SAVIAC is the DoD’s focal point for research and analysis in the field of shock and vibration. It is classified as a military-sponsored Information Analysis Center (IAC) by the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC).

Specific areas covered by SAVIAC include rotating machinery vibrations, blast-induced shock, underwater explosion shock, ground shock, air blast, detonation physics, fragmentation, transportation and vehicular vibration, missile and torpedo flight vibration, biodynamics, earthquake technology, satellite and space vehicle dynamics, ship dynamics, structural dynamics, and the general physics of mechanical wave propagation.

SAVIAC is concerned with the economic aspects of the shock and vibration industry, economic considerations with respect to selection of techniques and processes, and industrial trends in applying current safety monitoring and failure prevention of in-service material and machines.

SAVIAC’s year-round activities culminate in the annual Shock and Vibration Symposium held in the Fall. The Symposium normally attracts over 500 participants. In addition to the Symposium, SAVIAC sponsors a monthly newsletter that is sent to approximately 3600 researchers, a Web Site, and two peer-reviewed technical journals: Shock and Vibration, and Journal of Critical Technologies In Shock and Vibration.

SAVIAC is the oldest forum in the DoD dealing with shock and vibration and related phenomena. It was established on 20 December 1946 by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory under authorization by the Chief Of Naval Research. Its initial name was the Centralized Navy Shock and Vibration Scientific Unit, and later the Shock and Vibration Information Center (SVIC), and its original purpose was to act as a centralizing location for naval shock and vibration scientific studies. In 1949 the Center came under multi-service sponsorship from the Army, Navy, Air force, and the Defense Atomic Support Agency (now the Defense Threat Reduction Agency) and its mission broadened accordingly. Today about one-half of the papers presented at the Symposium are from the Navy, about one-third from the Army, and the rest are from DoD agencies, the Air Force, and from the DoE. An increased area of emphasis at the Symposium is technology for protecting and hardening military and civilian assets against terrorist acts.

SAVIAC responds to limited-scope data requests from the Shock and Vibration Community through phone calls, email, telefaxes, and one-page letters. Requests for information or services that are broad in scope are accomplished via specific task orders to the contractor that are funded by the requesting entity.

SAVIAC is operated for the DoD by the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC). Daily operations are performed through a contract with a private vender, currently HI-TEST Laboratories, Inc. SAVIAC is funded via MIPRS by agencies of the Army, Air Force, and Navy, as well as the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, and the National Laboratories. Additional funding is developed from symposium fees, and the selling of SAVIAC products, such as monographs and symposium proceedings.