| EPSRC Reference: |
EP/I028811/1 |
| Title: |
Combined Blast and Fragment Loading of Sandwich Systems |
| Principal Investigator: |
Tan, Professor PJ |
| Other Investigators: |
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| Researcher Co-Investigators: |
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| Project Partners: |
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| Department: |
Mechanical Engineering |
| Organisation: |
UCL |
| Scheme: |
First Grant - Revised 2009 |
| Starts: |
21 November 2011 |
Ends: |
30 April 2013 |
Value (£): |
101,559
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| EPSRC Research Topic Classifications: |
| Eng. Dynamics & Tribology |
Materials testing & eng. |
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| EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications: |
| Aerospace, Defence and Marine |
Construction |
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| Related Grants: |
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| Panel History: |
| Panel Date | Panel Name | Outcome |
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16 Feb 2011
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Materials, Mechanical and Medical Engineering
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Announced
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Summary on Grant Application Form |
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Protection of personnel and structures against the threat of an air-blast as a result of hostile actions requires a multi-hazard approach to design involving a complex series of trade-offs that must be balanced against other design constraints. The traditional strategy to counter blast and impact threats with thicker blast shields and armour plating are severely dated. Recent trend has moved towards high-strength, lightweight alternatives that do not compromise cost, performance and safety. The reduced weight also saves energy and fuel. Protection against blast and penetrating fragments is normally accomplished by a multi-layered strategy, often with different material combinations, to increase survivability. As a result, this has revived interests in using a sandwich construction for blast mitigation. The high flexural stiffness-to-weight ratio and strength of a traditional sandwich component can be exploited, in combination with the beneficial effects of fluid-structure interaction, as bases for designing 'all-metal' sandwich structures with improved blast resistances. Driven by these needs significant advances have been made over the last decade to design lightweight blast-resistant sandwich systems that employ novel 'micro-architectured' core topologies. The sandwich technology may also be implemented as structural components, designed to integrate several functions into a single component to reduce overall cost and weight, or as retrofits to existing structures for containing a blast to protect personnel and equipment in safety-critical compartments. However, the performance of these sandwich systems to the secondary effect of fragment impact is not well understood and it is, as yet, unclear how the sandwich systems will perform under the combined threat of blast and fragment impact often encountered during close-in explosions. The challenge in designing a combined blast and impact protection system is further complicated by their competing requirements as often the most efficient protection against each threat is, in general, different. The present proposal outlines a systematic study, by a combination of experiments and modelling, to assess and compare the performances and failure modes of 'all-metal' and 'ceramic/metal' sandwich panels subjected to the combined influence of blast and local impulse(s) imparted by a fragment field. The results from this work will be used to quantify the observed synergism which is essential to the future implementation of an optimal sandwich design for blast mitigation in close range.
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Key Findings |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Potential use in non-academic contexts |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Impacts |
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| Description |
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk |
| Summary |
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| Date Materialised |
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Sectors submitted by the Researcher |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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| Project URL: |
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