Air Blast & Ballistic Impact Damage Evaluation of Marine Composite Structures (MSC P1T11-437)

U.S. Navy warships of the 21st century will likely use fiber-reinforced composites in the topside structure. As a result, enhancing resistance to high-energy blast/ballistic loading has become a priority to ensure the survivability of the composite structures. Because of the wide range of design options available with composites, analytic tools are more cost effective than a purely empirical approach. Under the proposed program, analytical and numerical models that integrate dynamic failure analysis and material models appropriate for use with composites under high-energy blast/ballistic loadings will be developed to allow ship designers to evaluate survivability design enhancements. The primary product of this program is a composite damage assessment methodology for ship structures that is based on numerical simulations validated by experiments rather than the current empirical approach. The damage assessment module would be used to generate a database of predicted damage information for a range of parameters such as projectile geometry, mass and velocity for ballistic threats, and standoff distance and charge size for blast scenarios. This database will then be used in conjunction with established scaling laws to develop rapid assessment formulas and algorithms for use in ship survivability codes such as ASAP.