THERMAL PULSE LOADING

COMPOSITE STRUCTURES IN SPACE MAY BE SUBJECT TO SOURCE OF THERMAL ENERGY, WHICH INCLUDES X-RAYS FROM NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND HIGH ENERGY LASER LIGHT. THIS PROPOSAL ADDRESSES THE NEED FOR ANALYSIS TOOLS TO PREDICT THE EFFECTS OF RAPID THERMAL PULSE LOADING ON AEROSPACE COMPOSITE MATERIALS. A MAJOR OBJECTIVE OF THIS PHASE I STUDY IS TO DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY AND MAGNITUDE OF EFFORT TO DEIVER SUCH AN ENGINEERING DESIGN TOOL. THE FEASIBILITY OF THE DESIGN CODE WILL BE EVALUATED BY MODIFYING AND COUPLING EXISTING CODES; ONE THAT ANALYZES THE STRESS WAVE PRODUCED BY THE THERMAL LOAD AND ANOTHER THAT EVALUATES THE INTERACTION OF THE STRESS PULSE WITH DELAMINATIONS IN THE MATERIAL. THE LEVEL OF EFFORT TO DELIVER A SINGLE INTERGRATED DESIGN CODE CAPABLE OF ANALYZING THERMODYNAMIC PROCESSES IN COMPOSITE STRUCTURES CONTAINING DELAMINATIONS WILL BE DETERMINED.