Dynamic response of a weapon's internal components to a high speed impact

摘要

The dynamic response of a weapon's internal components to an accident is critical in determining the safety of a weapon. The primary objective of this study was to determine the safety of the weapon based on the acceleration histories of its safety components. The accident scenario was a 80 feet/second impact of the weapon onto a railroad rail. Large deformations and many contacts were expected due to the severity of the impact condition. The complexity of this analysis required a nonlinear finite element code which could track many contact surfaces simultaneously and simulate material failure using element death. The damage to the structure and its contents was simulated using PRONTO3D (an explicit finite element code developed at Sandia National Laboratories). Some of PRONTO3D's advanced features used in the calculations included the self-contacting algorithms, material death, and rigid body mechanics. Throughout the analysis, a large number of mechanical contacts, both normal and sliding with friction, were detected and tracked by PRONT03D. The analysis predicted large deformations and material failure that took the form of tears in the aluminum shroud and in the housing of the components. The predicted acceleration histories were then used to determine if the components remained functional.