Blast Performance of Sandwich Composites with In-Plane Compressive Loading

Document Type

Article

Date of Original Version

1-1-2012

Abstract

An experimental investigation was conducted to evaluate the dynamic performance of E-glass Vinyl Ester composite face sheet / foam core sandwich panels when subjected to pre-compression and subsequent blast loading. The sandwich panels were subjected to 0 kN, 15 kN and 25 kN of in plane compression respectively, prior to transverse blast wave loading with peak incident pressure of 1 MPa and velocity of 3 Mach. The blast loading was generated using a shock tube facility. During the experiments, a high-speed photographic system utilizing three digital cameras was used to acquire the real-time 3-D deformation of the sandwich panels. The 3D Digital Image Correlation (DIC) technique was used to quantify the back face out-of-plane deflection and in-plane strain. The results showed that in-plane compressive loading facilitated buckling and failure in the front face sheet. This mechanism greatly reduced the blast resistance of sandwich composites. © 2011 Society for Experimental Mechanics.

Publication Title, e.g., Journal

Experimental Mechanics

Volume

52

Issue

1

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