Innovative Approach to Low Cost Shock Testing Fixture for Medium Weight, Shock Isolated Equipment

Despite being within the payload capacity of the Medium Weight Shock Machine (MWSM), shock qualification testing of medium weight (500 4500 lbs) Class II equipment must currently be performed through underwater explosion (UNDEX) testing using a Floating Shock Platform (FSP), typically in combination with a Deck Simulator Fixture (DSF). A significant cost savings could be realized if these medium weight Class II items were able to be shock tested using the MWSM. To achieve this savings, a fixture and MWSM test procedure must be developed to adequately simulate the dynamic environment and thus produce the critical failure modes of these equipment items. An evolutionary design approach is proposed wherein the unique features of a deck fixture and a tipping flyer plate fixture concept are to be integrated into a low-frequency, tunable, multi-directional MWSM fixture design offering broad capabilities. This performance of fixture design concepts relative to the target FSP/DSF shock test environment and accompanying test objectives will be evaluated through advance modeling and simulation techniques.