Approved for Public Release; Distribution is Unlimited
Protective Construction Design Roadmap
Arturo Luna, PE; Naval Facilities Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center; Port Hueneme, CA USA
Key Words: Protective Construction, Design Roadmap, Blast Design, Explosives Safety
Abstract
Department of Defense (DoD) Manual 6055.09-M, “DoD Ammunition and Explosives Safety Standards,” provides
governing explosives safety standards to manage risks with DoD-titled ammunitions and explosives (AE) by
providing protection criteria to minimize serious injury, loss of life, and damage to property. When these
requirements cannot be satisfied by meeting default separation distances between AE and exposed personnel and
assets, protective construction may be designed to provide equivalent protection.
Protective construction must be designed in accordance with Unified Facilities Criteria (UFC) 3-340-02, “Structures
to Resist the Effects of Accidental Explosions.” This paper is intended to provide designers with high level guidance
on the state of practice of protective construction for explosives safety. It shall discuss available design criteria and
analysis tools with an emphasis on their developmental bases to provide a better understanding of their appropriate
use cases and limitations. The ultimate goal is to improve the likelihood of successful completion of protective
construction design projects.
Introduction
Department of Defense (DoD) Manual 6055.09-M, “DoD Ammunition and Explosives Safety Standards” [1],
provides governing explosives safety standards to manage risks with DoD-titled ammunitions and explosives (AE)
by providing protection criteria to minimize serious injury, loss of life, and damage to property. This paper presents
a summary of explosives safety siting criteria in order to contextualize the explosives hazards and effects protective
construction must provide protection from. For accidental explosions, governing protective construction design
criteria is provided by Unified Facilities Criteria (UFC) 3-340-02, “Structures to Resist the Effects of Accidental
Explosions” [2]. This paper discusses available criteria provided by UFC 3-340-02 with an emphasis on their
developmental bases to provide a better understanding of their appropriate use cases and limitations. The goal of this
paper is to present high level guidance to improve the likelihood of successful completion of protective construction
design projects.
Summary of Explosive Safety Siting Criteria
Explosion Effects
Within the DoD hazard classification system, Class 1 applies to AE where the explosive hazard predominates. There
are six Class 1 divisions and three 1.2 subdivisions. AE is assigned to the class that represents the item’s
predominant hazard characteristic. DoD 6055.09-M uses the term ‘HD’ followed by numerical designator to indicate
the hazard class and division of AE. Three of the most prevalent hazard class/divisions defined for DoD AE are HD
1.1, HD 1.2, and HD 1.3. Their predominant hazards are as follows:
HD 1.1: Mass explosion, blast overpressure and fragment hazard
HD 1.2: Non-mass exploding, fragment and blast overpressure hazard
HD 1.3: Combustible AE, primarily mass fire and thermal hazard
