Hope College Department of Physics and Engineering Research Experiences for Undergraduates Summer 2003 Project Summary

Project Title: Plastic Response of a Pre-Pressurized Blast-Loaded Aluminum Plate.
Student Name: Courtney Clumn
Student’s home institution: Hope College
Research Advisor(s): Dr. Roger Veldman
Source of Support: Sherman Fairchild Foundation
 

Modeling an explosion inside a commercial aircraft is a complex task. This problem has been simplified by considering a 152.4 x 152.4mm (thickness 1.6256mm) aluminum 2024-T3 plate as a basic model of the aircraft fuselage skin. Using the finite element method, plastic plate deformation for various blast load cases were determined. There was particular interest in examining the effect of pre-pressurization on blast damage to the structure to simulate loading the effects of in-flight cabin pressurization. In all, 6 different explosive pressure-loading cases were considered in this study. A comparison of the permanent plate deformation predicted by the finite element method with those measured experimentally showed agreement to within about 5%. It was also observed both experimentally and with finite element method predictions that there was no significant difference in the final plate deformation as a result of pre-pressurization.

Slide show of Courtney Clumn's work (Requires Microsoft PowerPoint or a PowerPoint viewer.