Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Structural response of ship-stiffened panel at Event MINOR SCALE

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:7072965

Modern computational methods and experimental test procedures are being developed to determine more accurately the air-blast loading and dynamic response of naval ship structures subjected to weapon explosions. Previously, a series of air-blast trials on full-scale stiffened panels typical of those used in warship superstructures had been conducted for conventional-scale weapons (under 454 kg HE) to evaluate new design and damage-assessment techniques. This report describes the experimental results and the associated numerical study of the panel response for a longer-duration loading generated by the simulation of an 8-kiloton nuclear-weapon surface explosion called MINOR SCALE. The panel, exposed to a side-on overpressure blast loading of 345-kPa peak and 200-ms positive duration, experienced only slight permanent deformation of about 25 mm with no apparent weld or buckling failure. The measured pressure, strain, acceleration, and displacement data correlated well with the computed numerical results, thus verifying the computational methods.

Research Organization:
Defence Research Establishment Suffield, Ralston, Alberta (Canada)
OSTI ID:
7072965
Report Number(s):
AD-A-190989/4/XAB; DRES-485
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English