Abstract

The air-born pressure wave from an explosion is often accompanied by flying debris of different masses and velocities. This is a particular problem when structures need to be lightweight and there is a requirement for the structure designed to incorporate features to absorb and disperse the impact energy of flying debris. In relation to this, my group have been studying the impact effects on lightweight composite and other materials. This for a range of different types of impact threat from High Velocity / Low Mass (HV/LM) projectiles (1 g to 175 g for velocities up to 250 m s-1) through to Low Velocity / High Mass (LV/HM) projectiles (3 kg up to 7 m s-1). Different types of material evaluated include composite and sandwich materials having honeycomb and skin material that are metallic, composite or a mixture of both. Also, investigated are the effects of different holding and support arrangements for these materials and the effect of the different frontal profiles of impactors.