Blast Resistance of Clamped Cylindrical Sandwich Shells with Metallic Foam Cores

Abstract

The deformation/failure modes and dynamic response of fully clamped cylindrical sandwich shells with aluminum foam cores subjected to air blast loading were investigated experimentally. A four-cable ballistic pendulum system was employed to measure the impulse imparted to the blast-loaded specimen. The deformation/failure modes of specimens were classified and analyzed, the effects of face-sheet thickness, core relative density, specimen curvature and mass of charge on the structural response of metallic sandwich shells were examined. Experimental results indicate that both the deformation/failure modes and the dynamic response of the sandwich shells are sensitive to the structural configurations and blast impulse. The experimental results are useful for validating theoretical predictions, as well as in engineering applications of cellular metal sandwich structures.