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A Precision Experiment for the Deformation and Fracture of Blast Loaded Plates

The purpose of this thesis is to present a novel laboratory scale precision test [1] apparatus, developed specifically to study of the deformation and fracture of blast loaded plates. A review of published laboratory scale blast testing showed that classical ballistic pendulum techniques satisfy sev...

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Main Author: Cloete, Trevor John
Other Authors: Nurick, Gerald N
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Mechanical Engineering 2022
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access_status_str Open Access
author Cloete, Trevor John
author2 Nurick, Gerald N
author_browse Cloete, Trevor John
Nurick, Gerald N
author_facet Nurick, Gerald N
Cloete, Trevor John
author_sort Cloete, Trevor John
collection Thesis
description The purpose of this thesis is to present a novel laboratory scale precision test [1] apparatus, developed specifically to study of the deformation and fracture of blast loaded plates. A review of published laboratory scale blast testing showed that classical ballistic pendulum techniques satisfy several precision testing criteria. However, specific aspects required improvement. Therefore, an instrumented ballistic pendulum has been developed, incorporating a central support, in the form of a Hopkinson bar, for use with a novel peripherally clamped centrally supported (PCCS) plate specimen, which allows the reaction force history at the inner boundary to be captured. Hence, in addition to the traditional impulse vs deflection data, this approach allows details such as the total deformation duration or the exact timing and magnitude of fracture processes to be captured. Furthermore, when used with a peripherally clamped annular (PCA) plate specimen, this approach allows the blast load pressure history to be captured. A literature review found several classical closed form solutions for the large deflection of impulsively loaded peripherally clamped solid (PCS) circular plates. However, several crucial aspects of the solutions were contradictory and/or incomplete. To address this a generalized energy method for modelling impulsively loaded axisymmetric plates was developed which subsumes previous solutions and facilitated novel analytical solutions that provide a theoretical framework for interpreting the experimental data. Extensive experimental results reported in this thesis provide a rich set of novel data for code validation. While the PCCS and PCA plate configurations require a refined definition of the observed failure modes, the transitions between the modes and the fracture behaviour are studied in great detail. The data is analysed using dimensionless impulse expressions obtained from the analytical solutions in this thesis. In addition to accurate deflection predictions, these solutions also provide improved deflection duration predictions using a novel two phase solutions that can also accommodate finite load duration. It is concluded that the instrumented ballistic pendulum, incorporating a central support in the form of a Hopkinson bar, in conjunction with the novel PCCS and PCA plate configurations and analytical solutions, satisfies all the requirement of a precision test.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/36765
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:34:39.078Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2022
publishDateRange 2022
publishDateSort 2022
publisher Department of Mechanical Engineering
publisherStr Department of Mechanical Engineering
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/36765 A Precision Experiment for the Deformation and Fracture of Blast Loaded Plates Cloete, Trevor John Nurick, Gerald N Mechanical Engineering The purpose of this thesis is to present a novel laboratory scale precision test [1] apparatus, developed specifically to study of the deformation and fracture of blast loaded plates. A review of published laboratory scale blast testing showed that classical ballistic pendulum techniques satisfy several precision testing criteria. However, specific aspects required improvement. Therefore, an instrumented ballistic pendulum has been developed, incorporating a central support, in the form of a Hopkinson bar, for use with a novel peripherally clamped centrally supported (PCCS) plate specimen, which allows the reaction force history at the inner boundary to be captured. Hence, in addition to the traditional impulse vs deflection data, this approach allows details such as the total deformation duration or the exact timing and magnitude of fracture processes to be captured. Furthermore, when used with a peripherally clamped annular (PCA) plate specimen, this approach allows the blast load pressure history to be captured. A literature review found several classical closed form solutions for the large deflection of impulsively loaded peripherally clamped solid (PCS) circular plates. However, several crucial aspects of the solutions were contradictory and/or incomplete. To address this a generalized energy method for modelling impulsively loaded axisymmetric plates was developed which subsumes previous solutions and facilitated novel analytical solutions that provide a theoretical framework for interpreting the experimental data. Extensive experimental results reported in this thesis provide a rich set of novel data for code validation. While the PCCS and PCA plate configurations require a refined definition of the observed failure modes, the transitions between the modes and the fracture behaviour are studied in great detail. The data is analysed using dimensionless impulse expressions obtained from the analytical solutions in this thesis. In addition to accurate deflection predictions, these solutions also provide improved deflection duration predictions using a novel two phase solutions that can also accommodate finite load duration. It is concluded that the instrumented ballistic pendulum, incorporating a central support in the form of a Hopkinson bar, in conjunction with the novel PCCS and PCA plate configurations and analytical solutions, satisfies all the requirement of a precision test. 2022-08-30T08:58:38Z 2022-08-30T08:58:38Z 2022 2022-08-17T07:52:14Z Doctoral Thesis Doctoral PhD http://hdl.handle.net/11427/36765 eng application/pdf Department of Mechanical Engineering Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
spellingShingle Mechanical Engineering
Cloete, Trevor John
A Precision Experiment for the Deformation and Fracture of Blast Loaded Plates
thesis_degree_str Doctoral
title A Precision Experiment for the Deformation and Fracture of Blast Loaded Plates
title_full A Precision Experiment for the Deformation and Fracture of Blast Loaded Plates
title_fullStr A Precision Experiment for the Deformation and Fracture of Blast Loaded Plates
title_full_unstemmed A Precision Experiment for the Deformation and Fracture of Blast Loaded Plates
title_short A Precision Experiment for the Deformation and Fracture of Blast Loaded Plates
title_sort precision experiment for the deformation and fracture of blast loaded plates
topic Mechanical Engineering
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/36765
work_keys_str_mv AT cloetetrevorjohn aprecisionexperimentforthedeformationandfractureofblastloadedplates
AT cloetetrevorjohn precisionexperimentforthedeformationandfractureofblastloadedplates