Optimization of a Light-Weight Composite Blast Containment Vessel Structural Response

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

11-11-2008

Publication Title

ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition

Publisher

ASME

First page number:

539

Last page number:

547

Abstract

This paper proposes an optimization technique for increasing the structural integrity of a light-weight composite blast containment vessel. The vessel is cylindrical with two hemispherical ends. It has a steel liner that is internally reinforced with throttles and gusset plates and wrapped with a basalt-plastic composite. A finite element model of the blast containment vessel was proposed and verified in an earlier work. The parameters of the vessel are incorporated within an iterative optimization procedure to decrease the peak strains within the vessel, which are caused by internal blast loading due to an explosive charge placed at the center of the vessel. The procedure is validated for different initial guesses of the design variables.

Keywords

Blast effect; Composite materials; Containment vessels; Explosions; Optimization; Weight (Mass)

Disciplines

Acoustics, Dynamics, and Controls | Engineering Science and Materials | Materials Science and Engineering | Mechanical Engineering | Structural Materials

Language

English

Comments

Conference held: Seattle, Washington, USA, November 11–15, 2007

Permissions

Use Find in Your Library, contact the author, or interlibrary loan to garner a copy of the item. Publisher policy does not allow archiving the final published version. If a post-print (author's peer-reviewed manuscript) is allowed and available, or publisher policy changes, the item will be deposited.

UNLV article access

Search your library

Share

COinS