Advanced Shock Mitigating Materials

Sensitive equipment critical to successful LCS missions have been damaged due to excessive shock loading. The shock is transferred to the mission systems through rigid twist-lock connectors which secure mission module ISO containers to the LCS hull. TRI/Austin proposes to investigate state of the art shock mitigating materials and structures to resolve this issue. A preliminary design of a composite enhanced twist-lock connector has been developed for this application which does not require increasing the distance between the ISO container and the LCS deck. The proposed design will provide resiliency at the critical mounting locations as well as create the potential for increased payload capacity due to support and container structure weight reductions. Phase I analysis and testing will confirm the viability of the selected materials and designs for full scale prototyping in Phase II. Other concepts, including commercially available shock isolators, will be explored to ensure the best solution is reached based upon design requirement satisfaction, cost, and potential for implementation.