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Alex's Project Page - RISE summer 2005 |
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Intern: Alex McCloskey, Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara
Mentor: Mike Pontin
Faculty Supervisor: Robert McMeeking
Department: Materials |
DYNAMICALLY LOADED SANDWICH STRUCTURES: MATERIAL TESTING AND SHEAR OFF STUDY
Recent events such as the attack on the U.S.S. Cole (October 12, 2000) have prompted
the United States defense department to search for new and improved ways to protect its
active forces. As one response the US Office of Naval Research is funding
UCSB’s Materials department to investigate different blast-proof structures
for battleship hull armor. The department has considered and is currently
testing different cellular core sandwich panel designs to replace the
half-inch solid steel hulls currently used by the Navy. Optimization of such
structures is primarily done through finite element modeling. Such modeling
requires values for the properties of the materials in question (Al6xn and 304
stainless steel) which must be determined through material testing. Further,
confirmation of the validity of such models can be attained by performing a
series of ballistics tests and comparing their results to those obtained by
way of finite element modeling.
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