Cellular Architecture Optimization for Tailored Frequency Response in Missile Components and Structures (MSC P4220)

Guidance and navigation components within missile systems are vulnerable to performance degradation as a result of vibrations generated by neighboring components. Conventional methods to alleviate this degradation include installing passive vibration-damping materials or adding additional material to shift resonance frequencies. Both of these approaches add parasitic weight to the system. With recent advances in additive manufacturing technologies, components and structures that can benefit from cellular design and optimization are now being realized. Materials Sciences Corporation (MSC) will team with the University of Pittsburgh (PITT) to develop analysis tools for determining cellular architectures, frequency based topology optimization codes that make use of cellular architectures, and design tools to develop cellular structures. The overall objective of the Phase I effort will be to demonstrate the proposed cellular optimization procedure via analysis and validate by experiment.