Explosive Technique for Impulse Loading of Space Structures 70th Shock and Vibration Symposium

摘要

The technique of using a light sensitive explosive (LIFfE) to simulate the cold x-ray blow-off impulse response on space structures has been reported in several earlier Shock & Vibration Symposiums. This high quality impulse technique is not currently available to the space structure design agencies that study the effects of hostile, exo-atmospheric nuclear attack on space assets. An alternative, lower quality but much less expensive, test procedure has been resurrected to fill the current impulse test requirements. The Explosive Rods-Over-Foam method uses thin rods of explosive, laid over a foam base, placed directly on the test object. When the thin explosive rods are detonated, a reasonable surface impulse loading is attained. While the simulation is not an exact representation of the surface impulse load from a hostile nuclear event, the response of the components within the structure is nearly the same as that generated from a real event. The Rods-Over-Foam technique was first used in the early 1970's, but was soon set aside when the more accurate simulations, LIHE and magnetically accelerated flyer plates, became available. The information presented here is the result of an effort to re-develop this method with current instrumentation and new explosive material. This work fills an experimental void, giving a reliable, low cost, impulse simulation method, that is required for computer model validation and space system certification, to hostile nuclear environments.