EXPERTISE
Applied Research
PEC’s unique, multi-faceted applied research skills are called upon routinely by Government agencies, critical infrastructure owners, design teams, and product developers to devise protective solutions for existing and emerging security threats and climate change impacts threatening the built environment.
We employ and devise numerical modeling techniques, novel testing methods, and software tools to study and understand the response of structures and materials to extreme loading conditions.
PEC develops material models to support product development and to design creative yet high-efficacy protective structures. We team with multiple experimental facilities to test and validate our designs, to evaluate clients’ materials and structures, and to understand the underlying physics of a problem. PEC develops novel instrumentation and associated data analysis approaches to understand material and structural performance, up to and past incipient failure, and to ensure high-quality test results. We work with our clients to develop new capabilities, such as design tools and analytical methods, for use in marketing, product development, and customer support. Unlike many of our competitors, PEC considers the development of analytical models to be a critical step in solving applied research problems. Analytical modeling requires a first principles understanding of the physics and mechanics involved in a problem, as well as the mathematics that represent the physics. We take pride in our ability to apply this critical tool to solve our clients’ problems and believe it offers additional value and robustness in our overall solution.
Defense and Space
At PEC, we are proud to be a prominent and trusted small-business defense and space contractor. Our relationships with U.S. Department of Defense agencies and military components are strong and long-standing. We seek to leverage our exceptional past performance and demonstrated applied research capabilities to devise innovative solutions for emerging national security threats, to continue protecting our nation’s critical defense assets, and to provide the warfighter with a technological edge on the battlefield. We excel at solving challenging problems related to blast, shock, impact, and vibratory effects; examples include hypersonic and supersonic impact dynamics of missiles and interceptors, tactical vehicle design for shallow-buried landmines and IEDs, development of automated target model design tools for weaponeering applications, fragmentation/debris characterization for nuclear weapon effects and advanced conventional munitions, and modeling and analysis for advanced weapon tactics applied to defeat weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
Transportation, Industrial, and Energy Infrastructure
Whether it be hazards due to climate change impacts or industrial processes, vulnerability concerns regarding security and terrorist threats, or a postulated accident scenario, PEC can integrate seamlessly with architects, A-E partners, and all levels of Government to ensure safer and more resilient critical infrastructure. Our market experience is rich and broad-ranging, including the protection of nuclear power plants against beyond-design-basis seismic and tornado events, novel wayside structure designs to increase rail passenger survivability during accidental derailment, and development of next-generation commercial aircraft arrestor systems using engineered materials. Our applied research team also authored or co-authored several seminal criteria and guidance documents that form the current state-of-practice for physical security assessment, design, and retrofit of long-span bridges and tunnels.
Protective Hardware and Tool Development
PEC offers comprehensive engineering and test support services to product manufacturers and entrepreneurs aspiring to either enhance an existing product or develop a new product for protective applications. Our applied research team can walk you through the process from concept development to market-ready status, and we can also aid in the generation of marketing collateral and companion design tools along the way. Our hardware and tool development experience spans several market sectors with applications ranging from long-span bridge cable armor and a mobile unexploded ordnance (UXO) processing unit to coil mesh panel systems and energy absorbing connectors for building façade protection. We have also developed sophisticated user-defined constitutive models for use in high-fidelity computational codes to support novel material design and development efforts.
Committee Affiliations
Protection Engineering Consultants is a Texas Limited Liability Company and Registered Engineering Services firm. Our engineers hold Professional Engineering and Structural Engineering licenses in several states throughout the U.S. We are a Small Business under North American Industry Classification System NAICS 541330. Our engineers serve on and lead committees for organizations central to our profession including:
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