Military Protective Structures - Anywhere On Any Continent
The US Army must be able to quickly build protective structures on any land mass on Earth with minimal material transport. HESE technology makes this possible.
HESE columns and beams have substantial stiffness and load carrying capabilities. They are composed of strong fabric tubular membranes containing “frictional Mohr-Colomb” materials. Such materials include sands, gravels, and crushed rock. These are abundant and widespread across the Earth’s land masses. HESE beams and columns can be built anywhere these materials are found, with only the fabric membranes being transported.
The ability of the HESE (Hydrostatically Enabled Structural Element) to produce strong beams and columns was discovered by a team of research engineers from the US Army Engineer Research and
Development Center and the US Army Natick Soldier Center in 2007-2009. The researchers were awarded a U.S. Patent in 2012 (Welch at al., 2012), but HESE research was discontinued and never completed.
Planet Z, in collaboration with Mississippi Polymer Institute of University of Southern Mississippi and the Mississippi State University Center for Advance Vehicles, is continuing to develop HESE for use on the Earth, Moon, and Mars.
(Welch, C.R., Abraham, K., Ebeling, R.M., Quigley, C., Buehler, K. 2012. “Hydrostatically Enabled Structural Element.” U.S. Patent #8,209,911, issued 3 July 2012.)
The HESE Cut & Cover Structure shown has a 12 ft x 12 ft free span and a 9 ft height. A 1-ft protective soil layer overlays the roof beams. The roof beams are 1.5 ft in diameter and would be filled with local sand or gravel. The external tubular membranes for the roof beams would be made of Kevlar® or Vectran®. The total weight and volume of the membranes is 23 lbs. and 0.5 cubic feet are 182 lbs and 4 cubic feet. The membranes for four such structures could be carried in a single Humvee. Enlarging the diameter of roof beams to 2.5 ft would allow the HESE Cut & Cover Structure to span a trench 18 ft in width, large enough to hide and protect an M1 Abrams Tank.
The design of the roof beams is based on sub-scale laboratory experiments and Euler-Bernoulli Beam Theory. The design assumes a fill material of common sand or gravel under a hydrostatic stress level of 100 psi. It considers the weight of the soil overlayer and the weight
of the beams. The hydrostatic stress would be induced by a combination of stretching the membrane before the fill is placed, and tightening or shrinking the membrane after fill placement. The design constraint was a deflection-to-span ratio of about 1/32 (5 inches).
Semi-automated equipment designs for constructing HESE structures have been conceptualized by not built and tested. These concepts use fairly simple equipment. The equipment would fill the HESE tubular membranes, induce the required tensile stresses in the membranes, and seal the membranes. The concepts suggest the equipment could be carried on two double-axle trailers. Plane Z Tech has pending patents that cover both HESE designs and HESE construction methods.