Bottom-Founded Security Barrier with Energy Absorption
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing waterfront and offshore barriers are ineffective against high-speed watercraft, vulnerable to subsurface threats, and have high maintenance costs due to environmental vulnerabilities and damage from impacts.
Innovation Solution
A barrier system featuring bottom-founded supports, ropes, energy-absorbing devices, and a net that extends to the sea floor, designed to dissipate kinetic energy and provide protection from both surface and subsurface threats, with a configuration that includes vertical supports, hanger ropes, and braking devices to minimize damage and maintenance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If floating barriers are used to mark restricted areas, then the barrier is easy to install and relocate, but it is vulnerable to subsurface threats such as swimmers, divers, and torpedoes
Solution Approach 1:
The barrier transitions from a two-dimensional floating surface barrier to a three-dimensional structure that extends vertically from the surface to the seabed. The net portion extends downward from the floating support structure to near the seabed, creating a volumetric barrier that addresses subsurface threats while maintaining the floating installation advantage.
Solution Approach 2:
The barrier combines multiple functional components with different properties: floating support structures for buoyancy and positioning, net material for impact absorption and subsurface protection, and anchoring systems for stability. This composite structure integrates the advantages of floating ease with enhanced protective capabilities.
2Reliability
If traditional net barriers are used to stop watercraft, then the barrier can prevent entry into the port, but it suffers unsuitable damage from the impact of watercraft and has high maintenance costs
Solution Approach 1:
The barrier incorporates energy-absorbing components and flexible net structures designed to dissipate impact energy before it reaches the main support structure. The net material and connecting ropes are configured to stretch and absorb kinetic energy from impacting watercraft, reducing damage to the barrier system and lowering maintenance requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The barrier uses materials and structural configurations optimized for energy absorption and impact resistance. The net mesh size, rope tension, and support structure spacing are specifically designed to maximize kinetic energy dissipation while maintaining structural integrity after impact, thereby reducing maintenance costs.
3Reliability
If floating barrier systems are deployed in harsh environmental conditions, then the barrier can provide security protection, but it is unreliable in wind, waves, currents, and storms
Solution Approach 1:
The barrier employs anchoring systems that provide counteracting forces to stabilize the floating structure against environmental forces. The anchors and mooring lines create a balanced system that resists displacement from wind, waves, and currents, maintaining barrier integrity and positioning during storms while allowing controlled movement.
Solution Approach 2:
The barrier is designed with dynamic characteristics that allow it to adapt to environmental conditions. The floating support structure and net system can move and flex in response to waves and currents, dissipating environmental energy rather than resisting it rigidly, which maintains reliability during harsh weather while preserving structural integrity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The barrier effectively stops high-speed watercraft with minimal damage, provides protection from subsurface threats, and reduces maintenance costs by being resistant to environmental energies and impacts, while maintaining structural integrity.
Implementation Method 1
a plurality of energy absorption devices, which dissipate residual energy out of the net
Implementation Method 2
energy absorption devices, which dissipate residual energy out of the net
Data Source
AI summary
A barrier for stopping unwanted watercraft and subsurface intruders from entering into a port or off-shore structure is provided. In one embodiment, the invention is a barrier comprised of a vertical net structure supported from the sea floor. The barrier comprises vertical supports and a net assembled between the vertical supports with a system of ropes and energy absorbing devices. The structural components of the barrier are designed and configured in a manner as to absorb and displace the kinetic energy generated by an explosive laden small watercraft traveling at a high rate of speed. In another embodiment, invention is a barrier system installed around the perimeter of a water side or offshore facility. This barrier system comprises a bottom founded perimeter fence having a gate system and a series of barriers comprised of a vertical fence structure supported from the sea floor. This barrier system is designed to control access and to protect a water side or offshore facility from potential terrorism threats.