Performance Evaluation of Hybrid Composite Structures Under Water-based Impulsive Loading
Abstract
SUMMARY OF PROJECT Naval ships and submersibles experience deformations resulting from combined effects of complex loads acting simultaneously. Geometric nonlinearities, material inhomogeneities, structural interfaces and multiaxial loads create complicated interactions and cause unexpected failure. The response of composite structures to dynamic loads due to underwater blasts and hull slamming is one of the most important events in this regard. The complexity of technical issues necessitates realistic experiments that account for realistic service conditions and concurrent computational simulations that allow a wide range of scenarios to be explored. Here, we propose a one year project that builds on the accomplishments achieved through ONR support to quantify the deformation response of composite structures to underwater impulsive loads and to enable the development of structural design criteria for future naval structures. This project is partly made possible by the experimental, high-speed photographic and laser interferometric capabilities established through previous ONR DURIP equipment grants to Georgia Tech. A novel test environment has been constructed to specifically provide controlled underwater impulsive loading and measure time- and space-resolved deformation and failure in composite structures. These measurements allow the characterization of failure modes and collapse behavior of composite structures in ways which have not been possible until now. Concurrent multiphysics simulations will be carried out to accurately track the different damage modes and evaluate the energy dissipation characteristics. Important research questions that will be addressed through this research include (a) the effects of composite fiber layup (unidirectional, bi-axial and quasiisotropic); (b) response of sandwich structures with graded cores with the lowest core density near the impulsively loaded face and highest core density near the distal face; (c) the role of interfacial stiffness on structural response; (d) multi-hit characterization of high-performance composite structures; and (e) hybrid metal-composite concepts consisting of alternating layers of aluminum and carbon-fiber laminates. In addition to the combined experiments and computational simulations, close collaborations with other researchers in the ONR program, in particular, Dr. George Kardomateas at Georgia Tech and Dr. Arun Shukla at URI, are proposed to integrate experiments, numerical modeling and theoretical analysis.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jun 03, 2016
- Source ID
- N000141612289
Entities
People
- Min Zhou
Organizations
- Georgia Tech Research Corporation
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy