of people and assets through incident prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. Managers are seeking to reduce the chances that transportation vehicles and facilities are targets or instruments of terrorist attacks and to be prepared to respond to and recover from such possibilities. The Transit Cooperative Research Program has budgeted $2.75 million for coordinated security-related research in FY 2002 through FY 2006 (see https://www.trb.org/TRBNet/ProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=1186). The National Cooperative Highway Research Program has budgeted $6.5 million in FY 2002 through FY 2010 for coordinated security-related research (see https://www.trb.org/TRBNet/ProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=644). A consolidated list of these and other security-related projects is updated monthly and posted online (see  https://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/dva/CRP-SecurityResearch.pdf). TRB-published reports can be accessed at www.TRB.org/SecurityPubs.

Although a wealth of new resources is now available or under development through the cooperative research programs, TRB and the National Academies have generated extensive information on these issues in recent years. The TRB Transportation System Security website (https://www.trb.org/Activities/Security/TransportationSecurity1.asp) brings together much of this information. Also included are links to other related websites that contain discussions of issues, actions which can be taken, guidance, and training opportunities. The TRB Transportation System Security website is sponsored by the TRB Committee on Critical Transportation Infrastructure Protection (https://sites.google.com/site/trbcommitteeabe40/) and is updated regularly.

The AASHTO Special Committee on Transportation Security and Emergency Management (formerly the Task Force on Transportation Security) and the APTA Executive Committee Security Affairs Steering Committee provide steering direction to the coordinated Cooperative Research Programs Security Research under NCHRP and TCRP, respectively. In addition, a technical panel provides all-hazards, all modes oversight and project selection guidance through NCHRP Project Panel 20-59, Surface Transportation Security Research, was in effect through 2014. In 2016, the 20-59 panel became responsible for NCHRP's projects on resilience. 

The objective of this program is to provide flexible, ongoing, quick-response research on transportation issues related to resilience, emergency incident prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery, paying particular attention to potential terrorist threats. Such research should be designed to develop improvements to analytical methods, decision support tools, procedures, and techniques employed by practitioners to support statewide, local, and metropolitan transportation organizations in planning, exercising, and evaluating their security programs.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 04 Dec 2014 01:01:08 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1334247</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>National Aviation Security to Cyber-terrorism: An Integrated Framework to Quantify the Economic Impacts of Cyber-terrorist Behavior</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1260478</link>
      <description><![CDATA[A physical attack planned by terrorists to the U.S. includes complex strategic behaviors of terrorists because they may intend to cross any U.S. border. At the same time, a defensive entity should consider the complex process that may cause catastrophic results once it would happen. This strategic game situation is much clearer for the case of cyber-terror attacks. For example, if cyber terrorists are able to successfully invade one of the U.S. airport systems to causing a problem in operational software that controls all airplane schedules, the one event may affect not only the entire region that the airport is located in, but also other domestic and international airports that are connected to that airport. The airport shut down will make a ripple effect throughout the domestic and international economy. Suggesting a new framework to quantify the economic impacts on the strategic border and infrastructure security requires combining the probability of invasion with economic impacts; a new probabilistic economic impact model can provide a differentiated economic impact by region and by industry. Therefore, the distinctive feature of this study is to suggest the strategic situation of terrorists combining game theory with a spatially disaggregate economic model. Constructing a new model for strategic cyber-terror security requires a combination of both competitive and cooperative game situations with the National Interstate Economic Model (NIEMO), generating the Game Theoretic National Interstate Economic Model (G-NIEMO). The G-NIEMO quantifies which airport may be most vulnerable in terms of cyber security by event place and by target industry, if an airport is subsequently closed based on the probabilistic costs for airport closure. From G-NIEMO, the equilibrium strategies for U.S. airport protection can be measured, providing a general guideline on the evaluation of resource allocations by U.S. governments.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 30 Aug 2013 01:01:26 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1260478</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Steel Suspension Bridge Vulnerability and Countermeasures</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1248103</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The aim of this research is to: (1) increase the resistance of suspension bridges to an attack on any of their three major components:  towers, main cables and suspenders; (2) extend the testing started in Pooled Fund Project 888, Validation of Numerical Modeling and Analysis of Steel Bridge Towers Subjected to Blast Loadings, to include older types of materials and connection details, and varying material conditions; and (3) develop high performance/lower intrusion countermeasure designs.  The low intrusion is significant to bridge owners because the retrofit must not produce material degradation (e.g., corrosion), interfere with the operation of previously-installed mitigation measures for other hazards (e.g., seismic), or obstruct normal maintenance/inspection operations. Experimental and analytical work will verify and calibrate: (1) predictions of member behavior; (2) performance of current mitigation measures; and (3) performance of new design concepts and materials subjected to the loads outlined below. The test loads will replicate vehicle bombs or other standoff charges; hand-emplaced breaching charges, cutting charges, and mechanical cutting, as required. Explosive tests are to be conducted in a secure environment at a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers test facility. The study will include both small- and large-scale testing of steel suspension bridge elements, their connections, and, where practical, assembled groups of bridge elements. The response of early 20th century steel members to these loadings will be determined.Specimens for this portion will be obtained from bridges to be demolished: The Waldo-Hancock Bridge (Maine), the Crown Point Bridge (NY-Vt), and the Ft. Stueben Bridge (Ohio-WV). A limited on-site study, outlined in a prior Federal Highway Administration funding request, was conducted under Department of Homeland Security sponsorship, and will be continued under this study. The study of both retrofit designs and retrofit materials are within the scope. Retrofit methods include: external and internal tower reinforcement and energy routing; main cable wrapping; suspender replacement materials; and energy-absorbing suspender sockets. Design issues to be considered include the typically severe size and weight limitations found on existing structures, as well as the need to address practical construction- and maintenance-imposed restrictions. The performance of advanced materials will be specifically assessed. This includes material combinations beyond those considered under Pooled Fund Project 888.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 23 Apr 2013 01:00:32 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1248103</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Critical Sections and Resiliency of MVFC Freight Projects</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1236494</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The goal of this project is to identify critical nodes and sections, including intermodal connectors, along the I-35, I-70, I-80, I-90, and I-94 freight corridors within the Mississippi Valley Freight Coalition (MVFC) region that are most vulnerable to disruption and lack adequate alternate route freight capacity. The information provided will be in the form of recommendations of segments in need of enhancement and strategies for navigating traffic on to alternate routes in times of need. This project will identify and create an inventory of critical sections of the network along the proposed Corridors. The critical sections are where the greatest traffic delays would be experienced.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 03 Jan 2013 15:47:59 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1236494</guid>
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      <title>Data Security for Trusted Trucks® 2 (Phase A)</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1232730</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Following the successful proof-of-concept demonstration of the Trusted Truck® - a project designed to show that a tractor trailer can communicate critical information both internally (on-board) and externally with roadside sites - an essential subsequent step, addressed by this project, is the development of a robust data security infrastructure to protect these on-board and external communications. For the system to be secure, the applications must be able to trust that the communication has been received unaltered and from a known source. Thus, a fundamental requisite for achieving security is the ability to provide for data confidentiality and authentication. To that end, the goal of this project is to leverage existing Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) security standards in the design, implementation and evaluation of a comprehensive data security solution for the Trusted Truck® project. The following are threat models which will be of primary focus: * Explicit truck and driver identification. * Prevention of tampering or replacing of sensors * Prevention of impersonation attacks. * Cargo Identification. Potential users of the outcome of this project include both public and private parties involved in achieving the Trusted Truck® vision. Without secure credentials, the Trusted Truck® concept is not feasible. Successful completion of this project is likely to provide a solid platform on which future Trusted Truck® developments can be made. Field trials will help establish a practical software package that can be easily incorporated within existing equipment.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 03 Jan 2013 14:43:45 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1232730</guid>
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