Blast Performance of Composite Sandwich Structures. (2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dear, John P.; Rolfe, Emily; Kelly, Mark; Arora, Hari; Hooper, Paul A.
• Is Part Of: Procedia engineering. Volume 173(2017)
• Page Start: 471
• Page End: 478
• Publication Date: 2017
• Subjects: air blast -- underwater blast -- graded cores -- sandwich structures -- composites; Engineering -- Congresses; Engineering -- Periodicals; Engineering; Conference proceedings; Periodicals; 620.005
• DOI: 10.1016/j.proeng.2016.12.065
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1877-7058

Abstract

Abstract: A range of composite sandwich panels with different polymeric foam cores and face-sheets were subjected to full-scale air and underwater blast testing. The air blast panels had glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) face-sheets with three different polymeric foam cores: styrene acrylonitrile (SAN), polyvinylchloride (PVC) and polymethacrylimide (PMI). The panels were subjected to 100 kg TNT equivalent charge from a stand-off of 15 m. The SAN panel had the lowest deflection and suffered from the least damage. The underwater blast panels had either a single density or graded density SAN foam core and either glass fiber reinforced polymer or carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) face-sheets. The research revealed that there is a trade-off between reduced panel deflection and damage. All the blast research that has been performed is part of a program sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (ONR).