Diaphragm Pressure Gauge

"Nuclear Weapons Effects Tests (NWET) frequently require that the test article be irradiated in an ultra-clean environment, making survivable shields a necessary part of many debris systems. Survivable shields as large as 12 inches in diameter are requiredbut have yet to be demonstrated in Plasma Radiating Source (PRS) environments. The loads on a survivable shield are a combination of radiation induced blowoff generated by the UV part of the PRS spectrum; pressure loads exerted by expanding plasma from thePRS source region and UV filters; particle impacts from the PRS and UV filters; and radiation induced line loads and moments.Structural failures of survivable shields result primarily from the pressure loads. No measurements of the critical loads exerted on the shield have been achieved. Without these measurements, shield design becomes an arbitrary selection of dimensions.Phase I will evaluate diaphragm pressure gauges to measure the loads on survivable shields. Fiber optic displacement gauge technology, which has been used successfully in radiation environments, will be used to measure the pressure induced diaphragmmotions. Preliminary calculations indicate that thin aluminum diaphragms can detect impulsive loads as low as 25 taps. The diaphragm pressure gauge addresses a critical NWET need. The diaphragm pressure gauge will provide critically needed data for theoptimized design of large diameter survivable shields thus allowing t