Recent tragic events highlighted the need to build and retrofit structures to better protect occupants in the event of extreme loading conditions, including terrorist attacks as well as natural hazards and disasters. This is the case of critical civil infrastructure such as embassies, government buildings, airports, and bridges, where effective protection has e key role in preventing injuries.

From a practical point of view, however, design of protective structures or hazard mitigation systems requires multiple functions and reasonable safety criteria, according to target structures. To this aim, several research studies have been dedicated in the last years to assessment, enhancement, and protection of civil engineering materials and structural systems, including advanced numerical simulations as well as experimental investigations.

In this regard, the current special issue aims to provide an overview on recent advancements in design and analysis of protective structures, with careful attention to civil engineering applications. These civil engineering infrastructures may include buildings, bridges, and defense facilities, as well as pipelines, offshore platforms, and shipping and offshore/underground structures.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Analysis, design, assessment, and retrofitting techniques
• Hazard sources, including measurement and description
• Risk and failure analyses
• Design against terroristic attacks, with careful consideration for hazard mitigation solutions
• Blast damage assessment
• Advanced numerical simulations
• Experimental investigation and performance assessment of materials, structural details, and assemblies
• Clinical studies