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Ryan's Project Page - RISE summer 2003 |
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Intern: Ryan Palmer, California Lutheran University
Mentor: Howard Rathburn
Faculty Supervisor: Frank Zok
Department: Materials |
OPTIMIZATION OF SANDWICH PANELS FOR BLAST MITIGATION
Navy ship hulls have undergone a tremendous diet over the past 50 years, for
example WWII vintage battleship hulls were generally six to eight inches of
solid steel. Due to technological advancements in our defense systems, these
Navy ships have been able to decrease hull thickness to roughly half an inch
of solid steel. Recent events such as the terrorist attack on the U.S.S. Cole
(DDG 67) show the importance of naval structures to survive blast events. The
U.S. Navy’s Office of Naval Research has funded the study of cellular core
sandwich panels to improve blast mitigation capability of naval structures.
The excellent crushing and stretching behaviors of sandwich panels make them a
highly attractive alternative to the widely used solid steel structures. Many
different topologies are been studied, including truss assembly, wire mesh and
honeycomb. Abaqus CAE is used to predict the performance of these structures
and will help in optimizing the performance of the sandwich panels for use in
naval structures that may come in contact with a blast.
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