SHOCK INSTRUMENTATION

A NEED EXISTS TO MEASURE BLAST AND SHOCK EFFECTS IN AIR, EARTH MATERIALS AND STRUCTURAL MATERIALS. OF INTERST ARE PEAK STRESSES/ PRESSURES IN THE RANGE OF ABOUT 10 GPA. DETERMINATION OF THE PEAK VALUE AND PREFERABLY, THE COMPLETE HISTORY IS REQUIRED. THIS NEED HAS EXISTED FOR OVER 10 YEARS BECAUSE NO DEVICE PREVIOUSLY COULD PROVIDE SUCH INFORMATION. THE NDE TECHNOLOGY, INC. (NDE) MASTAN GAGE HAS SUCCESSFULLY MEASURED HIGH PEAK VALUES AND COMPLETE HISTORIES FOR HIGH PRESSURES AND THUS OFFERS A VIABLE SOLUTION. THE MASTAN GAGE HAS DETECTED HYPERVELOCITY PARTICLES IMPACTING AT THE RATE OF A MILLION IMPACTS A SECOND. THE GAGE PROVIDES AN OUTPUT CHARACTERISTIC OF THE NUMBR, MOMENTUM, ENERGY, MASS, SIZE AND/OR VELOCITY OF PARTICLES. THE MASTAN GAGE IS PIEZOELECTRIC/ELECTRET TYPE, ACOUSTIC/ULTRASONIC DEVICE WITH AN INTERNAL LIQUID MEDIUM AND PATENTED IN 1978 BY THE PRINCIPLE INVESTIGATOR OF THE PROPOSED PROJECT. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH PROJECT CONSISTS OF A SYSTEMATIC INTENSIVE STUDY DIRECTED SPECFICALLY TOWARD APPLYING NEW KNOWLEDGE (MASTAN GAGE) TO MEET A RECOGNIZED NEED. PHASE I WORK WILL INVOLVE AN INDEPTH THEORETICAL ANALYSIS OF THE MASTAN GAGE AND SCALED LABORATORY TESTS TO ESTABLISH AND DEMONSTRATE FEASIBILITY. PHASE II WILL INVOLVE THE DEVELOPMENT OF A PROTOTYPE GAGE FOR ACTUAL USE IN TESTS FOR MEASUREMENT OF BLAST AND SHOCK EFFECTS IN AIR, EARTH MATERIALS AND STRUCTURAL MATERIALS.